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Crows “romantic” city move a long way off

Feb 26, 2015
AGM revelations: the pay-out to sacked Crows coach Brenton Sanderson (pictured in front of the AFC's West Lakes headquarters) helped put the club into the red.

AGM revelations: the pay-out to sacked Crows coach Brenton Sanderson (pictured in front of the AFC's West Lakes headquarters) helped put the club into the red.

A “romantic” move by the Adelaide Crows to their city namesake seems many years off, with new CEO Andrew Fagan lauding the club’s West Lakes facilities as being “as good as anyone’s” in Australian sport.

At a membership briefing to coincide with the club’s AGM yesterday, Fagan said recent investment in refurbishing the $20 million facility had developed it “into something that’s exceptional”.

“We’ve invested further to make sure the players have all the resources at their disposal,” he said.

Chairman Rob Chapman said while “there’s a lot of romance attached to our club being in the city … we’ve got all our facilities here, the SANFL pay to keep this facility for us and we’ve got it rent-free for 40 years”.

However, he added: “It would be remiss of us if we weren’t looking at alternatives.”

“You need to look strategically over the horizon as to where’s going to be the best location for the business,” he said.

“We’ve got to keep our options open.”

Chapman conceded the loss of the Crows Shed as a match-day social venue was significant for the club and Adelaide Oval’s Magarey Room “didn’t cut it for us (last) year”.

“We’re really conscious of that,” he said.

The one-time Shed was only partially filled for the members-only event, rubbing shoulders with a gaggle of new and former players, club officials and freshly-elected board directors Mark Ricciuto and Rod Jameson who, as expected, garnered an “emphatic” majority in the members’ vote.

But passions were inflamed as the club marked its 25th year in the AFL, with one-time Labor Senator Chris Schacht – a paid-up member since 1991 – criticising the new constitution.

“You all think you’re full members of the Adelaide Football Club – let me tell you, you’re not,” he told those assembled.

“As I understand it, there’s only one member of this club able to vote on finances (and) that one member voted earlier today from Victoria … he’s a delegate of the AFL commission.

“All the rest of us can turn up here and say what we like, but we can’t hold the non-elected board members accountable.”

He said the level of accountability “wouldn’t be allowed” if the club was a “public company on the ASX”.

The critique prompted an impassioned defence from Chapman, who said the board – “which is made up of some half-smart people” – had painstakingly assessed “the best model to run this football club”.

“It ain’t a corporation – this is a football club,” he said.

“We went around the world and assessed the best model for running a football club, and arrived at what’s written in the constitution.”

He described it as “best practice”, adding that fledgling franchises GWS and Gold Coast “have a very similar constitution, as does Port Adelaide”.

“What I don’t want, and I’m sure you don’t want, is what they have in the Euro soccer leagues (where) you can buy your way onto a board or because you’re a populist you can get voted onto a board,” he said.

“You want people on the board that have the skill set and the capacity to do all the right things and represent your views.

“We live in a two-team town; every day we’re on the front page and the back page (so) we’re accountable to the highest law, and that’s public opinion.”

Chapman said the club was beginning a 15-year transition to genuine independence and “the AFL at the moment – that one member – gives its proxy to me”.

“They’re not obstructionist, they want this football club to succeed,” he said.

“Sure, we go to war with them every second day, but trust me, there’s a lot of good faith – and if the day arrives when there’s no good faith between the sport’s governing body and a football club … well, we all might as well give up, quite frankly.”

Despite record attendances, the club was one of only four – including Port Adelaide – to post a loss for the 2014 financial year, with the $408,011 operating loss partly attributed to an ongoing “development” arrangement with the SANFL and a settlement with sacked coach Brenton Sanderson.

“In a season of so many changes and challenges we always knew this was going to occur,” Chapman told InDaily after the meeting, saying the club needed to make $3.35 million each year just to meet its obligations to the SANFL, AFL and State Government before it can begin building profit.

It’s also seeking a better carve-up of Adelaide Oval revenue in protracted negotiations with the SANFL: “It’s imminent but I’ve learned in my commercial corporate life until it’s signed and sealed, it’s not done.”

He brushed off criticism of the board vote, saying “it is what it is” and had yielded a “very diverse and very good board”.

“The public have voted and they wouldn’t have voted for Mark if they didn’t believe he’d made a contribution – you’ve got to trust some people,” he said.

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