Event Horizon
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The venomous so called football journalist continues her quest to bring us down...Not sure if this has already been posted.
Kangaroos appear a disjointed mob after 'decisive' vote
Caroline Wilson
March 4, 2007
RON Joseph's elevation to the North Melbourne board should never have been like this. The football powerbroker from the 1970s and 1980s who helped set Sydney on the right track in the 1990s has been a heroic figure for the Kangaroos over decades and one of the game's great romantic symbols.
Of course he has made enemies along the way, fallen out with close friends and later rekindled those friendships. In his later career as player manager, his negotiating processes proved frustrating yet usually remarkably effective — for his clients.
Joseph is a Kangaroos life member and a Hall of Famer. After exhausting a series of bureaucratic avenues and searching for the right running mates, he chose to stand for the board — having been thwarted several years ago in a bid to become president — alongside the Brayshaw brothers, Mark and James.
Joseph did so with the support of old North Melbourne, notably Bob Ansett, although Joseph has also remained close over the years to famous North families such as the Trainors and the Mantellos. Glenn Archer gave Joseph a ringing endorsement and Ansett gave him several thousand B-class shares with which to vote in the club's confusing but decisive election.
Or was it? The day Ron Joseph became a Kangaroos director should have been decisive because Joseph has always been clear in his motives and steadfast in his football philosophy. The game is about winning premierships and creating great dynasties through great leaders and good people — and perhaps a few clever tricks along the way.
He should have returned to the ailing club like a white knight. Instead, he appeared three days ago like the ghost of Christmases past.
Having talked up the Gold Coast and talked down chairman Graham Duff before the election, Joseph insisted he did not want the presidency himself. But then he used the Ansett shares to vote for Duff's opponent, the enigmatic Peter de Rauch, who with a $27,000 cheque the week earlier tried to take over the club during a board meeting.
De Rauch, who was beaten in the election, plays a starring role in a long history of conflict. His name still stirs passion — not all of it negative — in people ranging from Denis Pagan to Greg Miller to Geoff Walsh to Mark Dawson. The suggestion was that had de Rauch won back a place on the board, Joseph could have been president.
Ansett was furious and he wasn't alone. The Brayshaws were surprised, to put it mildly, and Joseph's language — both verbal and body — when the new board fronted the media on Wednesday night signalled anything but unity. He does not deny attempting to woo former AFL commissioner Peter Scanlon onto the board as president.
So how on earth can anyone suggest the Kangaroos board is united? Certainly no one is expecting instant answers but the Gold Coast situation remains the question mark on everybody's lips and the bizarre A-class, B-class share situation has left the door open for big-time shareholders such as de Rauch. It is hardly a stable situation.
A radical decision regarding relocation must not wait another two years or even one. And membership remains a massive concern. As insulting as this may sound to Dean Laidley and his team, the impression at the moment is that the club is doing a lot of watching and waiting and not a lot of doing.
Compare North with the Western Bulldogs. The latter played better football last year and have a real prospect of survival in the Melbourne's western suburbs but remain unable to come close to turning a profit without AFL help.
Yet they are rarely talked about in the same breath as North Melbourne these days when struggling clubs are mentioned. For one thing they have an identity. Equally significantly they have unity, or at least the very strong appearance of it.
People who know and love Ron Joseph are waiting to see if he can still work his magic when his North Melbourne Football Club needs it most. Perhaps there has been some method in his madness but he hasn't made a great start.
Kangaroos appear a disjointed mob after 'decisive' vote
Caroline Wilson
March 4, 2007
RON Joseph's elevation to the North Melbourne board should never have been like this. The football powerbroker from the 1970s and 1980s who helped set Sydney on the right track in the 1990s has been a heroic figure for the Kangaroos over decades and one of the game's great romantic symbols.
Of course he has made enemies along the way, fallen out with close friends and later rekindled those friendships. In his later career as player manager, his negotiating processes proved frustrating yet usually remarkably effective — for his clients.
Joseph is a Kangaroos life member and a Hall of Famer. After exhausting a series of bureaucratic avenues and searching for the right running mates, he chose to stand for the board — having been thwarted several years ago in a bid to become president — alongside the Brayshaw brothers, Mark and James.
Joseph did so with the support of old North Melbourne, notably Bob Ansett, although Joseph has also remained close over the years to famous North families such as the Trainors and the Mantellos. Glenn Archer gave Joseph a ringing endorsement and Ansett gave him several thousand B-class shares with which to vote in the club's confusing but decisive election.
Or was it? The day Ron Joseph became a Kangaroos director should have been decisive because Joseph has always been clear in his motives and steadfast in his football philosophy. The game is about winning premierships and creating great dynasties through great leaders and good people — and perhaps a few clever tricks along the way.
He should have returned to the ailing club like a white knight. Instead, he appeared three days ago like the ghost of Christmases past.
Having talked up the Gold Coast and talked down chairman Graham Duff before the election, Joseph insisted he did not want the presidency himself. But then he used the Ansett shares to vote for Duff's opponent, the enigmatic Peter de Rauch, who with a $27,000 cheque the week earlier tried to take over the club during a board meeting.
De Rauch, who was beaten in the election, plays a starring role in a long history of conflict. His name still stirs passion — not all of it negative — in people ranging from Denis Pagan to Greg Miller to Geoff Walsh to Mark Dawson. The suggestion was that had de Rauch won back a place on the board, Joseph could have been president.
Ansett was furious and he wasn't alone. The Brayshaws were surprised, to put it mildly, and Joseph's language — both verbal and body — when the new board fronted the media on Wednesday night signalled anything but unity. He does not deny attempting to woo former AFL commissioner Peter Scanlon onto the board as president.
So how on earth can anyone suggest the Kangaroos board is united? Certainly no one is expecting instant answers but the Gold Coast situation remains the question mark on everybody's lips and the bizarre A-class, B-class share situation has left the door open for big-time shareholders such as de Rauch. It is hardly a stable situation.
A radical decision regarding relocation must not wait another two years or even one. And membership remains a massive concern. As insulting as this may sound to Dean Laidley and his team, the impression at the moment is that the club is doing a lot of watching and waiting and not a lot of doing.
Compare North with the Western Bulldogs. The latter played better football last year and have a real prospect of survival in the Melbourne's western suburbs but remain unable to come close to turning a profit without AFL help.
Yet they are rarely talked about in the same breath as North Melbourne these days when struggling clubs are mentioned. For one thing they have an identity. Equally significantly they have unity, or at least the very strong appearance of it.
People who know and love Ron Joseph are waiting to see if he can still work his magic when his North Melbourne Football Club needs it most. Perhaps there has been some method in his madness but he hasn't made a great start.
