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Civil war has erupted at two-time Australian soccer champions Sydney Olympic, with their main financial backer attempting to sue the anonymous administrator of a Facebook account for defamation, and a group of former players and supporters pledging to take the club to court to overturn a constitutional amendment which they say has effectively turned a members’ club into a private entity.
A foundation club of both the old National Soccer League and the new Australian Championship, Olympic are at risk of relegation to NSW’s second tier after collecting just one win from their first 11 games in the NPL this season, leaving them bottom of the table following an off-season pivot to a “youth development” strategy which led to the exits of almost all of their experienced players.
But matters off the field are just as messy, with former Socceroo and club legend Peter Katholos – the face of a steering committee formed by members and ex-players which is challenging the current leaders – fearing dire consequences if Olympic’s board remains in place.
“Everyone’s angry,” Katholos said.
“There’s a big community that loves this club, and they will not let this club die.”
The situation revolves around businessman Damon Hanlin, who stepped down as Olympic president in November to avoid a conflict of interest related to his failed takeover of the A-League’s Central Coast Mariners.
Hanlin, however, retains voting power because he is a ‘benefactor member’ – a membership class introduced to the club’s constitution in 2023, granting those within it extraordinary powers to appoint and remove directors and veto any resolution passed by members.
On Hanlin’s behalf, the club posted on Monday a nine-page legal letter on its social media channels addressed to the administrator of the ‘Sydney Olympic Supporters’ page on Facebook, which has been highly critical of Hanlin and others in charge of the club for many months.
The letter foreshadowed defamation proceedings against the person who runs the page, whose identity would be sought from Facebook’s parent company Meta, wrote Hanlin’s solicitor.
It also revealed that Hanlin had contributed $4.6 million in funding to the club over six years and was made Olympic’s sole benefactor member because without his money, the club “could not have survived”.
Tensions came to a head at the club’s annual general meeting on Tuesday, when members voted to remove the board – only for Hanlin to exercise his rights and block the vote from passing, which Katholos said had left many people confused.
“What was written in on the paperwork was played out in real life to the shock of the members,” Katholos said. “Some did not understand [what was happening], and they were still asking questions: ‘Wait a minute, we’ve just voted him out. What just happened?’”
Katholos alleges that the changes made to the club’s constitution were invalid because of discrepancies in the process. He said that he was listed in the minutes of the 2022 AGM as having attended, even though he was not present at the meeting – and then at the 2023 AGM, where the benefactor member clause was approved, Katholos said three people had come forward who voted according to the minutes, but were not actually members and did not have the power to do so.
He claims that proper notice of the clauses that were to be amended at the 2023 AGM were not provided, that some were introduced without discussion, and that the new structure amounted to “oppressive conduct” as outlined in the Corporations Act.
Katholos also said he could not understand why Football NSW has failed to intervene, despite the state body’s bylaws, which say any club’s constitution cannot be changed without its consent. This masthead has seen a letter from Football NSW to the steering committee, which said it was “not the relevant corporate regulator” and that any issues should be brought to the attention of ASIC. Football NSW was contacted for comment.
Having failed to remove the board at Tuesday’s AGM, Katholos said members have called for an EGM on May 18 – and, should they fail again, they will ask the courts to repeal the constitution.
“We’re pretty confident that’s going to happen,” he said.
Hanlin declined to comment, passing this masthead’s inquiries to the Olympic board, but categorically denied any suggestion of impropriety by Katholos and the steering committee in relation to how the constitution was changed, maintaining it was done so validly.
Chris Charalambous, who replaced him as president, has not responded to a request for comment.
Olympic’s board also insisted at Tuesday’s AGM that the benefactor membership was properly adopted, according to The Greek Herald, while this masthead has seen correspondence from solicitors acting for the board which confirms that position.
Hanlin’s argument, outlined in previous interviews, is simple: since his money is keeping Olympic alive, and helped rescue the club from the fallout of former president Bill Papas’ high-profile financial scam, then he should have a greater ability to control how the club is run to steer it towards a more modern and sustainable direction.
“It’s a bloody gift,” Hanlin said of his investment in an interview with SBS Greek in January.
“And I think everybody out there who’s listening should listen very carefully as to what that means. There was no hostage situation for this club. I did it out of pure passion. And I don’t think many people exist like me out there, and I’m gonna say that for the first time because it is quite tiring to listen and read a lot of the things that are being said, which are just fragrant lies.
“I think a lot of that comes from when certain people were trying to hijack the club again through social media and this WhatsApp group, but foolishly to them, when money was asked for ... to put in escrow to prove and demonstrate that your financial capacity is there to run the club ... I don’t believe that they can do it.”
Katholos, on the other hand, said a number of potential sponsors had already declared their interest in supporting Olympic – but would not do so if the current regime remained in place.
Katholos said he had sent a letter to Football Australia and had planned a meeting with FA chair Anter Isaac to discuss the situation, which he said showed how any member-based entity in Australian soccer could befall a similar fate.
“As a football person, as someone who’s spent all my life in football and for the interest of football going forward, these issues must be resolved,” he said.
“Whoever looks into the case properly and sees the facts and supports a members’ club wouldn’t have any hesitation in agreeing with what we’re saying.”
