Why my team is better than yours
Replacing current Chairman Dalton Gooding in October 2007 will be Mark Barnaba, who is currently Deputy Chairman.
The changes have been ratified by the WAFC and WAFC chairman Dr Neale Fong had this ringing endorsment:
“The West Coast Eagles are clearly the benchmark for other AFL clubs, both on and off the field. A key contributor to that success has been the high level of board performance. The establishment of a defined succession plan is another example of the thorough planning undertaken by the club. The Commission is confident that the West Coast Eagles will continue to be successful into the future.”
Retiring Cairman Dalton Gooding had this to say:
“Our football club is in great shape at the moment and we want our members and supporters to feel confident that we have planned for the future and wish to capitalise on our current successful trend.”
I think he’s right. The supporters and member should feel confident in the board and how it has managed and lead the club, not just in recent years but over a long period of time. There are a couple of good accounts of the bumpy ride the club had in the early years (eg “Soaring” and “Behind the Play”) where shoddy management, gung-ho recklessness and power plays threatened to derail the whole thing. But since the early 90s the club has steadily modelled a measured and pro-active approach to making the West Coast Eagles the best possible football club it can be.
There have been some hiccups - the Ken Judge affair (both appointment and subsequent removal), the ochre jumpers, and maybe even some recent bad press surrounding some player’s off-field associations. But really in 15 years, that really isn’t too bad. When is comes to the performance of the club, the Eagles have it on the board.
Which gets me to my point. I think board representation by supporters is totally over-rated. A number of years ago fellow WAFC club the Dockers responded to a less than successful 2001 season by appointing 2 member elected delegates to the board at the request of the disgruntled faithful. It was celebrated as an achievement of great note, we will have a say in our club they said, it’s a win for democracy and the great Americ… err Australian way. Great.
Well I think it’s over-rated.
Democracy has it’s place, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t think it in the running of multi-million professional sporting enterprise, that’s all. No offence to my fellow supporters, but I’ve read enough forums, had enough arguments over a drink and enough post-game discussions of forwardline set-ups to know the average supporter LOVES his (or her) footy, but that doesn’t translate into the highly skilled nature of running a complex enterprise.
I’m sorry but having the lowest common demoninator have a say in issues of financial and risk management, strategic direction and issues of corporate governence is not a recipe for success. I’d say in fact the opposite. I’d say the political blood-letting and egotistical posturing that goes on at some traditional Victorian clubs is evidence enough of that.
But you say isn’t good for the supporters to have a voice? Yes and we all do. It’s how you support your club after all. Ultimately, a well run and managed club knows it is in their best interests (emotionally and fiscally) to ensure your club has success and likewise it is in the supporters interest to see that his (or her) club makes for itself a competitive advantage by ensuring the BEST people are able to lead the club without the unnecessary overbearing political agendas that ‘democratic’ climates bring.
Do you want your club to have the best coach possible? Of course you do because you recognise the better the coach the better chance your team has of achieving success and bringing your little existence and ray of sunshine.
Why should issues of governence be any different? You shouldn’t want your mate Bob from the cheersquad overseeing or contributing to strategic off-field decisions any more than you’d want him in the box going head to head with Kevin Sheedy. No amount of pleading ‘fairness’ would disguise the insanity of it.
And so I have a similar view on my club’s boards.
Make my team win and what will I care who on the board. That way we all win.
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