Judge Gordon Lewis passed away earlier this week. He was not a Melbourne player or supporter but in the 1980s was critical to our ongoing existence. In the mid-1980s, before he became a County Court judge, he was Commissioner for Corporate Affairs (a job that no longer exists). In that role he wrote to the then head of the VFL, Jack Hamilton, to advise that seven clubs, including Melbourne, were trading while technically insolvent and if the VFL did not provide him with a plan for the future, he would have to wind them up. 

The plan the VFL came up with was expansion into WA and SA (although, in the end, it became Queensland, rather than SA) with the money for the new licenses and other expanded revenue streams, such as national TV rights, saving the seven clubs. Judge Lewis subsequently said in interviews that he had no power to do what he did and he was sticking his neck out by giving the VFL the opportunity to rectify its problems. If he had done what he was legally required to do, he would have wound us up and we would have disappeared before the end of the 1980s.

So, when we (rightfully) praise Jim Stynes, Joe Gutnick and others who have helped Melbourne survive, it's worth remembering that Judge Lewis was also integral in the survival of the Melbourne Football Club.

The Age published a story about this about 10 years ago which I think was covered in Demonland. Someone with search skills better than me might find that thread.

I knew Gordon slightly. He was a charismatic man .... always made you feel good when you talked to him.

RIP Gordon Lewis.

  On 24/08/2022 at 23:58, Winners at last said:

I knew Gordon slightly. He was a charismatic man .... always made you feel good when you talked to him.

RIP Gordon Lewis.

He loved football. My favourite story about Gordon Lewis is that in the 1960s he used to provide the now defunct Herald newspaper with the results each week of a country league competition. The Herald published the results every week. The only problem was that there was no such league and he made up the results every week. (Which also goes to show that fake news is not a new phenomenon.)

It must have been a crazy time in boardrooms of VFL Clubs in the ‘80’s

Huge Crowds with Small Revenue 

 

  On 24/08/2022 at 23:53, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Judge Gordon Lewis passed away earlier this week. He was not a Melbourne player or supporter but in the 1980s was critical to our ongoing existence. In the mid-1980s, before he became a County Court judge, he was Commissioner for Corporate Affairs (a job that no longer exists). In that role he wrote to the then head of the VFL, Jack Hamilton, to advise that seven clubs, including Melbourne, were trading while technically insolvent and if the VFL did not provide him with a plan for the future, he would have to wind them up. 

The plan the VFL came up with was expansion into WA and SA (although, in the end, it became Queensland, rather than SA) with the money for the new licenses and other expanded revenue streams, such as national TV rights, saving the seven clubs. Judge Lewis subsequently said in interviews that he had no power to do what he did and he was sticking his neck out by giving the VFL the opportunity to rectify its problems. If he had done what he was legally required to do, he would have wound us up and we would have disappeared before the end of the 1980s.

So, when we (rightfully) praise Jim Stynes, Joe Gutnick and others who have helped Melbourne survive, it's worth remembering that Judge Lewis was also integral in the survival of the Melbourne Football Club.

The Age published a story about this about 10 years ago which I think was covered in Demonland. Someone with search skills better than me might find that thread.

I can only find this article. Not sure if that's the one though:

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/saving-football-new-documents-reveal-how-close-the-vfl-came-to-shutting-down-20160408-go1x0m.html

  On 25/08/2022 at 00:23, layzie said:

I can only find this article. Not sure if that's the one though:

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/saving-football-new-documents-reveal-how-close-the-vfl-came-to-shutting-down-20160408-go1x0m.html

Thanks Layzie. That's definitely the article I was thinking of. I'm pretty sure Demonland also had a thread about it once the story appeared. 

  On 25/08/2022 at 01:55, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Thanks Layzie. That's definitely the article I was thinking of. I'm pretty sure Demonland also had a thread about it once the story appeared. 

maybe this one? https://demonland.com/forums/topic/40698-north-melbourne-article/#comment-1293594

  On 25/08/2022 at 05:16, daisycutter said:

maybe this one? https://demonland.com/forums/topic/40698-north-melbourne-article/#comment-1293594

Maybe. But I thought there was a thread specifically about The Age article which Layzie has found for us. The Age article was published in May 2016 whereas the thread you've found was from a couple of months later. Not that it matters, but it's hard to believe that The Age story could have been totally ignored by Demonland at the time.

  On 25/08/2022 at 01:55, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Thanks Layzie. That's definitely the article I was thinking of. I'm pretty sure Demonland also had a thread about it once the story appeared. 

Yeah I vaguely remember discussion on here about it.

A great practical lawyer and administrator.

He lectured me in Ethics at Summer School a very long time ago. A lovely man.

I was involved on the periphery of one club's Board at the time. Insolvency was a real threat and there were a few banks that were scared of public reaction if they ever had to exercise their security over the grandstands on the various suburban grounds