Strategy I'm the guy who tried to run for the board, ask me anything

Remove this Banner Ad

That's kind of what I was getting at. You suggested Winterlong was out of his depth, based only on his CV. But JB would have appeared even more out of his depth, and yet he turned out well. So to allow one and not allow the other to even face a vote seems odd.

Before JB became a board member and chairman he had been a professional sportsman, was one of Australia’s preeminent media broadcasters, had a large public profile and had connections with many people across professional sport and in the AFL proper.

Haven’t seen anything to suggest Winterlong has anything similar so far.

And I say that as someone who wasn’t a huge fan of JB.
 
IMO it is not the place of the board or committee to make those calls. They should be be checking that the person is eligible to run with no particular concerns financially, ethically or politically that might compromise the club. Whether they are "out of their league" is up to the membership to decide upon.

This committee is not endorsing candidates or promoting them, it is only assessing their suitability. The current interpretation of their scope is way out of line of accepted democratic practice at a member based organisation.

Absolutely agree. In the light of Jame's experience, it would seem that the formation of this Committee was to get around the rules which generally apply to anyone wishing to be a director of a company, which are as follows:

"Who Can Be A Director?
Generally, there are no restrictions on who can be a company director. Unless banned for previous offences, any Australian adult is eligible to be a director. However, there are two legal requirements relevant to the appointment of company directors:
  1. A director must be at least 18 years of age; and
  2. A director must consent to taking on the role and responsibilities of a director.
For proprietary companies, there must be at least 1 director and they must ordinarily reside in Australia. For a public company, there must be at least 3 directors, two of which must ordinarily reside in Australia."

Having a criminal record does not bar someone from being a company director unless as part of the conviction, the person was specifically barred from being a company director.

Clearly those of us who failed to take much notice when the vote was on to establish this committee, have to take some responsibility.

In my opinion any member of the club should be able to nominate for a position on the board, irrespective of their financial status (apart from being a bankrupt) or their past experience in business. Instead of the club being able to decide who can or cannot nominate for election, each candidate who nominates, should have to present their credentials to the electors and be judged on that basis, as to whether or not they are entitled to be elected to the board.

It seems to me that democracy the NMFC way is a very strange beast.

I'm also not sure why posters are suggesting that from the information that James has provided here, he was not a suitable candidate. I certainly can't make that judgement.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Winterlong

Rookie
Jul 5, 2013
30
348
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Had a look and seems pretty clear to me. I haven't seen you provide any evidence that you can meet 4.1.(a) (i) and (ii).

Isn't the vacant position one that was created by Archer leaving? Do you think you have the skill sets that he provided to fill the gap in the matrix. With out knowing the matrix, it's not hard to determine what skills and competencies are missing from the current board. What skills can you provide that are not covered by the existing boa members?

Good on you for trying and I'm sure you are good at what you do but I'm sorry to say that realistically I just see it as a waste of every ones time.
They didn't replace Archer. The board shrank by one. The board does not have a fixed size, the constitution outlines this.

Before JB became a board member and chairman he had been a professional sportsman, was one of Australia’s preeminent media broadcasters, had a large public profile and had connections with many people across professional sport and in the AFL proper.

Haven’t seen anything to suggest Winterlong has anything similar so far.

And I say that as someone who wasn’t a huge fan of JB.

I'm not sure how playing cricket and yakking on the telly would go down with the current nominations committee, but as others have pointed out, he turned out to be an asset to the club.

I am not pretending to be Jeff Bezos, Clive Palmer or Donald Trump, all of whom you may feel would be a better fit than I might have been.
 
Yeah, whichever way you cut it - and no matter your opinion re James' suitability for a Board position - there had to have been a better way for the committee to advise him that his nomination had been rejected than this.....

1557991651126.png



(^They couldn't even spell his name right.)

Seriously though, good on you for stepping up to the plate, James. Your role as sacrificial lamb in shining a light on the closed-shop mentality that permeates this club at board level is much appreciated. While I'm well aware that the move to install a noms committee was member approved, it certainly appears that there are improvements to be made in its application.

Either way, IMO the general sketchiness around the club's board election processes has been going on for far too long now.

And policies be damned, you had me at your Descendents avatar and Neil Young-referencing username.
 
If I've missed any questions today, I apologise. I've been on the go all day and trying to hammer these answers out on the awful phone web browser interface. I'll get them all eventually.

Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere 😉
how many Russian wives did you end up with today?
 

Rad Roo

Premiership Player
Aug 2, 2017
3,389
1,606
AFL Club
North Melbourne
This exposes the real problem at north, our mindset is still stuck in the 90s due to the success back then and it filters down into player selection ,drafting and development. The shinboner spirit is really a colour coded word for a blue collar unit that lacks flair and excitement.
 
