Macek promises to work with rivals
14 December 2004 Herald Sun
Jon Pierik
ALTERNATIVE Richmond president Charles Macek has vowed to end the bloodletting and unite the club if he wins power on Saturday.
As votes continue to pour in to decide who takes charge at Punt Rd, Macek said he didn't expect either party to claim all nine seats up for grabs.
If some members of Clinton Casey's incumbent board are elected, Macek, a leading businessman, said he would try to work with them, but admitted "it's hard to answer that question without knowing who the individuals are".
"I think the key thing will be whoever has the majority control, if you want to use that word, will be to galvanise unity and get people focused on the club," he said. "Now that it's all over, let's bury our differences and roll our sleeves up and work for the club.
"That's going to be the biggest immediate challenge after the election.
"That's my philosophy. In previous areas I have tended to be able to build a consensus, bearing in mind people have different views.
"At the end of the day it depends on individuals and who they are."
Ballots have been sent to 22,500 adult Tiger members, with Macek expecting about 10-12,000 to lodge their vote with receiving officers PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Returning officer Tony Hallam is keeping a progressive count until Friday's 5pm deadline. Scrutineers will check his result on Saturday morning, with an unofficial announcement likely soon after.
Under the club's constitution, Hallam is not allowed to disclose an updated count.
But a poll on the Tigers' unofficial website, puntroadend.com, last night showed Casey had the early support.
Under the question "How have you voted in the election?", 44 per cent of the 206 respondents said they had endorsed the entire Casey ticket, while 13 per cent said they had voted "mostly" for the incumbent board.
The full Macek ticket had attracted 22 per cent, while 9 per cent said they had voted mostly for the rebel group.
Macek said he had a "strong sense" his Big 4 ticket would win a majority of votes from those "in and around" the club.
"But what's problematic is how many people vote and how the rank and file grassroots supporters might be swayed by what I call the (Greg) Miller factor," Macek said. "Prior to that we would have been pretty confident, based on the track record of the current board and our own credentials, that we would win comfortably. But now we think it's much more of a question mark.
"We do think the tide has turned (from) people saying, 'We can't lose Miller' to a growing realisation that no individual is bigger than the club."
A key member of the Macek ticket, Peter Welsh, last night revealed officially the reasons for his departure from the Tigers' board in March.
In a letter addressed to fellow directors a day after his resignation, Welsh said the board was the "worst performing board in the history of the RFC", the president had "minimal relationships" with other directors and had been ridiculed in board meetings.
"In the end I couldn't do it," Welsh said yesterday. "I had to have integrity in myself and walk away from it."
14 December 2004 Herald Sun
Jon Pierik
ALTERNATIVE Richmond president Charles Macek has vowed to end the bloodletting and unite the club if he wins power on Saturday.
As votes continue to pour in to decide who takes charge at Punt Rd, Macek said he didn't expect either party to claim all nine seats up for grabs.
If some members of Clinton Casey's incumbent board are elected, Macek, a leading businessman, said he would try to work with them, but admitted "it's hard to answer that question without knowing who the individuals are".
"I think the key thing will be whoever has the majority control, if you want to use that word, will be to galvanise unity and get people focused on the club," he said. "Now that it's all over, let's bury our differences and roll our sleeves up and work for the club.
"That's going to be the biggest immediate challenge after the election.
"That's my philosophy. In previous areas I have tended to be able to build a consensus, bearing in mind people have different views.
"At the end of the day it depends on individuals and who they are."
Ballots have been sent to 22,500 adult Tiger members, with Macek expecting about 10-12,000 to lodge their vote with receiving officers PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Returning officer Tony Hallam is keeping a progressive count until Friday's 5pm deadline. Scrutineers will check his result on Saturday morning, with an unofficial announcement likely soon after.
Under the club's constitution, Hallam is not allowed to disclose an updated count.
But a poll on the Tigers' unofficial website, puntroadend.com, last night showed Casey had the early support.
Under the question "How have you voted in the election?", 44 per cent of the 206 respondents said they had endorsed the entire Casey ticket, while 13 per cent said they had voted "mostly" for the incumbent board.
The full Macek ticket had attracted 22 per cent, while 9 per cent said they had voted mostly for the rebel group.
Macek said he had a "strong sense" his Big 4 ticket would win a majority of votes from those "in and around" the club.
"But what's problematic is how many people vote and how the rank and file grassroots supporters might be swayed by what I call the (Greg) Miller factor," Macek said. "Prior to that we would have been pretty confident, based on the track record of the current board and our own credentials, that we would win comfortably. But now we think it's much more of a question mark.
"We do think the tide has turned (from) people saying, 'We can't lose Miller' to a growing realisation that no individual is bigger than the club."
A key member of the Macek ticket, Peter Welsh, last night revealed officially the reasons for his departure from the Tigers' board in March.
In a letter addressed to fellow directors a day after his resignation, Welsh said the board was the "worst performing board in the history of the RFC", the president had "minimal relationships" with other directors and had been ridiculed in board meetings.
"In the end I couldn't do it," Welsh said yesterday. "I had to have integrity in myself and walk away from it."
