Berkeley_Eagle
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Parramatta Board go to war
By Josh Massoud and Dean Ritch
February 17, 2009
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...001023,00.html
POLITICAL in-fighting at Parramatta has re-ignited, with the new football club board sensationally trying to have CEO Denis Fitzgerald removed from Monday night's meeting.
After a quiet two months following the bitter war for control of the club at last December's AGM, Fitzgerald's tenure was again under fire after he refused to comply with a motion to leave all seven directors to discuss his position in private.
Parramatta insiders yesterday told The Daily Telegraph that the four new directors - Eels greats Ray Price, Brett Kenny and Eric Grothe, and property developer John Chidiac - fronted their second meeting with a precise intention to use their majority to prevent Fitzgerald from voting in future.
Upon sweeping to power, the 3P ticket declared the CEO should not be entitled to a vote because he is employed by the board, as opposed to being a director elected by the membership. A motion was moved and seconded for Fitzgerald to leave the room while a vote of the directors was taken. Fitzgerald, however, refused to budge.
Chairman Ron Hilditch - one of just three directors to survive last December's bloodshed - also opposed the motion. Insiders at the club then claimed the two factions exchanged spirited words before the meeting was closed with Fitzgerald still in attendance.
Price - who was the public face of the 3P ticket and a long-time critic of Fitzgerald's influence over the club - refused to comment. "I can't say anything because the meeting is bound by rules of confidentiality,'' Price said.
His allies, Grothe, Kenny and Chidiac, also refused to talk when contacted by The Daily Telegraph. Fitzgerald was also tight-lipped. "I've got no comment,'' he said. "What happens within a board meeting is confidential.
"However, quite obviously other board members have difficulty maintaining that confidentiality.''
Although both sides vowed to "work together'' immediately after the new board was elected, Monday night's stoush makes it hard to see how that promise can be delivered. Legal sources claimed Fitzgerald's refusal to comply with a seconded motion from the board could amount to justifiable grounds for dismissal.
And it is understood the new directors are keeping their legal options to force a show of hands on Fitzgerald's right to vote. Supreme Court action is not out of the question, with a judge able to issue an injunction against Fitzgerald's right to vote if he or she determined it was awarded unconstitutionally.
The latest sensation comes a little over two months before the Parramatta Leagues Club elections in late April, which 3P also plan to contest to complete their overhaul.
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By Josh Massoud and Dean Ritch
February 17, 2009
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...001023,00.html
POLITICAL in-fighting at Parramatta has re-ignited, with the new football club board sensationally trying to have CEO Denis Fitzgerald removed from Monday night's meeting.
After a quiet two months following the bitter war for control of the club at last December's AGM, Fitzgerald's tenure was again under fire after he refused to comply with a motion to leave all seven directors to discuss his position in private.
Parramatta insiders yesterday told The Daily Telegraph that the four new directors - Eels greats Ray Price, Brett Kenny and Eric Grothe, and property developer John Chidiac - fronted their second meeting with a precise intention to use their majority to prevent Fitzgerald from voting in future.
Upon sweeping to power, the 3P ticket declared the CEO should not be entitled to a vote because he is employed by the board, as opposed to being a director elected by the membership. A motion was moved and seconded for Fitzgerald to leave the room while a vote of the directors was taken. Fitzgerald, however, refused to budge.
Chairman Ron Hilditch - one of just three directors to survive last December's bloodshed - also opposed the motion. Insiders at the club then claimed the two factions exchanged spirited words before the meeting was closed with Fitzgerald still in attendance.
Price - who was the public face of the 3P ticket and a long-time critic of Fitzgerald's influence over the club - refused to comment. "I can't say anything because the meeting is bound by rules of confidentiality,'' Price said.
His allies, Grothe, Kenny and Chidiac, also refused to talk when contacted by The Daily Telegraph. Fitzgerald was also tight-lipped. "I've got no comment,'' he said. "What happens within a board meeting is confidential.
"However, quite obviously other board members have difficulty maintaining that confidentiality.''
Although both sides vowed to "work together'' immediately after the new board was elected, Monday night's stoush makes it hard to see how that promise can be delivered. Legal sources claimed Fitzgerald's refusal to comply with a seconded motion from the board could amount to justifiable grounds for dismissal.
And it is understood the new directors are keeping their legal options to force a show of hands on Fitzgerald's right to vote. Supreme Court action is not out of the question, with a judge able to issue an injunction against Fitzgerald's right to vote if he or she determined it was awarded unconstitutionally.
The latest sensation comes a little over two months before the Parramatta Leagues Club elections in late April, which 3P also plan to contest to complete their overhaul.
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