Dog fight: Battle rages for control of Canterbury Leagues Club cash
The Bulldogs risk remaining a divided club following a pre-election coup whereby Canterbury Leagues Club president Dr George Peponis and his close ally, Ray Dib, voted to appoint two independent directors to the board, ending the historic balance of power the football club had over the rich licensed club.
Should the two independent directors, former NSW Premier Morris Iemma and investment banker George Kanaan, vote with a successful ticket of Dr Peponis, Dib and long-term director, Arthur Coorey for the three remaining elected positions on the board, they will dominate the four nominees from the recent football club elections.
Fight for control: Dr George Peponis.
Photo: Robert PearceSuch a scenario could widen the chasm between the faction led by Dib, the deposed chair of the football club, and his successor, Lynne Anderson, daughter of the late Peter “Bullfrog” Moore and wife of Canterbury premiership coach Chris Anderson.
The timing of the Thursday evening board meeting, on the eve of two days of voting for the Canterbury Leagues club board, ending Saturday night and held only a couple of weeks after Dib lost control of the football club, raises questions over whether it was a desperate attempt to retain control of a wealthy licensed club that funds the football club to the tune of upwards of $8m a year.
Adding to the confusion was Friday night’s Bulldogs versus Roosters match, positioned in the middle of the two days of voting.
Many Bulldogs supporters, alarmed at the 30-12 loss to the tricolours, may have already have voted, oblivious to the constitutional change and assuming the Anderson-led football club board would resurrect the Bulldogs' fortunes on the field.
Recently elected football club director and former Leagues club general manager, John Ballesty, said, “This is a total betrayal of the football club and its role as the responsible entity providing four endorsed representatives to the board of the leagues club.
“At the recent football club elections, Lynne Anderson’s ticket won six of the seven places on the football club board – but at the Leagues club meeting on Thursday night, the directors, led by Dr Peponis and Ray Dib, took that control away by altering the constitution with the appointment of two extra directors to the League Club board. So, the football club could potentially be outvoted 5 to 4.”
However, Dr Peponis and his licensed club board had every right, under the constitution, to appoint two independent directors. Secondly, Iemma – a longstanding Dragons fan – and Kanaan, managing director of UBS, are entitled, as independents, to vote with the football club directors.
Ballesty, who is one of the football club’s four nominees to the league club, is alarmed at the both the ramifications for the football club and the future of the licensed club.
“The Bulldogs will no longer have control of the financial future of the club,” he said. “This move to appoint two carefully-selected independents has serious ramifications down the track.
“The reason I stood in the first place was because I thought George Peponis, as chair of the leagues club, was doing a poor job. They will soon announce a profit of $6.3m, which is pathetic. Gaming revenue is down 20% on where it should be. We’ve dropped from No 1 to No 4 very quickly.”
While food and beverage sales are up $1m, bar sales remain constant.
Dr Peponis and former premiership captain, Steve Mortimer, did not respond to a request for comment.
The one unanswered question in this latest chapter of the Canterbury Tales, a story far more internecine than the poet Chaucer could have imagined, is why Peponis, a former Australian captain, and Mortimer, arguably the club’s greatest ever player, could preside over a club imbued with so much bitterness.