TOPIC:

Dear all,

My name is Damian Matthews and I am a past President of the Perth Football Club.

You may or may not be aware that there is a public notice in today's West telling members that there is to be a Special General Meeting on 19 June 2018 to pass a Special Resolution to adopt a new constitution.

This has been prompted by the new Incorporated Associations Act 2015, as the notice sets out, and is non-controversial to that extent.

However, the new constitution does not guarantee members a vote if an alignment with an AFL club is proposed.

I am going to recommend to the Club that the new constitution provide for this. It seems like a very fair thing to me given what we have seen of alignments around the place and the complaints from members of other clubs that they never got a real say.

I am going to propose that:

(1) any alignment proposal got to the membership for a vote; and
(2) it can only get up if there is a 75% majority (the usual majority for big changes such as amalgamation etc).

At the moment the Board could agree to enter into an alignment arrangement without referring the matters to members or, if they did, they could simply ignore what the members thought.

I am, of course, not saying this would ever happen but now is the time to make sure it doesn't.

A compromise suggested is to include the need for a vote of members in the by laws and for the vote to be an ordinary majority.

This is no protection at all because the Board can change the by laws at any time without reference to members. In other words, don't fall for that one.

I am seeking that members on here:

(1) email support for the amendment requiring a 75% vote of members to enter into an alignment to the club at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or other club email addresses if you have them;
(2) make sure you come to the meeting on 19 June;
(3) distribute this through your own lines of communication to as many members as possible.

The timeline is short. Notice in the paper on 1 June with the Club wanting proposed amendments by 5 June (ie next Tuesday with Monday being a public holiday). So if you want to make sure that there is no alignment without members having a say, action stations please!!

Kind regards

Damian

Curious as to who drafted the proposed constitution? And why they would not have included a provision such as this in the first place.

FreeDees wrote: Dear all,

My name is Damian Matthews and I am a past President of the Perth Football Club.

You may or may not be aware that there is a public notice in today's West telling members that there is to be a Special General Meeting on 19 June 2018 to pass a Special Resolution to adopt a new constitution.

This has been prompted by the new Incorporated Associations Act 2015, as the notice sets out, and is non-controversial to that extent.

However, the new constitution does not guarantee members a vote if an alignment with an AFL club is proposed.

I am going to recommend to the Club that the new constitution provide for this. It seems like a very fair thing to me given what we have seen of alignments around the place and the complaints from members of other clubs that they never got a real say.

I am going to propose that:

(1) any alignment proposal got to the membership for a vote; and
(2) it can only get up if there is a 75% majority (the usual majority for big changes such as amalgamation etc).

At the moment the Board could agree to enter into an alignment arrangement without referring the matters to members or, if they did, they could simply ignore what the members thought.

I am, of course, not saying this would ever happen but now is the time to make sure it doesn't.

A compromise suggested is to include the need for a vote of members in the by laws and for the vote to be an ordinary majority.

This is no protection at all because the Board can change the by laws at any time without reference to members. In other words, don't fall for that one.

I am seeking that members on here:

(1) email support for the amendment requiring a 75% vote of members to enter into an alignment to the club at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or other club email addresses if you have them;
(2) make sure you come to the meeting on 19 June;
(3) distribute this through your own lines of communication to as many members as possible.

The timeline is short. Notice in the paper on 1 June with the Club wanting proposed amendments by 5 June (ie next Tuesday with Monday being a public holiday). So if you want to make sure that there is no alignment without members having a say, action stations please!!

Kind regards

Damian

FreeDees I would suggest that the 75% majority figure INCLUDES ALL ELIGIBLE MEMBERS not just 75% of those in attendance at the AGM or Special General Meeting.

Thanking you FD for bringing this to peoples attention.
Just curious why the time-frame is too short. With only a five day window (which includes a long weekend).
Hoping all Perth members see the notice and place a submission to the club at the earliest.

Good on you Damian hopefully all Perth members support your proposal. I know you are a passionate Perth man.

The reason it’s short notice is they don’t want members to ark up and make a noise.
I wouldn’t trust the Pesident and CEO as far as I could throw them.

Curious to see how hard they go at recruiting next season based on this.

Damien: I too would suggest that the vote be of 'fiancial members, in the form of a 'postal ballot' subject to scrutiny by a 'returnning officer'.

good luck.

30plusyeardrought wrote: The reason it’s short notice is they don’t want members to ark up and make a noise.
I wouldn’t trust the Pesident and CEO as far as I could throw them.

Curious to see how hard they go at recruiting next season based on this.

Oh deary me!....
That does not install a great deal of confidence.
Wonder what's changed from the position of 12 months ago.

westaussie: In modern times, the PFC has always had a split board in terms of whether the club follows the dictats of the Commission -- think of 'Peel', 'the Southern Districts' proposal, and the mixed signals which the board has sent out on the 'alignment' over the years.

two things have kept Perth out of the alignment

a) EP
b) the inflence of the pro-Perth faction the board, and, most of all among the membership

in other words, the club is very finely ballanced and matters could change quickly over night

The plot thickens. Or, should I say " the conspiracy theory morphs into fact." ?
Read what you like into this but something definitely smells.