Club History Duncanson and the sanfl 2012

[Winganeen]

Not sure if it belongs here but good piece from Thunderpants today RE: Duncanson's tenure

The scar tissue of Port Adelaide Football Club's darkest hours - InDaily

indaily.com.au

tldr

• SANFL have always hated us and cheered with glee in 2011-12
• AFL's long game was always to remove SANFL from holding the licenses
• AFL dropped in Koch, Keith and Ken (and in doing so blocked Bucky's return)

Make what you will of Gil's uncle being president of SACA at the time, his father-in-law being the chairman of Spotless and him effectively brokering the deal.


Mod's note:Thread created from existing thread

 

[Ford Fairlane]

That was a really good read, reminds you of the work done prior to Koch and Thomas and the hits taken by Duncanson, Haysman and co to establish Port at Adelaide Oval.

 

[Grave Danger]

"Being of Italian extraction, you'd be familiar with the term 'concrete boots', Michelangelo..?"

 

[Ford Fairlane]

“It was not a great time in my life,” says Duncanson speaking to InDaily in his first media interview since vacating the presidency a decade ago.

“It was just horrible. And I will take to my grave how we were treated. No-one deserves to be treated like that. It was just wrong.”

Duncanson, 59, has kept some of the brutal text messages fired at him by leading figures of SA football during 2011 and 2012, when repeat losses and poor crowds at Football Park were loading the Port Adelaide Football Club with choking debt and financially crippling the owner of its AFL licence and home venue at West Lakes – the SANFL.

The things that shits me to tears about this so-called financial burden of Port is that the sanfl was having to pay for our losses because of the horrendous stadium deal at Football Park, which they owned.

They were making millions out of Port and using a small portion of that revenue to service the debt that Port was carrying because of the stadium deal.

Even their own tame forensic accountants confirmed that little rort.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

The things that shits me to tears about this so-called financial burden of Port is that the sanfl was having to pay for our losses because of the horrendous stadium deal at Football Park, which they owned.

They were making millions out of Port and using a small portion of that revenue to service the debt that Port was carrying because of the stadium deal.

Even their own tame forensic accountants confirmed that little rort.

John Irving was the independent SANFL forensic accountant.

 

[Rexie J]

An excellent but very sad read.

We await the inevitable epistle from Cornes.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

This bit should be recorded in here in case the article gets removed from the net in a few years time. The directors who were dumped in 2012 were acknowledged by Koch, in the speech that Richo wrote for him, for the big 150th anniversary gala dinner on 28th February 2020, just before the world changed forever. Several of them who had become ostracised from the club were brought back into the fold.

“We all,” adds Duncanson, speaking of the board that was sacked in Melbourne on the morning of the 2012 AFL grand final, “went out with a bitter taste in our mouths on so many levels. There are people who have been left with deep scars.”

After AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou confirmed Koch’s appointment on the morning of the league grand final – stopping Port Adelaide’s inaugural AFL chief executive Brian Cunningham from returning to the club as president – Duncanson’s lame-duck board was called to a surprise meeting in Melbourne. Deputy chairman Kevin Osborn told former player Bruce Abernethy, former SANFL club president David Basheer and successful businessmen Nick House and Mick O’Connor they had been boned.

This followed directors Jane Jeffreys, the first woman elected to the Port Adelaide board, and John Hood being nudged by the SANFL to make room for its own “observers” on the board. Premiership player Darryl Wakelin

Darryl Wakelin

Age

49

Ht

192cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.2

2star

K

5.7

2star

HB

3.5

3star

M

4.1

4star

T

1.2

3star

No current season stats available

D

11.8

3star

K

8.8

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.0

3star

had jumped before being pushed.

The shock from the sackings demanded by the AFL was significant, particularly to those who thought the AFL’s hands-on approach was the light at the end of the long, dark tunnel at Alberton. One director did not speak freely in public gatherings for days. One returned to Adelaide to dump all his football memorabilia. Another would ask – even at dinner parties – for television sets to be turned off if the screen was showing a football game, in particular a Port Adelaide match.

“No-one saw that coming,” Duncanson said. “The SANFL would say the AFL was out to get us. I don’t have stupid stamped on my forehead. I know what the AFL’s play was all about, and who and what the AFL were after.

“The timing of that meeting was nothing short of cruel,” adds Duncanson who was frozen out of board meetings immediately after his resignation in early August 2012 at a joint press conference that was to have been dominated with questions to sacked coach Matthew Primus

Matthew Primus

Age

49

Ht

198cm

Wt

109kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.5

3star

K

6.3

2star

HB

6.2

4star

HO

16.7

5star

No current season stats available

D

12.6

4star

K

6.2

3star

HB

6.4

4star

HO

13.8

5star

.

“Why not a week before the grand final? Why not the Monday after the grand final? Why that morning? We were not treated with respect by the governing bodies of the game. No-one in football – or anywhere – should be treated like that.

I sent several emails (to the SANFL and AFL) asking, ‘What did we do wrong?’ They have never been answered. We didn’t kill anyone.”

 

[raptalia]

The things that shits me to tears about this so-called financial burden of Port is that the sanfl was having to pay for our losses because of the horrendous stadium deal at Football Park, which they owned.

They were making millions out of Port and using a small portion of that revenue to service the debt that Port was carrying because of the stadium deal.

Even their own tame forensic accountants confirmed that little rort.

At the same time their love child the AFC was getting hand outs from the SANFL.

 

[MrMeaner]

Koch being appointed, stopping Bucky's return is a real sliding doors moment.

