David Koch likes to say that he “deals in facts” and “relies on data”. Well, when it comes to AFL controlled clubs, the data is in, and it is irrefutable. Only one of the clubs that The Governance Institute of Australia defined as “AFL owned clubs” has won a premiership since 2005. With Sydney winning the solitary flag for these 5 clubs way back in 2012. That’s one flag from 19! Even if you exclude the two newer clubs, it is still less than ⅓ of what should be expected in that time frame.
Should this be any surprise? It is human nature that the board members and the board as a whole pay attention to where they are held accountable. In this structure they are accountable to the AFL who crave stability, not the members who demand success.
The Governance Institute of Australia says that “The practice of AFL having a power to approve some of the directors of the AFL owned clubs is not transparent and no specifics are provided as to the process how this occurs and what governance processes are in place by the AFL to do so”. How then can members be confident in the clubs statement that they “exist to win premierships” when the board structure is so lacking in transparency. Especially when the goal of “3 flags in 5 years” looks like going by without any success, and without any sign of anyone being held accountable.
Who has been held accountable at the club for the recent finals failures? Not the coach who apparently “does not have the list”, nor any of his key assistants. Not the football department who created that list. Not the CEO who seems to think we are going swimmingly. Nor the President who now claims just making finals was a “pass mark”.
As Tim Ginever said “Winning is everything. Somebody else tells you something else, they’re not Port Adelaide. They don’t think like Port Adelaide. That’s all we accept.”
No wonder the members are frustrated.
As mentioned previously The Adelaide Crows managed to enshrine an opportunity to change all this in their constitution when the AFL gained control in 2014. This opportunity is to occur at the latest in 2028 at the “grant completion date” when they have officially paid off their licence for a second time. There is also provision for it to occur sooner if the AFL and the club can agree. What shape that board electing “membership” will take is still up for debate and Crows fans will hope that they have at least the majority say.
Unfortunately Port Adelaide has no such guarantee. Nevertheless this is something that all people who truly want a successful Port Adelaide should be pushing for, and sooner rather than later. As David Koch says, the facts and the data speak for themselves.
The criticism from those within the club, who seem more willing to pat themselves on the back than be exposed to accountability, is that a member controlled board will be dominated by ex football players. Contrary to Tim Ginevers statements about the wisdom of the Port Adelaide members, the current custodians think that they cannot be trusted. The reality when you look around at other clubs is quite different. In fact the 11 totally member controlled clubs (predominantly in Victoria) have won 16 of those same 19 flags (with only the WAFC owned West Coast chiming in for the remaining 2). Those member controlled clubs seem to be doing OK.
Port Adelaide thrived for over 150 years on the accountability that comes from a strong and at times brutally honest membership base. This base has shown over the years that their collective wisdom has been able to elect a functional board that has held the club accountable and ensured enduring success.The members have always responded to the calls from their past great presidents to include and elect the right skills onto the board with the added bonus that the members ensured they were real “Port people”
Nevertheless AFL clubs are now big businesses and a range of skills based board members is seen as the best practice. Financial acumen, legal expertise, sponsorship experience, strategic planning and diversity all need to be considered along with football acumen in a modern board. There is no reason that Port Adelaide cannot have the best of both worlds. For an abundance of caution it would not be difficult to give the President (or the elected board) the power to hand pick three of the nine board members to ensure that those skills are accounted for whilst still giving the members primary control.
It would create a strong voting block of the President and his three “captains calls” that would ensure board stability and at the same time would allow the elected members to have a significant say when they are all in alignment on the correct course of action.
At the same time best practice would suggest a 6 or 9 year maximum term for board members could be introduced. Once again finding the balance between the stability of multiple 3-year terms, whilst avoiding the stagnation of board and admin that has seen the custodians so inactive in the face of finals failures. For 12 years the promised premiership has been “coming soon”, there is nothing like a fixed term to add some urgency to the actions.
As the old sign at Alberton used to say “Individuals win the ball. Teams win games. Clubs win premierships.” It is time for Port Adelaide to become a real, member controlled club again and to add to that 2004 AFL flag. And the time to start that fight is NOW.
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