Canterbury Bulldogs’ sponsors threaten to walk over Laundy Hotel Group influence
He is worth half a billion dollars and when he signed on as Canterbury Bulldogs sponsor boldly declared “I intend to become very involved.”
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A longstanding Canterbury sponsor has threatened to walk away from the club, citing concerns over the direction it is heading and the unfettered influence Laundy Hotel Group could have at Belmore.
CPe, a Sydney-based electrical company, has been a corporate sponsor of the Bulldogs for 10 years. More recently it has been a back-of-shorts sponsor, tipping around $600,000 into the club.
But CPe managing director Charlie Assaf told The Saturday Telegraph he is worried about the control new major sponsor Laundy Hotels could have at Belmore. Assaf believes only the football board should be making decisions about the future of the club.
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“It’s a worry to hear a sponsor wants to be so involved,” Assaf said. “Obviously we want to see the club do well but it must be asked if it is our role as a sponsor to influence decisions that should be made by the board and not anyone else.
“I have also spoken to sponsors that feel the same but are not able to make a statement yet.”
The latest development is another headache for the club after The Daily Telegraph revealed on Thursday the battle for the boardroom at Belmore had the Laundy Hotel Group reconsidering their sponsorship dollars.
When Laundy Hotel Group was announced as the club’s new major sponsor in July, pub baron Arthur Laundy was vocal about his ambitions for the clubs.
“I intend to become very involved,” he said. “I have a very large business and a successful business. I will do my absolute utmost to get Canterbury to a successful position in the rugby league competition.
“I don’t know enough of the situation yet but I will be into that situation very, very rapidly.“
Laundy doubled down this week, saying he would personally travel to the homes of recruitment targets Charlies Staines in Forbes and Matt Burton in Dubbo to get the deals done.
It was also reported Laundy, who is yet to sign with the club, wanted a condition in his sponsorship agreement that allowed him to withdraw if his powers were “restrained or taken away”.
It’s the kind of rhetoric that has a number of other sponsors worried. Growing discontent among corporate sponsors at Canterbury reached fever point when The Daily Telegraph revealed Laundy Hotels had not yet paid a single cent yet had been given the front of jersey for the last nine rounds of the season.
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“It’s a kick in the guts they got the front of the jersey without paying a cent in 2020,” Assaf said.
In September, Assaf sent an email to Canterbury chair Lynne Anderson and CEO Andrew Hill raising his concerns about the direction the club was heading.
Miramax Projects, who has paid around $175,000 over three years to be a player sponsor, also shares similar concerns over the state of the club.
Managing director Kostas Thanos told The Saturday Telegraph the constant boardroom drama and infighting had forced him to reconsider his investment in the club.
“It’s hard to engage our clients and get them to come to watch Bulldogs games, it’s disappointing,” Thanos claimed. “Given all the drama happening at board level, our clients don’t want to be associated with that. It’s not a place where we can engage our clientele and positively promote our brands.”
Anderson and fellow directors John Ballesty and Paul Dunn are under pressure to resign from the board after the club received a requisition with 116 signatures from voting members calling for an extraordinary general meeting.
The disgruntled voting members believe Anderson and her ticket, which swept to power in the 2018 election, have not delivered on promises made when they were elected.
The Bulldogs club declined to comment.