As part of the Club’s ongoing commitment to robust governance, Essendon Football Club will seek its members’ support in amending aspects of its current Constitution.
The Club’s Constitution is the principal document establishing the governance framework of the Club.
CEO Xavier Campbell revealed on Thursday morning that red and black members would soon receive their formal notice of the Club’s upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM), which will detail the voting process to ensure these changes are supported.
“Recently, the Board of the Essendon Football Club undertook an extensive review of the Constitution in conjunction with external expert advisers,” Campbell said.
“The review identified the need to modernise the club’s Constitution, with the amendments incorporating a more contemporary approach to strengthen the overall governance framework of our football club.
“Our members will receive further communications from next Monday onwards via post and email and a link to vote in support of these amendments. We encourage our members to learn more about these predominantly technical changes as we continue our pursuit to modernise our football club.
“Essendon members will receive further communication relating to these proposed changes, as well as their formal notice of the AGM from early next week onwards.”
Some of the key proposed changes include:
- Assisting the club to achieve significant cost and environmental benefits by providing for an opt out system to receive notices under the Constitution through electronic means, rather than by post; and
- Adopting gender-neutral language, including through the adoption of the terms ‘President’ and ‘Vice President’ in place of ‘Chairman’ and ‘Deputy Chairman’; and
- No longer reserving a Board position reserved for an Executive Officer of the club, giving greater flexibility to appoint the most suitable individual to this position; and
- Modernising provisions relating to applications for membership to better facilitate telephone and online requests.
Campbell, alongside General Counsel Michael Abrahams, will be available to members interested in learning more about these Constitutional changes at a Member Information Evening at Windy Hill Venue on Thursday 29 November 2018 from 5:45pm.
The online link to vote on these Constitutional Amendments will be available to members from Monday onwards.
Please visit http://www.essendonfc.com.au/agm at this time to vote.
