An ongoing political stoush between FFV members and the FFV board could end up in the courts. Five directors of the board are facing calls from the FFV membership to be removed and for fresh elections to be held to fill their positions. It follows serious concerns from members about the composition of the board and the transparency in appointing some directors.
The members have called a Special General Meeting on 21 December for the purpose of voting on resolutions asking for the removal of FFV directors John Lewis, Tammi Rose, Sam Prenesti, Cam Cimino and Sandra Lordanic.
Current FFV president Kimon Taliadoros has agreed to chair the SGM.
Although the exact percentage of members supporting the directors’ removal is uncertain, it appears to be substantial given 23 of the 26 member representatives have signed a requisition notice for the directors to be removed.
The members’ grievances revolve around the process of how directors have been appointed to the board, with many believing the process lacks transparency and has led to the board comprising of too many co-opted directors rather than elected ones.
The current situation stems from the resignation of two directors early into their terms last year. Faced with the task of filling two casual vacancies, then FFV president Nick Monteleone and his board chose the option of co-opting Cam Cimino and Sam Prenesti to fill the vacancies, rather than calling a Special General Meeting or waiting till the upcoming AGM (March 2015) to allow the members to vote on who should fill the vacancies. They did this despite the advice of FFA CEO David Gallop, who in an email letter to Monteleone mid-2014, advised him to fill the two casual vacancies through election by the members.
Monteleone responded to Gallop by writing: “With regards to the casual vacancies, the FFV board have sought and received independent legal advice on the matter and have resolved the following: That the current director vacancies be filled by board appointment, in accordance with the FFV Constitution and following a publicly advertised and transparent interviewing and selection process.”
Members have complained that the process of advertising for the vacant positions was not transparent and that some of the current directors who were serving at the time were complicit in that process.
FFV CEO Peter Gome did not respond when asked to comment on the current relationship between members and the current board, but when asked about whether or not he believed the members’ concerns about the board’s composition and governance were valid, he responded by telling Neos Kosmos:
“The directors at the FFV board today have been elected with and pursuant to the constitution. There is no legal issue with the current directors. The game has never been in a better shape in Victoria. We’ve experienced 13 per cent growth this year against a national average of 7 per cent. Its double that of NSW and triple that of Queensland. FFV is in a very healthy state financially and the game is in great shape. And I think if you’d like to talk to players, coaches and referees, they would all tell you that football is in a great shape in Victoria in 2015.” Gome declined to answer further questions on the matter.
FFV South East Zone members’ representative and Mens Standing Committee chairman Harry Zaitman told Neos Kosmos that “the membership believes it deserves a voice and believes it deserves representation at board level, of the stakeholders”.
“We’ll ask for these appointed directors to be removed and others by association that never shared information with the members as they should’ve in due proper process. And then we’ll ask for elections to be held to fill those positions. What’s at stake? The outcome should be, Victorian Football has a better, more reflective representation at board level.
“I just think it needs to be played out you know,” Zaitman added. “If the FFV decide to dig in they’re just going to turn more and more people away from the game. They can’t stop the voice of the membership in my opinion, if it’s so overwhelming. It’s like you run a business and you ask for people to work for you who aren’t working in your best interests.
Why would you want that? They’re very much trying to divide and pick the ones that support them. But the support is dwindling. I don’t want to go into detail about admin and football matters because that’s all reflective of leadership from the board. That’s where it needs to start. You’ve got to fix your board before you can get to any of the other issues.”
Another who added his voice to the concerns of the membership is Men’s Standing Committee member and former regional zone representative Frank Trimboli who told Neos Kosmos, ” I’m disappointed with what’s happening at the moment. At the end of the day, the leadership of the game is at a stalemate and we’re all suffering. The leadership should come from the whole board, not just the president. The president needs support from the other board members. I don’t care who is right or wrong. Pick up the phone and talk to the members and find out what their concerns are.”
Current FFV director Tal Karp who was elected to the board at the last AGM in March 2015, along with president Kimon Taliadoros and Nicholas Tsiaras, was approached for comment but declined explaining she was not authorized to comment on behalf of the board. So far the Board has not issued any public statement in response to the Members’ concerns or actions.
As this story continues to unfold FFV CEO Gome was able to confirm that one of the directors who was co-opted late last year by Nick Monteleone’s board, Sam Prenesti has recently stepped down.
Gome couldn’t confirm or deny that the other co-opted director Cam Cimino has also stepped down.