As a result of our piece Rules are to be Broken in – In Football Anyway we received a phone call from the Chairman of Fooball West defending the position taken by his board. As we have always done, we gave him the right to reply and so now publish the response from Football West’s board.
Dear Mr Morrison
We note your blog with respect to the recent Football West Board appointments with some concern and advise that all Football West board appointments were made in compliance with the Football West Constitution. Furthermore, we note that there were only two nominations from the WA football public for two vacant board positions and the two candidates were duly elected. The Football West board consists of 6 Elected Directors which must be voted in by the Football West Members and have a term of 4 years and 3 Appointed Directors who are appointed by the Football West board and have a term of two years. Elected Directors can stand for two consecutive terms of 4 years after which they must retire for a two year period unless they are elected Chairman, under which that person can serve on further 4 year term. Appointed Directors are brought onto the board to compliment or add to the existing skill set and their two year term can be renewed at the discretion of the board on an ongoing basis. There is no article in the Football West constitution restricting a retiring Elected Director from becoming an Appointed Director.
Mr Mackay is a long serving and well respected member of the football community with particular knowledge and expertise in dealing with the Social Master and Amateurs. In the absence of any other member of the football community coming forward with the requisite skills, the Football West board acted in compliance with the Football West constitution and made Mr Mackay an Appointed Director.
The board of Football West absolutely rejects the inference that any of its conduct was deliberately in conflict with the Football West constitution or that its conduct was not in the best interests of the game.
With respect to Mr Lui Giuliani, he remains a passionate supporter of Perth Glory FC but he currently does not have an official role and has not acted in any such official capacity at Perth Glory that would disqualify himself from being a Director of Football West. We have contacted Perth Glory who we understand will correct the oversight on their website with respect to Mr Giuliani.
Yours faithfully
Liam Twigger
Chairman
Football West
As mentioned in our piece we took legal advice which stated that Mr Mackay’ reappointment was unconstitutional. Football West’s legal advice stated that it was. During the discussion with Mr Twigger it was agreed by both parties that the current Constitution was extremely clumsily worded, leading to two legal experts disagreeing on the interpretation of its meaning. Hopefully in his role as Chairman Mr Twigger will now move for the Constitution to be reworded so that the conditions are no longer ambiguous.
It would also be welcomed if he would reduce the term of office to a more reasonable 2- 3 year term in line with most other boards. His predecessor Kevin Campbell admitted at an AGM that this was only set up initially to give the board some continuity in its early formation. However it has never been changed by the two Chairmen since.
With regards to Mr Guiliani’s appointment Not the Footy Show asked Perth Glory if he was still involved with the club in an official capacity, – not whether he signed off on the accounts in a professional capacity – and on 03 February the club advised that Mr Guiliani was still a part of their set up. At the time of publishing Mr Twigger’s letter Mr Guiliani is still listed as being a part of Perth Glory’s advisory board. It would be good if the club were to put out an official statement confirming that he no longer has any involvement with the club in any capacity to avoid any confusion, and the Football West board any embarrassment.
Having read Mr Twigger’s response and your article again, in my opinion the Board are the ones who come out in a poor light. The constitution may be ambiguous, but if that is the case make sure that you do not put yourselves in this position. Mr McKay – who I do not know – being appointed again when he has served two terms makes the board look like a mates club and a closed shop. They very image it has in football. Are you trying to say the board could not find another candidate from all the clubs in Social, Masters and amateur football? One suspects they did not try, or are so out of touch with this level of the game they would not know who to talk to. This is a poor reflection on them. In my opinion Mr Mackay if he was any kind of man and was as in touch as Mr Twigger makes out with this section of the game would have sourced a replacement as his term came to an end. It does not reflect well on any of them. Despite whether it is allowed or not.
Secondly Mr Giuliani’s appointment, seriously what does he bring to the table? What did he do at Perth Glory? He seemed to simply float around Tony Sage and do nothing, he certainly looked weak on football knowledge. Do the board really need a third accountant? Surely one at most would be enough. How could they allow him to sit in on meetings until Perth Glory took his name down from their site or announced he was no longer involved?
No wonder people no longer attend AGM’s, stand for the board and have no faith in the game in WA. This is not good leadership, if Mr Twigger is genuine about doing good for the game he will as you say change the constitution, but that will not suit the cronies sitting alongside him, and is never likely to happen.