DIXON EXPLAINS BRC BOARD SELECTION PROCESS

By Graham Potter | Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Brisbane Racing Club once again has its full quota of directors following the appointment of Sam Adams to the Board. Adams fills the vacancy created when Wayne Milner resigned his position to pursue a role with Queensland Racing Ltd.

The selection process for the new director was clearly dictated by the Club’s constitution.

When the Brisbane Turf Club and the Queensland Turf Club merged to create the new racing identity that is the Brisbane Racing Club, the eight directors of the new club, who were voted in by the members, were drawn equally (four each) from the two merging clubs.

When Milner, who was from the Brisbane Turf Club, resigned, the constitution stated that the person replacing Milner would have to be drawn from the previous Brisbane Turf Club membership pool to maintain parity.

There would be no vote of members though. The choice of the new board member lay entirely in the hands of the three sitting directors who were previously with the Brisbane Racing Club - Kevin Dixon, Peter Tighe and Paul Williams. The selection of the new candidate was their responsibility alone.

As with any part of the political side of racing, the result was always going bring a mixed reaction. HRO thought it prudent to ask the BRC Chairman Kevin Dixon to run through the process that was followed and to give some insight into how a decision was reached so that all interested parties, whether they agree with the outcome or not, could have a better understanding of how the end result was achieved.

Dixon was happy to do so.

BRC Chairman Kevin Dixon: “We are very happy with the (selection) process. You know the constitution required us to select somebody who was a member at Doomben at the time of the merger. We felt that this gave us an opportunity to see just who was out there ... who was interested.

“So we sent a letter to the members asking for expressions of interest from anybody who was interested. From those people ... there were nine altogether ... we spoke to each of them ... what we tried to do was look for someone who could add something different to the Board. As you might be aware, we’ve got fifty-year-old males ... fifty-plus year-olds sitting around the table and so we have got plenty of that ... and we understand that perspective.

“We could have selected any one of the nine, quite frankly. They were all very good candidates, but we felt that we had the opportunity to bring something to the Board in terms of skills that probably would not usually be available. If you ran an election, it would be difficult for a twenty-nine year old (the age of new Board member Sam Adams) or even a thirty-nine-year-old to be elected. It was an opportunity to bring in new blood.

“People will always query when you do something different. I just say to everybody he is going to be one of eight, so any ‘out there’ ideas he has will have to pass the test of the other seven. So it is not like we’ve really sold anything away. But, you know, as much as we like to convince ourselves that we know what the next generation is interested in ... we don’t.

“People are also talking about the fact that the decision was made by only three people. That was the constitution that was voted on and agreed upon by the members. We didn’t have the choice to do it a different way. People say that to me (why should only three people decide instead of it going to a vote), but I say, even if I agree with you - which, you know, I’m won’t say if I do or I don’t - but even if I did, we didn’t have a choice. We had to do what the constitution said.

“The constitution was agreed upon by the members, and the reason it (the selection process) was done that way as a safeguard because, what happened was when you put together the BTC and the QTC membership, there were less BTC members than there were QTC members. The concern was if you just put it out to a vote, then you could end up with basically what people would consider 5-3 on the board. So to be sure the new board member came from the originating club that was what was decided.

“The point did have a lot of discussion at the time and it was purposely done that way for some very good reasons.”

HRO also spoke to newly appointed BRC Director, Sam Adams.

Sam Adams: “My family has a pretty extensive involvement in horseracing. My grandparents owned and bred a lot of horses on the Darling Downs. A lot of them raced on these tracks actually, so most week-ends I was either at Eagle Farm or Doomben.

“That’s basically been my Saturdays for as long as I can remember. I’m very passionate about the racing industry. I am a lawyer and I think I’ve got some skills now I can offer. I’m very keen to make sure that the industry is successful and very well attended for the years to come. I hope I can give back to the sport I love.

“I was a member of the Brisbane Turf Club throughout the transition process, so I am very aware of the historical links and that sort of stuff. I am aware of all of the background to the changes that have been made.

“The merger has gone very well. We’ve got two race-tracks across the road from each other which is something unique in Australian racing and, with all the proposed redevelopment plans, you can see that is an opportunity to make this a horse racing precinct that others states can’t offer. It’s got everything going for it and I think it is very exciting times and I am absolutely going to throw myself right into it.”

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