Part 61 of 70 — Original Chapter: Chapter 18: The Footy Five Make Their Play
This article forms part of the serialised republication of Panthers, Passion & Politics – The Roger Cowan Years.
It is sometime between midnight and dawn on Wednesday 25 September 2002. A shadowy figure approaches the offices of The Western Weekender newspaper in Abel Street, Penrith. He wears dark clothes and a hat pulled down over his eyes. He carries something in his hand.
A car cruises slowly past, and he jumps back into the doorway of the neighbouring building. Safe once again, he steps out onto the lonely street. After a quick glance each way, he climbs the few stairs to the door of the office. The arc of the streetlight now reveals what he is carrying. He reaches out and places a large envelope on the doorstep of the building.
His mission is accomplished. Visibly relieved, he walks briskly away from the scene, not once looking back.
The scenario above is a dramatised version of a purported incident that would have a significant bearing on the campaign leading to the replacement election in October 2002.
According to the Western Weekender editor, when he arrived on the morning of 25 September, he discovered an envelope on the doorstep. The envelope, he said, contained what appeared to be ‘authentic documents’ relating to Panthers, some dating back to 1998. The documents became the basis of a front-page story in the newspaper, published that very same day. Although the date on the newspaper is Friday, 27 September, numerous people report seeing it late on the Wednesday, 25 September.
On that account, in the space of only a few hours the anonymously delivered material had apparently been assessed, sources confirmed, interviews conducted, the story written, and the newspaper laid out and printed by Wednesday afternoon.
The banner headline screamed ‘Board Wars’, and a full-width photograph show the Panthers Board of Directors, but the image was ripped down the middle.
The story underneath spoke of a split in the Board, revisited in detail the proposed Parramatta merger, the stand-alone committee, and spoke of the ‘now famous FOOTY FIVE’. The story quoted John Bateman as a member of the Five, but failed to mention that Greg Evans, the owner of the newspaper, was also a member of the group. It also contained criticisms of Cowan and the remaining four directors, labelling them Cowan’s ‘Four Kinsmen’.1 It exhorted Panthers’ members to get rid of this ‘old guard’.
Until that week nobody, few people outside Panthers’ directors, senior managers and their families, were aware of the extent of the rift and tension in the Board. There had been a concerted effort by everyone to keep the conflict quiet and try to get on with business.
At management meetings, serious consideration had been given to calling an extraordinary meeting to make members aware of the degree of dysfunction at Board and management level.
The management team always reached the same conclusion. Such a radical move would harm the Club and make the bank nervous. In hindsight many believe it would not have been such a bad idea. Keeping the problems under wraps had not prevented serious damage. What followed included aborted elections, substantial legal expenses, a crippling inquiry, damaged management morale, loss of market share and other flow-on effects.
The Weekender story was a declaration of open war. It made the people of Penrith aware there was a serious problem at Board level. And the Club’s staff also became aware of the situation.
Long-time director Keith Rhind says the months following the aborted election of March 2002 were a terrible time. He would leave his home in the Blue Mountains to drive to a board meeting, hoping all the way that his car would break down so he would not have to go.
Board meetings would go till midnight or later. Matthews calls the behaviour of some of the Five ‘disgraceful’.
I just can’t believe that intelligent people can get in a room and they just want to play the man and not the ball. Some of the board meetings were really dysfunctional. They’d ask you for some information again and again. A couple of times one of them attended the meeting after having far too much alcohol. Bateman and Evans would often pass notes to each other.
According to Matthews one meeting almost ended in physical violence. Evans was screaming abuse at Cowan and Wilson, accusing them of being liars. Matthews himself was also accused of lying. Finally, chairman Barry Walsh exploded. His efforts to call the meeting to order had been ignored, leapt out of his chair and headed for the director who appeared to be drunk and was disrupting the meeting. Cowan intercepted Walsh, slowed things down and helped restore order.
Brett Boon said the situation was a nightmare. He told the Temby Inquiry,
There was a very long period, with board meeting after board meeting which lasted five, six, sometimes seven hours. They were very hostile, aggressive meetings, a lot of politics going on with different factions of the Board.
During questioning by DGR counsel Vicki Hartstein about the constitutional changes, Walsh said the Board had given Acuiti full control to take the Club to the next point.
She asked him about a letter of complaint from the Port Macquarie club asking for an explanation of the constitutional changes. She says,
… you were the chairman of the board of this club and it seems from this letter that complaints about the integrity of the club are being made. Didn’t you regard that with some concern?
Walsh replied,
The scene was changing. Acuiti had the reins, and they were being directed by Mr Terry and Mr Bateman and the Footy Five. Of course I was concerned, but our legal people were handling it and I was not privy to what Mr Boon was doing.
Not once did they contact me to give an opinion. Not about anything. For a better word, the Footy Five had control of the Board and they had the ear of Acuiti..
Hartstein asked, ‘You didn’t follow it up?’
Walsh answered,
It’s not that I didn’t follow it up. I never had control of the Board.
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- The front page story doesn’t refer to the “Cowan’s Four Kinsmen” quip. That appears later in the same issue of The Western Weekender. The issue carried a number of stories related to the imminent election of the Penrith District Rugby League Club Board. ↩︎
