Club Mgmt. Board of Directors as led by President Dave Barham

[Lore]

Spoiler: Timeline of events

• 15/8: President, Paul Brasher resigns, replaced by Dave Barham who foreshadows external review
  • Votes for Brasher: Peter Allen, Simon Madden, Sean Wellman
    Sean Wellman

    Age

    49

    Ht

    193cm

    Wt

    90kg

    Pos.

    Def

    Career

    Season

    Last 5

    D

    14.1

    4star

    K

    9.7

    4star

    HB

    4.5

    3star

    M

    4.5

    4star

    T

    1.0

    3star

    No current season stats available

    D

    8.0

    2star

    K

    4.4

    2star

    HB

    3.6

    3star

    M

    2.6

    3star

    T

    0.8

    3star

  • Votes for Barham: Andrew Muir, Dorothy Hisgrove, Melissa Green, Kate O’Sullivan, Kevin Sheedy
• 21/8: Senior Coach, Ben Rutten
  Ben Rutten

  Age

  41

  Ht

  190cm

  Wt

  98kg

  Pos.

  Def

  Career

  Season

  Last 5

  D

  13.4

  3star

  K

  6.3

  2star

  HB

  7.0

  4star

  M

  5.3

  5star

  T

  1.3

  3star

  No current season stats available

  D

  10.6

  3star

  K

  6.2

  3star

  HB

  4.4

  4star

  M

  3.6

  4star

  T

  1.0

  3star

  sacked
• 24/8: CEO, Xavier Campbell resigns
• 24/8: Directors to resign
  • Paul Brasher, immediately
  • Simon Madden, immediately
  • Sean Wellman, after new football director is appointed
  • Peter Allen, after AGM & finance portfolio handover in December
• 26/8: Details of coaching selection committee appointment
  • Sub-committee of 6: Josh Mahoney
    Josh Mahoney

    Age

    46

    Ht

    180cm

    Wt

    83kg

    Pos.

    Fwd

    Career

    Season

    Last 5

    D

    11.3

    3star

    K

    6.8

    3star

    HB

    4.5

    3star

    M

    3.5

    4star

    T

    1.6

    4star

    G

    0.9

    4star

    No current season stats available

    D

    9.2

    3star

    K

    5.4

    2star

    HB

    3.8

    3star

    M

    2.2

    3star

    T

    1.6

    4star

    G

    0.4

    3star

    (Chair, GM-Footy), Robert Walls, Jordan Lewis
    Jordan Lewis

    Age

    38

    Ht

    186cm

    Wt

    86kg

    Pos.

    D/M

    Career

    Season

    Last 5

    D

    23.5

    5star

    K

    12.1

    4star

    HB

    11.5

    5star

    M

    5.5

    5star

    T

    2.7

    4star

    MG

    310.5

    4star

    No current season stats available

    D

    15.0

    4star

    K

    6.8

    3star

    HB

    8.2

    5star

    M

    4.8

    5star

    T

    2.8

    5star

    , Simone McKinnis OAM, Andrew Thorburn and Dorothy Hisgrove (board member).
• 26/8: Details of external review process
  • Ernst & Young to coordinate with support from Andrew Thorburn, working closely with Nick Ryan (Acting CEO) & Dorothy Hisgrove (board member)
  • Focusing on four areas: (1) Board effectiveness & composition, (2) a review of leadership, operations and culture including the footy department, (3) the senior coach appointment and (4) the new CEO appointment.
• 26/9: Andrew Welsh appointed to the board of directors, replacing Simon Madden
• 29/9: Brad Scott appointed as Senior Coach
• 30/9: Kevin Sheedy claims decision to appoint Brad Scott was 6-1 against him
• 3/10: Andrew Thorburn appointed as CEO - alternative link
• 3/10: “External review to be handed to the board next week”: Andrew Thorburn, Crichton Medal Address
• 4/10: Andrew Thorburn resigns as CEO
• 11/10: External review preliminary findings
• 24/10: External review preliminary findings II
• 2/11: Dan McPherson appointed as General Manager of Performance & Cam Roberts as Head of Development
• 11/11: Dean Rioli appointed to the board of directors, replacing Paul Brasher
• 14/11: Tim Roberts & David Wills appointed to the board of directors, replacing Sean Wellman and Paul Allen respectively
• 28/11: Dorothy Hisgrove announced as first female vice-president (at the Essendon Women's Best and Fairest night)
• 1/12: Craig Vozzo appointed as CEO
• 13/12: Board director election results: Andrew Welsh and Andrew Muir elected
• 15/5: The club's First Nations Advisory Council established, to be led by Dean Rioli (chair, Indigenous board member), and including: Leanne Brooke (EFC EGM – Community & The Long Walk. Essendon FC), Dorothy Hisgrove (EFC VP and National Manager Partner KPMG), Kane Ellis (CEO of Illawarra Aboriginal Medical Service), John Evans (Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Engagement at Swinburne) and Che Cockatoo-Collins (EM, Indigenous Affairs NBN, EFC Past Player)
• 16/5: Board of Directors declare support for the First Nations Voice to Parliament, after consultation with the new First Nations Advisory Council
• 28/8: EGM - Football, Josh Mahoney has accepted a role as GM Football Operations at the AFL
• 10/10: GM - Performance Daniel McPherson, and Head of AFLW/AFL Operations Manager Aysha Ward have been elevated to the club executive as joint leaders of the club's football department, as GM-AFL and GM-AFLW respectively