Did you have any skeletons in the closet that may have triggered a clause or been reason to stop you from joining?

Only about a dozen or so :$
 
What the *? Genuinely, what the actual *?

What has happens to our club? What right does this boys club have to hijack our club?

I'm very glad you posted this. I'm deeply distressed, and I can see others are too.
 
Jun 9, 2001
37,647
145,038
Fogarty Street
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
St Johnstone
Before JB became a board member and chairman he had been a professional sportsman, was one of Australia’s preeminent media broadcasters, had a large public profile and had connections with many people across professional sport and in the AFL proper.

Haven’t seen anything to suggest Winterlong has anything similar so far.

And I say that as someone who wasn’t a huge fan of JB.

Based on that criteria Dougie Hawkins should be on our board.
 
I'm not sure how playing cricket and yakking on the telly would go down with the current nominations committee, but as others have pointed out, he turned out to be an asset to the club.

I am not pretending to be Jeff Bezos, Clive Palmer or Donald Trump, all of whom you may feel would be a better fit than I might have been.

I did ask you what your vision for the club is and what you would bring to the table as a director. Neither of which you answered.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Seriously? Brayshaw stepped up when we needed someone. He was the right person at the right time.

This is self evident however he hitched his wagon to Ron Joseph and the other Brashaw (who wasn't a member of the club when he nominated) changed his tune from pro GC to stay south for purely pragmatic reasons. Notwithstanding any of this Brayshaw J a/ did a very good job of following the demands of the membership by keeping North south and b/ his CV was very light on :)
 

Mr north man

Premiership Player
Mar 12, 2016
3,236
2,636
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Hi, I'm James. I'm the guy who ran for the board earlier this year and was blocked by the new nominations committee.

Long time lurker on this forum.

I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

Even if you wouldn't have voted for me, the point is this - the members deserve a say in how the club is run.

The constitution of the North Melbourne Football Club guarantees members the right to vote, a right that has been taken away by the current administration.

We own this club. Ben Buckley does not.

If the current mob are too scared to face an election, can we trust them to stand up for the club when the heat is on?
G'day James
I love your passion for this club but the problem is your 1 man unfortunately we need another 5 to 6 people like you.
Tell me would you like to see a forensic audit in all aspects of the club on and off the field.
Plus would you if you had the power chase the following people to get the club Brian Cook Andian Anderson Neil Balme as administrators .
Sam Mitchell Peter Sumich John Longmire as Coaches.
Plus who would you like to see on the board to help the club move forward again
 

mouncey2franklin

Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 16, 2018
8,650
15,447
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Absolutely farcical.

If this were an isolated incident, I would find it deeply concerning.

But this is not an isolated incident, is it?

The motion to cap the number of games played in Tassie was kyboshed. Why?

In other threads on this forum, we've read of long-term members, some of them paying huge $$$, being treated like dogshit.

The clowns running the club can't even get right basic stuff like sending out membership packs in time.

I don't know who this Wangmann dude is, I want to know what he brings to the table, he could easily be a clown, too.

But guess what? I don't know what ANY of the people on current board bring to the table, and I know for a fact they are currently running a circus.

If this is not longer a member-based club, that's fine, just be honest about it.

If I'm going to support a ***en franchise I'd rather spend my money supporting one which wins more often than it loses.

And I'm sure certain other stakeholders and parties would like to know that this is no longer a member-based club.

ASIC, or the ACNC, or a group like this, perhaps.
 
Apr 24, 2013
81,024
153,170
Arden Street Hill
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Essendon Lawn Bowls Club
Hi, I'm James. I'm the guy who ran for the board earlier this year and was blocked by the new nominations committee.

Long time lurker on this forum.

I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

Even if you wouldn't have voted for me, the point is this - the members deserve a say in how the club is run.

The constitution of the North Melbourne Football Club guarantees members the right to vote, a right that has been taken away by the current administration.

We own this club. Ben Buckley does not.

If the current mob are too scared to face an election, can we trust them to stand up for the club when the heat is on?


I only need to know 2 things.

1) When are you running again (i.e. when is a board position up for election)?
2) What can I do to assist you?
 
Apr 24, 2013
81,024
153,170
Arden Street Hill
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Essendon Lawn Bowls Club
Understand what you are saying but one point is wrong. Whether we like it or not this is a democratic process because the members voted to allow this nominations committee to be established. We now have to cop this sort of thing because we allowed it to happen. Lack of interest despite much discussion at the time allowed the club to push this change through.


Okay, how do we petition to UNDO this crap?

Do the nominations committee have to approve that also?
 
Back