 

[chiwigi]

He should have left the Crows at West Lakes.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

Koch being appointed, stopping Bucky's return is a real sliding doors moment.

Was this a possibility?

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Koch being appointed, stopping Bucky's return is a real sliding doors moment.

I was surprised to read that. Maybe it's Bucky's time now.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Was this a possibility?

According to the article it is exactly what happened.

After AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou confirmed Koch’s appointment on the morning of the league grand final – stopping Port Adelaide’s inaugural AFL chief executive Brian Cunningham from returning to the club as president

 

[ClintEastwood]

Is there some reason Rucci needs to dig into the dim past and write such a long article about it? I'd have thought his time might be better spent digging into the situation the club is in NOW, and shedding a bit of light on Hinkley's performance and so on.....

 

[MrMeaner]

I was surprised to read that. Maybe it's Bucky's time now.

You would hope so. He has a real connection to the club and community.

 

[MrMeaner]

Is there some reason Rucci needs to dig into the dim past and write such a long article about it? I'd have thought his time might be better spent digging into the situation the club is in NOW, and shedding a bit of light on Hinkley's performance and so on.....

Propaganda needs to propagate.

 

[ClintEastwood]

Koch being appointed, stopping Bucky's return is a real sliding doors moment.

Sure is.

 

[Rexie J]

Is there some reason Rucci needs to dig into the dim past and write such a long article about it? I'd have thought his time might be better spent digging into the situation the club is in NOW, and shedding a bit of light on Hinkley's performance and so on.....

Yes, you have a point but it's better to write your own history quoting from people who were directly involved, rather than others write their version.

It also helps us understand the wrangling behind the scenes and perhaps as to how and why some decisions which have been made may influence the current management of the PAFC.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

You would hope so. He has a real connection to the club and community.

And his speech at Russell's induction as a Legend showed he is still mentally acute.

 

[raptalia]

As well as the dumping of the incumbent PAFC Board in 2012 there was a precursor, namely the appointment of Keith Thomas as Port CEO in September 2011. This quotation from a Rucci article published on the PAFC website suggests that Thomas had been earmarked by the SANFL as a future administrator...

At the time, long-serving SANFL chief executive Leigh Whicker had earmarked Thomas in a succession plan at SA football headquarters.

It is not clear if the succession plan relates to the SANFL itself or to Port Adelaide. I choose to believe that Keith Thomas was earmarked for the Port job by the SANFL. That is not to knock Thomas for the job he did but there is no doubt his appointment was endorsed and recommended to the AFL by their mates in the SANFL. What would be the point in ditching the Port Board if you didn't have a CEO who could work with the new Board.

In the article David Koch tends to paint the 'basket case' scenario in his attempt to pump up Thomas' tyres as he leaves Alberton. Again, I am not critical of Keith Thomas but Koch does downplay the Duncanson years in an attempt to inflate his own achievements. Supporters can judge for themselves...

Keith Thomas tribute: The bloke from Norwood who was proud to be Port Adelaide

KEITH Thomas leaves the Port Adelaide Football Club on Saturday after 10 years as chief executive, a decade in which he has strengthened the club on and off the field. Michelangelo Rucci collects the tributes.

www.portadelaidefc.com.au

 

[Rexie J]

The things that shits me to tears about this so-called financial burden of Port is that the sanfl was having to pay for our losses because of the horrendous stadium deal at Football Park, which they owned.

They were making millions out of Port and using a small portion of that revenue to service the debt that Port was carrying because of the stadium deal.

Even their own tame forensic accountants confirmed that little rort.

In the meantime, a man became a millionaire as a result of that little rort.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

According to the article it is exactly what happened.

After AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou confirmed Koch’s appointment on the morning of the league grand final – stopping Port Adelaide’s inaugural AFL chief executive Brian Cunningham from returning to the club as president

God that's depressing

 

[chiwigi]

Is there some reason Rucci needs to dig into the dim past and write such a long article about it? I'd have thought his time might be better spent digging into the situation the club is in NOW, and shedding a bit of light on Hinkley's performance and so on.....

We will be staying with the SANFL instead of AFL reserves, softening us up.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Reading that article made me think of the 150th anniversary doco Onwards to Victory shown on 7 after the GC Rd 1 game in 2020 the day before the season was abandoned. As I wrote back then;

What did I get out of that doco?

Threw everything at getting into the AFL and there were casualties and that took its toll.

Threw everything at that first premiership in the AFL and there were casualties and that took its toll.

Threw everything at getting out of the clutches of SANFL and Footy Park and move AFL to AO and there were casualties and that took its toll.

Have thrown a bloody lot at China and that is looking good, despite this years backward step, but apart from KT and a couple of others, there are no real casualties and it hasn't taken its toll.

We now need to have the club run by and directed by people who can take advantage of all this hard work. They won't be casualties like the others, if they are good enough, because now all the big shackles have been released.

2 years on nothing much has changed. Need all involved to take advantage of all this hard work. Getting rid of a coach who hasn't been good enough, and a few players as well, should make it easier if we choose the right successor.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

At that point in time we needed someone with a commercial vision. I still remember the days of Aussie ATM and My ATM as sponsors, we were in a financial pit.

Koch, Thomas and Hinkley were a breath of fresh air after the dour drudgery of the preceding years.

We did play attractive attacking exciting footy under Hinkley, we had new sponsorships with companies that actually existed, Thomas was respected by local media and knew how to handle them.

Those were exciting times.

But they just went on and on and on to a point now where it's like the film War of the Roses, everyone is staying on to spite each other.

Once we were on a relatively stable financial footing we needed football people making football decisions for the good of the club and that is when things started to go wrong.