 

[andleanback]

why can’t people people in positions of power follow a process at this football club, always want to make a captains call and go their own way. Thorburn should’ve never even been involved with picking the ceo, was a red flag for me straight away. Next minute barham is moreorless offering him the job. Thank god he will never actually be our ceo

 

[Lore]

Swiftness may be the only things that saves Barham. He brought it to a head and resolved it in a day which is something I guess.

Yeah as opposed to hanging Rutten out on the line for a week first

 

[westking]

What an embarrassment. Middle to late aged wealthy males entirely devoid of reality. These type of ppl are the real problem at this club.

 

[Gabe251]

But many Muslims are. So the scenario I posed is far from impossible.

The irony that the same media would then smash the club for Islamohobia...

Anybody who is homophobic should not be a leader of an organisation. Don't care what religious group you are part of.

 

[P Money]

To be perfectly clear, a person who leads your organisation should hold the values of the organisation. If it's clear the person does not hold the values ie. Will not denounce homophobia even though they have close ties to a homophobic organisation, they should not be able to be in that position.

Yes. Screen them for bigoted ideas. Being Christian does not mean bigoted. Being bigoted means bigoted. Many Christians are not homophobic

Late to the party here but 100% agree. Nobody can expect to hold a senior position of an organisation (let alone the CEO) and publicly hold views (let alone simultaneously be the chairman of an organisation that espouses views) diametrically opposed to that organisation.

Let’s be clear: he wasn’t forced to resign because he’s a Christian - he was forced to resign because of the clear conflict of values of organisations that he led. So any ‘whatabouts’ referring to followers of Islam or any other religion are misguided.

You’d also have to assume that the club fielded some choice phone calls from sponsors who weren’t too keen on being represented by those views and values.

I have a lot of personal views which I’ll leave out of this, but suffice to say I’m very happy the club at least had the courage to nip this in the bud, notwithstanding some proper process and due diligence could have avoided this situation altogether.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[justlookingaround]

Not really seeing the abortion side mentioned very much.

His church wants to outlaw abortion even in the circumstances of r*pe and incest and equates it to murder.

You can cry out ‘respect people’s views’ however much you want - but views like this are cruel, archaic and have no place in modern society.

 

[Bombermania]

What an embarrassment. Middle to late aged wealthy males entirely devoid of reality. These type of ppl are the real problem at this club.

If only they were the only people with those views but they are not.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Cancel culture at its finest.

guy has a track record of running inclusive workplaces yet he loses his job because he doesnr denounce his church.

even being associated with religion anymore is enough to lose your job, even if you openly say you support people of different sexual orientation.

whilst this is stupid, I suppose it was inevitable in 2022.

 

[The Prosecutor]

Barham needs to go.

 

[citizen-erased]

well...we have a coach and CEO now
how about that Norf

Feck
I made the norf thread with this post though.

 

[Seagrave_Holmes]

There was a process for the Coach, but no process for the CEO.

It's like one step forward, two steps back.

