From the Shepp News
Football league administrators have expressed their disappointment at being kept in the dark about a major decision regarding the newly established Goulburn Murray Regional Football Commission. News of Martin Gleeson’s appointment as general manager of the commission was published in Wednesday’s edition of The Weekly Times, with an email not sent to associated leagues until the following day.
Picola District Football League president Shane Railton knew nothing of the appointment yesterday morning and Goulburn Valley Football League general manager Keith Wellman said he ‘‘found it very strange’’ and hoped it was not a sign of things to come.
‘‘I thought it was very poor on behalf of the local commission to release it to The Weekly Times prior to sending us an email,’’ Wellman said.
‘‘As members of the commission I believe we had every right to know who the appointment was, before we were told by someone to look in The Weekly Times.
‘‘We’ve got a commission and we expect that commission to inform us without reading it in the paper.’’
The commission is responsible for developing the game in the Goulburn Murray region, including increasing participation, improving pathways from junior to senior football and supporting leagues and clubs.
Gleeson has held roles with the International Cricket Council, Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria, and most recently served as chief executive of Sports Education Development India.
He will relocate from India to assume the new post and Wellman said it was important he received the necessary support from the local football community.
‘‘We’ve got to be positive about the appointment, we’ve got to be able to accept even though we didn’t know about it, the fact of the matter is we do know now and we have to work closely with this gentleman and give him all the encouragement we can,’’ he said.
‘‘I don’t know the gentleman, (but) as far as I know it seems like they’ve investigated it pretty thoroughly and he’s their choice.
‘‘He’ll need a bit of encouragement being new to the area, so we have to accept the fact he’s been appointed and we look forward to working with him.’’
Wellman said the GVFL and its member clubs had registered with the commission and encouraged any leagues and clubs in the region that had not, to do so.
‘‘There are changes to constitution that they need to vote on to be adopted and only those persons that are registered as members of the commission will be eligible to vote,’’ he said.
‘‘One of the things that I did emphasise on our clubs is to become members of the commission, because if things like that come up you need to be able to have the power to vote on them.’’
GMRFC chairman Nicholas Rolfe did not return calls.
