Bulldogs members pull major power play to oust board trio
As incoming coach Trent Barrett prepares to revive the Bulldogs on the field, life members and former premiership players are preparing a major coup off it. WHO’S IN THE FIRING LINE.
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Let the bloodletting begin.
More than 100 frustrated Canterbury football club members have signed and lodged a document which demands an Extraordinary General Meeting to remove three key directors — Lynne Anderson, John Ballesty and Paul Dunn.
The petition was presented to Bulldogs chief executive Andrew Hill on Tuesday morning.
Hill has 21 days to vet the signatures — ensuring all members are current and eligible to vote — before announcing an EGM date, which would probably be about mid-December.
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Some members are angry at the club’s dismal on-field efforts — and boardroom dramas — and have targeted chair Anderson and board members Ballesty and Dunn. The three are known to have a tight friendship.
Canterbury has about 950 eligible football club voting members.
To oust the trio, under what is deemed a “special resolution”, members voting from the floor would require anything over 50 per cent of the vote to be successful.
If Anderson, Ballesty and Dunn can secure more than 50 per cent of the vote, they will survive. There would be a separate vote for all three.
If defeated, the remaining four directors – Joe Thomas, Peter Mortimer, John Khoury and Adrian Turner – would still form a quorum and nominate the three replacements.
The EGM – and the expected unsavoury headlines which come with it — will further damage the club’s already tarnished off-field reputation.
Representatives from both sides will be desperately working the phones to secure votes in coming weeks.
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Anderson has endured a difficult period in charge, her popularity sliding through on-field failure once again this season.
The club’s constitution states an EGM can be called once more than 100 football club member signatures have been secured.
There is certain to be some legal jostling in terms of whether proxy votes will be permitted throughout the process — due to COVID — or whether the voting will only come from the floor.
Anderson will need to rally vigorously to save her chairperson’s job. Dunn and Ballesty have long been respected as directors at the club.
Many members who voted for change at the 2018 elections are now unsure whether to continue supporting Anderson. Some are known to be disgruntled.
The EGM is expected to take an emotional toll on the three directors. Ballesty is now 75 years old.
All football club directors are up for re-election in 2022.
Canterbury once again missed the finals this season, a season which included coach Dean Pay being sacked. The Bulldogs won just three of 20 games this season.
New coach Trent Barrett will arrive at Belmore next month.
Originally published as Bulldogs members pull major power play to oust board trio