Collingwood members maintaining their push for a spill of the club’s board say Mark Korda’s administration has used legal muscle to “crush democracy”.
The rebel group, initially led by long-time supporter David Hatley and now chaired by fellow member Vic Nicholas, has welcomed the move of former club lawyer Francis Galbally in taking the fight to the Victorian Supreme Court.
It was reported this week that Galbally had lodged a Supreme Court application to force the staging of an extraordinary general meeting.
Galbally is seeking an order for Collingwood to surrender a copy of the club’s membership registry to validate the signatures required to spill the board led by president Mark Korda.
Nicholas today provided a statement to SEN.com.au, which read: “We welcome Mr Galbally’s action because it may finally force the board to comply with the law and respect members’ wishes.
“Mr Korda and the board have ignored their legal obligations, and they won’t even tell us how many eligible members have the right to vote.
“The members desire democracy and want to vote for all positions. This board has attempted to crush that hope with high-powered lawyers.”
The ongoing push to force an EGM comes as former channel 9 boss and would-be Collingwood president Jeff Browne maintains his desire to take control of the club. The Pies’ search for a new senior coach is also ongoing.
“Our group wants democracy to be the norm, not rejected by this board as a “coup” or “distraction”,” the statement read.
“Every eligible voting member should elect the people who will run our club into the future, something denied to us for more than 20 years.
“We are not aligned with any candidate at any future board election. We want every current and potential board member to face the members in an open and fair election.”