 

[Gabe251]

Cancel culture at its finest.

guy has a track record of running inclusive workplaces yet he loses his job because he doesnr denounce his church.

even being associated with religion anymore is enough to lose your job, even if you openly say you support people of different sexual orientation.

whilst this is stupid, I suppose it was inevitable in 2022.

How hard is it to say homophobia is wrong?

How hard is it to say 'i don't have a right to decide whether a woman can keep her baby or not'?

 

[The Airing of Grievances]

The results of the independent review have come in and the big findings were:

We need a coach with similar attributes to Chris Scott. [Brad, tick]

We need to nab a CEO that runs the club like Hawthorn was in their Premiership era, and can exorcise the demons within the club. [Thorburn, tick]

When it's apparently 'acceptance' by force, I'd suggest wrongly.

Are we going to start screening potential draftees on their personal/religious views now?

Well you raise an interesting question. Suppose we draft someone who turns out to be that elite game breaking mid we've been yearning for . He becomes a team leader commanding the respect of the rest of the player group. Then he suddenly tweets that he can no longer stay silent, and goes all Izzy Folau. What do you suppose happens next?

 

[HirdsTheWord]

How hard is it to say homophobia is wrong?

How hard is it to say 'i don't have a right to decide whether a woman can keep her baby or not'?

why are his personal views at all related to how the guy does his job?

if he is running an inclusive workplace wtf does it matter what his personal beleifs are?

the guy literally said he accepts people of different sexial orientation. If he was homophobic I doubt he would say it.

 

[citizen-erased]

All jokes aside, how can you actually bullet-proof a process to stop an appointment like this from happening? Check with the media first I guess to see if they have any dirt on the candidate…?

You'd generally ask what boards they're on to ensure no conflict of interest

Zero doubt the board knew of this
The issue is they didnt see this coming to avoid it

 

[MiguelM]

I just want to know who Sheeds voted for!

Hird for CEO?

 

[Seagrave_Holmes]

Barham needs to go.

If the no-process appointment of the CEO is his doing, then yes, this has to be considered.

 

[nipst@r]

What an embarrassment. Middle to late aged wealthy males entirely devoid of reality. These type of ppl are the real problem at this club.

We seem to lack diversity across all levels. Heck even our midfield and list is made primarily of midget private school flankers and mids.

 

[Eleven 38]

We need to nab a CEO that runs the club like Hawthorn was in their Premiership era, and can exorcise the demons within the club. [Thorburn, tick]

Head of a church is probably a good candidate to actually exorcise demons, do you think he would have got that done overnight? Hope so.

 

[andleanback]

Pretty clear Andrew wouldnt publicly denounce homophobia. No place for somebody who won't denounce that in our club.

Terrible decision for the club in the first place.

Club is a mess but * off if you can't denounce homophobia and you're in a position of power.

Was a car crash interview this morning. His statement tonight again makes it clear he was a terrible fit.

 

[Doss]

Was a car crash interview this morning. His statement tonight again makes it clear he was a terrible fit.

The statement was self-indulgent bullshit and twaddle. Good riddance.

 

[Vander18]

why can’t people people in positions of power follow a process at this football club, always want to make a captains call and go their own way. Thorburn should’ve never even been involved with picking the ceo, was a red flag for me straight away. Next minute barham is moreorless offering him the job. Thank god he will never actually be our ceo

I thought he was on the review panel, not the CEO panel

 

[Inspecta Gadget]

Anybody who is homophobic should not be a leader of an organisation. Don't care what religious group you are part of.

Do you honestly believe if we picked a middle eastern bloke who openly practices Islam he would have been smashed the same way Thorburn was?

 

[citizen-erased]

I can’t see how Barham stays on, not a single supporter would be confident in the board and the decisions it makes for the football club.

Just see the next 6m out.

Gov of victoria wraps up her gig next year. She's ex essendon women's network chair and was an afl commissioner and by all accounts a sharp operator.

If we have to have essendon ppl running this joint, can we get ones with zero association with the last 20 years

 

[Gabe251]

why are his personal views at all related to how the guy does his job?

if he is running an inclusive workplace wtf does it matter what his personal beleifs are?

the guy literally said he accepts people of different sexial orientation. If he was homophobic I doubt he would say it.

This is like 'he can call them an n word in his own time as long as he treats em right'.

Queer people already cop enough shit, they don't need to be wondering if their boss secretly thinks they're an abomination.