A NEW committee was appointed to administer the Mt Eliza Junior Football Club last week.
Eight Mt Eliza JFC committee members resigned earlier this year, and the process undertaken to replace them has put the club in the firing line. Last month the Frankston and District Junior Football League banned the club from hosting home games and publicly stated that the club was not compliant with its own constitution (“Kids kicked out of home ground” The News 28/5/2024).
A special general meeting was held on 19 June to address the club’s issues. The outcome of the meeting was the appointment of a new Mt Eliza JFC committee – The News understands seven people chosen to serve on the MEJFC committee earlier this year were formally appointed to the new committee. An investigation into alleged breaches of club policy was also agreed to last week. Two items were on the agenda at the meeting – the first was a “motion of no confidence” to “remove the existing committee and elect a new executive and general committee”.
Mark McCudden has been appointed the new club president. In a statement to club members he said “I am honoured to have been appointed to lead this committee and excited to harness the enormous passion and goodwill that exists among our families. You are the cornerstone of our proud club, and your continued support cannot be overstated.”
“Our immediate focus is to have the structure and processes in place that meet the FDJFL’s expectations to enable us to stage home games as quickly as possible. Over the past few weeks, everyone’s patience has been tested so we want to have this in place as soon as we can. The FDJFL said last night that an indicative return date on home games is the weekend after this one, Sunday 30 June. The first major step in this happening was to elect a committee that was deemed constitutional. That has been achieved,” he said. “The second resolution passed last night was for an investigation into any possible breaches of the club’s constitution, policies or code of conduct. We recognise that this needs to be undertaken independently, professionally, thoroughly and above all, sensitively and respectfully to everyone involved.”
In a statement released before last week’s special meeting, the FDJFL stated that it believed that the committee appointed earlier this year was “unable to function constitutionally.”
The new committee members at Mt Eliza JFC are: Mark McCudden, David Hill, Andrew Killingsworth, Eivion Bowen, Casey Wells, Alison Swendrowski, Caroline Grima, Christie Demarchi, Greg Woods, Jeremy Rae, Kyle Burton, Max Griffin, Penny Swan, and Sarah McMillan.
Around 200 parents from the Mt Eliza JFC attended the SGM last Wednesday.
First published in the Mornington News – 25th June 2024
