By Carla Jaeger
A group of aggrieved Kooyong Lawn Tennis club members is threatening to take legal action after accusing the board of violating its rules.
The threat is the latest escalation to a growing feud within the exclusive gated club, which was forced to call in independent auditors to investigate millions of dollars in losses from its dining operations.
The Kooyong Lawn tennis Club was once the home of the Australian Open.Credit: Getty
In a letter to the 10-person board and obtained by this masthead, Kooyong LTC member Robert Dennis warned that unless the board addressed its complaints, the group could seek to resolve its concerns at the Magistrates’ Court.
Dennis lodged a formal complaint to the club five days after the AGM in October, when the board announced an overall $2.4 million loss from its club dining and functions operations.
It also announced an overall loss of nearly $1 million – a seven-figure swing from the previous year’s $980,000 profit. The loss-making year came despite an increase in memberships and record operational levels.
The club appointed auditing firm Grant Thornton to investigate its accounts in November. Kooyong LTC president Adam Cossar told members in December the findings would be presented to the board in January.
Despite assurances from the executive team that no funds were misappropriated, some members are frustrated by how the board has handled the saga.
The letter, dated January 28, accused the board of violating a series of club rules, including failing to provide documents requested by Dennis, not being transparent about its knowledge of the financial losses, and alleged that club officials interfered with a recent board-member election process.
He wrote that he had referred the matter to Consumer Affairs Victoria “given the failure of the board to follow the grievance process”, referencing two previous correspondences from the club’s president and vice-president.
After outlining these points, Dennis wrote that there was “no evidence to suggest meditation would resolve anything other than member expense and further delays”.
Dennis declined to answer questions about the dispute, or the “serious issues” he outlined in the letter.
He wrote in an email: “Out of respect for our club processes and for our board, I would rather my discussions with the club are given every chance to progress internally.”
Club president Cossar did not respond to text messages sent by this masthead.
Chief among the demands the aggrieved members have made is a call to annul the results of a board election counted at the October AGM and re-hold the election.
Dennis alleged the election was “structurally flawed”, accusing the board of several breaches, including that two votes were counted per member – despite the club’s one-vote-per-member rules.
“Election results published, clearly state that the election was a ‘first-past-the-post’ election where 1574 members voted. There were 3148 votes recorded. Every voting member was required to mark a second vote for the ballot to be valid,” he wrote.
Dennis added: “Contrary to written assurances from the club president, we have been advised by members, and it has been confirmed in subsequent discussion with the club president, that a senior club official wrote to members, endorsing incumbent board members.”
The club is regulated by Consumer Affairs Victoria, which confirmed, through a spokesperson, that it was aware of the dispute.
The lawn courts at Kooyong.Credit: Getty
“Members are encouraged to follow the dispute resolution procedure provided for in the rules of the association. If this fails, members can seek assistance via the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria or seek legal redress through the Magistrates Court,” the spokesperson said.
The group of concerned members is also demanding transparency from the board as to when they were made aware of the club’s losses.
“We would like to better understand when the board first became aware of the negative club financial data which was first shared with members towards the conclusion of voting in the board election. The 2023 AGM minutes indicate a significant loss was apparent at the end of financial year, some many weeks before the election process commenced.”
The letter concluded: “Ladies and gentlemen, transparency shouldn’t be this hard?”
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.