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The Melbourne Cricket Club has had enough of bad behaviour by its members – especially the misuse of cards – and wants to make punishment, including expulsion, easier to enforce.
MCC president Fred Oldfield used a newsletter to members on Tuesday night to flag the proposed changes ahead of the club’s annual meeting in August where members will get to vote on whether to endorse the harder line.
The MCC has acted on a spike in misuse of members’ cards.Credit: Getty Images
Oldfield told members the proposed changes followed “a comprehensive review” of the club’s rules, which supporting documents said had stretched over five years and was the first in recent history.
The new proposed section on misconduct says members can be referred for sanctions, including expulsion, simply if they “breached” any of the club’s rules, previously they could be punished only if they “wilfully infringed” specific rules around card use or failing to notify the club if they were convicted of serious crimes.
Members pay annual fees of up to $897 a year, qualifying for various perks including free access, using their membership card to scan at the turnstile, into a raft of events at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, including AFL and cricket matches.
The new rules around misuse of membership cards calls out the use of members’ cards by other people to gain access to the MCG’s member enclosure or associated membership privileges. Cards feature members’ photographs and are not routinely checked on entry, but must be produced when requested.
The new rules also require members to take reasonable precautions to prevent misuse of their cards, including guest cards.
Supporting documentation said the proposals would also “strengthen the overall member discipline process, whereby any breach of club rules must be investigated by management”.
In response to questioning, an MCC spokesperson said on Tuesday night that the changes would bring the club’s policies in line with modern standards and protect the club’s reputation.
“The vast majority of MCC members continue to uphold the standards and values of the MCC. However, over the past year, we have seen an increase in disciplinary matters relating to member misconduct,” the spokesperson said.
“The proposed changes are about strengthening our member integrity and ensuring we have the right processes in place.”
The spokesperson said the revisions aim to make the rules clearer and easier to enforce, without impacting members’ entitlements.
“These updates strengthen member discipline and integrity expectations around the use of member cards and the overall member misconduct process,” the spokesperson said.
Other changes proposed in the rules rewrite will affect the length of terms for committee members and the size of the board.
They will also alter administrative rules, such as how many member signatures were required to call an extraordinary meeting which had not updated in more than a century.
Oldfield said in his newsletter that the committee believed the amendments would “benefit all members present and future by enhancing and protecting the integrity of the club we all love”.
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