AN audit of the Mt Eliza Junior Football Club has concluded. Earlier this year amidst a committee overhaul, the Frankston and District Junior Football League banned Mt Eliza JFC from hosting home games. The league said that the club had violated its own constitution.
At a special general meeting on 19 June, Mt Eliza JFC addressed the issue by appointing a new committee. The club also voted to investigate alleged breaches of the club’s constitution, policies and code of conduct. The club’s insurer appointed law firm Lander and Rogers to oversee the matter, which then engaged Crawford and Company to conduct a review of the club’s finances.
In a letter to the club, seen by The Times, Lander and Rogers said “Crawfords have now informed us that they have completed their analysis of the available material and, based on that material, have been unable to establish misappropriation or fraud.” “Crawfords have also advised us that there is unlikely to be any utility in expanding the scope of the investigation, as they expect any further investigations will have the same outcome,” the letter read.
“Crawfords sought to identify, in particular, evidence of cash misappropriation, unauthorised payments to third parties, sales skimming and stock and apparel misappropriation. “Crawfords commenced their investigation in early June 2024 and subsequently made several requests for information from the club. We understand the club provided all available material to assist Crawfords with their investigation including the club’s financial ledgers, invoices, bank statements, minutes from committee meetings, manuals and the club’s constitution. That material primarily relates to the period from October 2019 to July 2024.”
Mt Eliza JFC president Mark McCudden has welcomed the completion of the review. He said “while this is a good outcome for our football club, the audit has come at a considerable cost. The angst and professional and personal reputational damage to former presidents, committee members and their friends and families has hurt. It has been unbefitting of the service they gave.”
“These were people who contributed to our club in a significant fashion, giving up their time and offering energy and good spirit to run the club and enable thousands of local children to play and enjoy football,’ he said. “The senior section of the football club was also unnecessarily drawn into the issue, demonstrating the broader consequences of the initial false allegations. On behalf of the junior club committee, I would like to apologise unreservedly to all those subjected to accusations of wrongdoing and subsequent rumour. “With the audit complete and its findings now known, we would like to put the issue behind us and move forward as a united club.”
First published in the Frankston Times – 12 November 2024