Thursday 13 June 2019

ARTICLE: "Not Black and White", by John Townsend (Swan Districts oppose changes to WAFC), 13/6/2019.

It’s good to see that Swan Districts has the courage to stand up against the VFL demigods and their WA sycophants at the WAFC. Swans want grassroots people to have a say.
Not Black And White
JOHN TOWNSEND

ARTICLE: Swan Districts oppose WA Football Commission electoral changes. Swan Districts are the only WA football stakeholders to oppose constitutional changes to the WA Football Commission that would formalise the complex election system in place for most of this century.

The two AFL clubs and eight other WAFL clubs agreed to the constitutional changes required by all WA organisations before June 30 under the new Associations Incorporation Act.

A WAFC special general meeting was held at Subiaco Oval last night to formally ratify the changes that were endorsed by the clubs this month.

But Swans opposed the changes and want the WAFC to apply the recommendations of the 2017 structural review of football to overhaul the current governance structure.

Swans' chief executive Jeff Dennis declined to comment yesterday and president Peter Hodyl could not be contacted.

Under the WAFC constitution, the nine WAFL clubs have half the votes at commission elections while the two AFL clubs have the other half.

But that is not applied in practice with the WAFC using the model designed in the 2001 Crawford report that gives 20 per cent of the votes to each of West Coast and Fremantle, 30 per cent to the combined WAFL clubs, 20 per cent to the commission itself and the final 10 per cent to community football, such as amateur and country associations.

Swans argue that the current breakdown, with the AFL clubs and commission holding a majority of votes, ensures the WAFL clubs will be invariably outvoted in any matter that conflicts between the two levels of the game.

A WAFC spokesman said a full governance review would be undertaken and was expected to be finished next year.

No comments:

Post a Comment

OPINION: On the Prison Bars: From Destiny by Dr Norman Ashton (2018), p. 153.

From Destiny by Dr Norman Ashton (2018), p. 153: Given who the opponent was to be in 1997, a letter of 1 September 1995 from Collingwood Pre...