Demons bed down for PJs charity goal
Hobart City board an unelected closed shop, says campaigner
IT may not be the most athletic look going around, but these Hobart City Demons footballers are wearing pyjamas for a good reason.
About 50 Demons players, including the Tasmanian State League and Mercury Cup teams, will don their nightwear for a highly unusual training session at North Hobart Oval tonight.
The initiative is part of a club fundraiser for children’s charity Give Me 5 for Kids, with Hobart City’s Southern Football League Women’s team also getting behind the cause.
Give Me 5 for Kids raises funds for equipment, resources and support for the Royal Hobart Hospital’s Paediatric and Neonatal Unit, with the players donating money on the night.
Demons forward Jesse Maple is going for the traditional button-up shirt look and said while it was a peculiar sight, the playing group was right behind the idea.
“It’s definitely unusual seeing a group of players in dirty pyjamas out on the footy field,” Maple said.
“But it’ll be a good thing to go outside the norm.
“Some boys are going with boxers and a tank top but others are going outside the box with some unusual PJs.
“It’s a good fun way to break up the season.”
Demons playing coach Kane Richter said the initiative was part of the club’s desire to support the Hobart community.
“Our role is more than just a player playing football on Saturday and we have an obligation ... to make our community and its people stronger,” Richter said.
THE battle for control of the Hobart City Demons board is heating up with long-awaited changes to the club’s constitution falling short of the mark, campaigner Craig Martin says.
A member of the Hobart City Demons Football Club and North Hobart Tridents, and head of the Bring North Hobart Home Group, Martin said Hobart City’s board was an “unelected closed shop”.
He and his group have been championing change in the way the HCD board is put in place, which needs a change in the club’s constitution. Their goal is to change the club name back to North Hobart.
As it stands, club members are unable to vote for the board with board members brought on to the club’s controlling panel by a sub-committee.
Martin wants the board to be elected by members of the club, but the constitution does not allow it.
Recent changes put forward to the constitution allow for two members of the board to be elected by members, and the rest unelected, appointed board members.
Martin said that was not good enough.
“We raised the undemocratic nature of the constitution on September 22 last year at a members’ meeting and it was the first time the members were made aware that they didn’t have the right to vote for board members,” he said.
“It understandably caused a lot of anger among the members and the board said they would look at changing the constitution. Seven months later the changes that are being proposed to the constitution are cosmetic at best and still don’t address the key issue of allowing the members of the footy club the democratic right to elect the club’s board.”
Martin wants to know why the current board saw the need to “deny the members of the footy club the basic democratic right to elect the board of the footy club”.
“Members of sporting clubs should have the right to vote for who is on the board,” Martin said.
“We believe that every other state league club has a constitution that provides for members to elect the board.
“If the board isn’t elected by the club’s members, who is the board accountable to?
“Clear accountability is the cornerstone of good governance. If the members can’t vote in or vote out a board, how is the board made accountable?
“Surely to engage with members, to give them a say in how the club is run, to establish clear accountabilities and to give them true buy-in, the members have to have the right to vote for the club’s board.”
Hobart City Demons president Michael Denehey said the election of only two members would apply for next year, and following that, it would increase to four members — half the board.