UPDATE:
The effort to stop Hurstville RSL merging with South Hurstville RSL is gathering speed.
More than 300 of the Friends of Hurstville RSL are expected to meet at Sunny Seafood Restaurant at Hurstville tonight, October 17, to launch their campaign to save the club.
The friends’s spokesman Ed mason said they had been gathering evidence along with statutory declarations to prove that the boards and management of the two clubs had not followed proper processes in their determination to amalgamate the two clubs.
‘‘There are numerous breaches,’’ Mr Mason said.
‘‘They can’t do whatever they want — its a club and not a private company.’’
Oatley MP Mark Coure is expected at the meeting.
The dinner/meeting begins at 6pm.
OCTOBER 7:
BACK in August it looked as if the contentious amalgamation of South Hurstville and Hurstville RSL clubs was well and truly settled, with the separatist Friends of Hurstville RSL accepting the vote had gone against them.
But while former Friends' spokesman Mikall Chong had laid down his arms, a new leader has emerged and the fight for the Hurstville club's independence is back on.
The new Friends of Hurstville RSL spokesman Ed Mason is calling for a new board and a new direction at the Hurstville club.
Amid accusations of board mismanagement, the Friends lodged 134 signed requests from members calling for the board to convene a general meeting and for members to vote to replace the current Hurstville RSL Club board with a new board elected by the members.
Mr Mason said the board had 21 days to respond.
"If this does not occur [Friends] will call a general meeting to ensure transparency is maintained at the club and the members have a chance to vote freely for themselves," Mr Mason said.
The Friends have fought hard for Hurstville RSL to keep its real estate and identity. The group said members should have been given an opportunity to consider an alternative option to amalgamation. Many supported a plan by Skye Pacific to build a multi-storey residential development and a new club on the site.
But the board would only allow one item on the meeting agenda — to merge or not to merge.
Afterwards the Friends disputed how the meeting was run. There were claims people were locked out, police were called, the interpreter was misleading and the count was shonky. Answers were demanded from the Hurstville board.
Mr Mason said the board did its best to stack the votes and locked the doors before all the people in the queue were "credentialled" to come in.
He said the police were called and the club relented but many potential "no" voters had by then gone home.
He said that during the vote, many members were confused by the directions from the Cantonese/Mandarin interpreter and voted the wrong way.
"The club board has engaged in unfair and aggressive tactics to ensure members of the club were not able to vote," Mr Mason said.
Mr Mason said the club was a meeting place for the Chinese community and there was no reason to hand over their property to South Hurstville.
"We want the club to stay located next to Hurstville railway station and we have a plan to ensure that happens, which the board continuously refuse to acknowledge," he said.
"An alternative proposal has been submitted to make the club financially viable by retaining the land and building new club premises on the current site, plus apartments and a childcare centre."
Complaints have been lodged with the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority, which will make the final decision on the amalgamation.
Neither club would comment.
Friends will hold a meeting of more than 20 club members on October 17 and has invited Oatley MP Mark Coure to be guest speaker.
