Our club is at a crossroads.

At the Brisbane Lions board meeting this morning, Brisbane Lions directors Paul Williams and Mick Power gave notification of their intention to run a ticket, which includes former Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews, against the current board.

Current Chairman Angus Johnson conceded this afternoon that the situation the board now finds itself in will leave the club “destabilised” until the matter is sorted at the club’s Annual General Meeting, currently scheduled for December.

Irrespective of individual views on the performance of the current board or the merits of particular tickets, the current instability and uncertainty at board level CAN NOT be allowed to fester until December. In that period, the club will be required to embark upon another important off-season list-management and player recruitment period, as well as undertaking the most crucial and significant staffing decision in at least half a decade in appointing a new senior coach.

The decisions made in this period will have significant consequences for the success or failure of the Brisbane Lions Football Club in the decade ahead, and can not be left in the hands of a board fractured by issues of no-confidence and unresolvable differences of opinion on the future direction of the club.

How you can exercise your rights.

The club’s constitution provides a mechanism for members with voting rights to seek a speedier resolution to this crisis in the form of an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM). If a request for such a meeting is lodged with the written support of 5% of all members with voting rights, the club must process the request within 21 days and then set a date for the EGM within 2 months.

It is important to note that pledging your vote to call for an EGM does not constitute a vote or endorsement for either the current board or any opposing ticket. Voting for particular directors or tickets would occur as a separate process at the EGM.

While we do not intend to endorse any particular candidate at this time, The Lions Roar has agreed, at the request of the Williams/Power/Matthews ticket, to act as a central facilitation point for members who wish to vote for an Extraordinary General Meeting.

For the new ticket, or against it, the first step to getting the matter out of the way before December is for members to pledge their support for the holding of an EGM to vote on the newly proposed ticket.

Members who pledge their support in the above form will be emailed a document in the coming days with which they can officially lodge their call for an immediate Extraordinary General Meeting.