Throughout this year, the Board and senior management have embarked on a strategic review of the Brisbane Lions Australian Football Club - where we are today and where we want to be AND need to be into the future.

Members of our great Club can expect its Directors and executives to act responsibly and ethically and in compliance with AFL rules, our Club Constitution and the merger arrangements documented in 1996.

Directors are elected by members to oversee the management of the Club in the interests of the Club itself and its members. As a Board and working with senior management we set in place the strategic direction of the Club. The Board is accountable to the members for the financial performance of the Club.

Our financial performance is paramount. Subject to the previously mentioned level of compliance and behaviour, members expect the Club to use the resources entrusted to us to generate value for members by maximising cash flows and profits to support a high performing team on the field and a strong Club off the field.

Our strongest competitors in the AFL now boast 50,000 members and $50M gross revenues. Today we have 26,000 members and $30M gross revenues.

We must target being a $40M club in three years time. We must target 30,000 members in 2010 and a minimum of 10% increases annually thereafter.

It is vitally important that our Club of today and into the future can operate with commercial freedom. To achieve those targets and others, we must appeal to a broader base of the community. We must appeal to a larger group of people and companies. We must look outwards and not continue to look inwards.

In executing our strategic mission, we have been aggressive - aggressive in our assessments and executions including:

• our player acquisitions during AFL Trade Week and the AFL National Draft

• the acquisition of two new Major Sponsors

• the planning and execution of our new members facility at Springwood

• the launch of our new logo and guernsey

• our commitment to participate in the first ever game of AFL to be played in China

• the launch of the AFL Brisbane Lions Academy to nurture our future home-grown draftees.

These are some of the challenges facing us right now:

• we are last on the AFL membership tally ladder

• we sit second last on the AFL junior membership tally ladder

• our Gabba crowds and TV ratings sit well behind rugby league

• we have a stagnating Victorian membership some 13 years after the merger - despite a series of initiatives designed to increase their numbers

• and there are eight other national teams competing for the hearts and minds of people here in Queensland.

We can do nothing OR we can address these issues head on. But there are consequences for the Club in not achieving our targets:

• We fall further and further behind the other AFL clubs. There has been an unprecedented launch of new facilities at other AFL clubs during 2009. By our reckoning, the quality of our football facilities at the Gabba would now be ranked in the bottom half of the AFL competition.

• We will not be able to provide the necessary facilities and technologies needed by the Club and most importantly our team.

• Some AFL teams currently pay less than the salary cap, thereby affecting their performance. Some are unable to secure players they desire under the direction of club Boards.

• Or does the Club in attempting to fund these football requirements, adjust the pricing of memberships, coteries, corporate suites and boxes beyond reasonable norms?

With change - like the logo and guernsey - comes an amount of initial resistance. This applies in any organisation. But with change comes the opportunity to define a new era both on and off the field. Change isn’t made necessarily because you don’t like something. Rather, change is endorsed because there is a firm belief it will be better for the organisation as a whole.

Those involved included the Board, CEO, Senior Management, the Senior Coach, the Player Leadership Group (Captain and Vice-Captains) and member focus groups in both Brisbane and Melbourne.

All this was performed in consultation with a leading company in this field - the same company who in the last few years assisted the Geelong and Hawthorn football clubs with their changes. We are united in our endorsement of the new logo and the new lion on the guernsey.

We are currently experiencing a very strong membership renewal rate. Our Springwood member facility is progressing on schedule. We have built momentum and interest in our Club. Momentum is built by people making a number of great decisions in a row.

We ARE defining a new era of the Brisbane Lions with a new coach, an extensive player list turnover, a new logo and jumper, new facilities, the football academy and more to come.

We are the Brisbane Lions Australian Football Club. We commenced operations some 13 years ago. We are not Fitzroy and we are not the Brisbane Bears. The two clubs merged to create a new force - the Brisbane Lions.

The Brisbane Lions of today respect and honour our past and history - but we will not live in it - we cannot and must not.

There are those who believe “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. A gentleman by the name of Paul Tagliabu who has been the Head Commissioner of the American NFL for 15 years stated otherwise: “If it ain’t broke, fix it anyway”. What this means is this: In the fierce competitive world of elite professional sports, if you stand still or gaze into the past too often, your competitors will fly right past you.

We are the Brisbane Lions, we will always be the Lions and we will always be maroon, blue and gold.

To those who have attacked the Brisbane Lions by launching court action - “we will vigorously defend our position”. This action brought against our Club by a group who claim they are our supporters is a vexatious one designed to chain our Club to the past for evermore. Their actions have made it quite obvious that they are not genuine supporters of the Brisbane Lions but people who would rather live in Fitzroy’s past.

To our members, I thank you for your ongoing support - embrace the changes and our planned future direction. Enjoy them and most importantly, enjoy your experience of being a member of the Lions army. Continue your passionate support of the mighty Brisbane Lions football team in 2010.

Ladies and Gentlemen - We are the Brisbane Lions and it is the Brisbane Lions that is our future.

Thank you and on behalf of the Board and the entire Club I wish you all a very Merry Christmas with your family and friends and a safe and prosperous New Year.

Season 2010 genuinely promises to be the most thrilling in years… GO LIONS!!

Tony Kelly
Chairman
Brisbane Lions AFC

Delivered 6:30pm Wednesday 16 December 2009