Executive committee's response, next steps options

TL;DR summary of this update:

1. Can we clear 3000 petition signatures? Please share.
2. Clarifying the club's piecemeal timeline, and what we still don't know
3. Expectation management of the club's external review
4. What next? The role of this petition

Since this issue broke in the media on Friday 17th July and the club was forced to email a hastilly cobbled acknowledgement to members during the NBL1 games, there has been much community outrage on social media and in conversations about what has gone wrong. There have also been some very contained, sheepish invitations to sympathise with a volunteer leadership group at the club, a semi-public response from club founder David Hickman sent to select members (that will be in the next update), amid the following decisions and communications by the club:

1. On Sunday 19 July, the executive committee gave a sense of a whiff of an outline of a timeline about what they knew when, claiming their first opportunity to confirm Richard's charges and the court's guilty finding was 10 June, the day after Richard announced his own departure from the club president role for "personal reasons" on 9 June.
2. While this email announced a National Police Check and Working With Children Check were undertaken during Richard's hiring process, the executive committee has not clarified highly relevant details and legal standards, including that they may have allegedly allowed Richard to commence his professional role with the volunteer version of the WWCC.
3. With the professional employment version of the WWCC process, the employer is listed so that card holders can be flagged by police and court processes to a WWCC screening unit, when charges are laid (Richard was charged in January 2025, the same month he commencing his CEO role with Wildcats).  This is supposed to account for any failure of card holders to self-disclose.
4. This same club email mentions that "crucial information has been withheld", but not about what, not by whom and not when. We can only imagine that if the timeline put Wildcats leadership in the clear, they would be transparent about it. While the language has steered us towards multiple mysterious agents in the aether, any failure to require a professional WWCC is a catastophic error by Eltham Wildcats' hiring process. Concerned community members should be vigilant of any attempt to hide the executive committee's accountability beneath process issues for WWCC and National Police Checks, as doing so will be less than a wholesome account.
5. On Monday 20 July, the club announced by email they will engage an external independent review, in conjuction with Basketball Victoria and SSC (Social Services Regulator). Please note this is a review of policies and procedures, not necessarily conduct and decision-making of the executive committee in this instance. I predict there will be claims to defend this decision that no gap exists between documented policies and procedures, and leadership decision-making and performance, but we should keep this gap in mind. Mention of any error of the WWCC process will be a good litmus test for the truthtelling potential of this external review. Arguably, and based on past experience in organisations "too big to fail", an independent review claims to be an instrument of justice, but often serves the role of risk minimisation and legal exposure mitigation. That said, it's only fair to see what this review comes up with. 
6. This same email also announced that Peter Meehan will temporarily step aside as club president for the review period with Vice President Carrie Davies serving as interim president. The is no mention of whether Peter will continue to be involved in this process in any official Basketball Victoria capacity. BV does not list Peter as holding any specific role. Some media incorrectly reported Peter stepped down permanently. The executive is clearly hoping community unrest subsides after the review process and Peter can resume his role. I have absolutely no clue why Peter felt the need to step aside for this process. All around, we can agree more clear information from the club would be welcomed. I don't know Peter -- he could be the best guy in 3095 -- the entire three leadership committee members need to resign their roles over these grave judgment errors.
7. Interim President Carrie Davies emailed members on 24 July to offer more information about the external review. Its focus is "the Club’s child safety, recruitment, safeguarding and governance practices" commencing "immediately". Its scope is to be "thorough and practical", including "broader systems" which we may later interpret in hindsight as avoiding the mess of any blame or accountability with the leadership group over Richard's appointment and exit. "Thorough and systematic" means a lot of words that are not about Richard's appointment and exit. This is risk minimisation language for leaders, prepping the members and wider community with an optimistic, practical glaze designed to provide assurance but skipping crucial accountability steps. The club has endeavoured to do everything but address the heart of community concerns.
8. I'm not concerned about Carrie ruling out any determination of "criminal liability". I will be expecting a more focused review by the Vic Social Services Regulator, which they announced on 22 July. Carrie informed members of this in a club summary on 29 July. Should we expect Basketball Victoria to conduct their own separate critical reviews? It is hard to see their reaction and role in this. What should their obligations be? Hopefully not to look after their good friends? Please add your comment to the petition and share to get us over 3000 signatures.
9. I hope to be surprised and proven wrong, but Carrie's own description of the review so far sounds more like a crisis management team has been deployed. The substance of the review should be specifically on Richard's appointment, its legality and priorities, whether friendship connections played a part in a casual approach to his appointment. I know many of us find the club's statements that seem to protect Richard from his own self-disclosure obligations in coming into the CEO role and in exiting the role, disturbing and suspicious about the impact of friendship in these errors of hiring and firing. The lack of transparent communication with club members in the ongoing drip of partial, piecemeal statements continue to skirt the heart of unresolved community concerns.
10. Carrie announced the executive committee will  "publicly release a summary of the review's findings together with the Club's response and implementation plan." If you have experience with these crisis clean-ups, you have seen before how precisely a summary can only vaguely reference the most damning findings of the report itself, and continue to provide an opaque glaze of safety for leadership, that does not serve members nor address their concerns. We should wait for their recommendations and assess them against the substance of our concerns. Again, I hope they surprise me!
11. Carrie announced: "The Eltham Wildcats Executive Committee will consider all recommendations arising from the review and determine an implementation plan designed to strengthen child safety and governance across the Club." Good. If the external review turns out to be a mere gloss, this is the moment we should demand 100% resignations across the Wildcats' three boards: executive, general and finance -- for the reason that many of the same people sit the two other boards, and their influence on the next committees should fully cease.
12. The demand that ~2000 of us have made does not need to demonise the individuals across the three leadership committees, who have done a lot of good work in our interests that I appreciate. However, because service is a privilege and not something to be taken for granted, and because of this catastrophic failure, of literally hiring a pedophile as our CEO, letting him leave for "personal reasons" rather than be stood down, and for pressuring us in that 17 July email to provide a perfect environment for abusers by discouraging frank conversations, as well as the obvious practical danger from January 2025 to June 2026 to our thousands of children, they just have to go. Just to let the club survive and thrive.
13. Carrie ends that update to say "Our priority is to be accountable for what happened". It doesn't look that way to me -- even the end of that sentence is cause for doubt, but I sincerely hope they make me look foolish in my cynicism. I look forward to sending that update, because it will be the best for the club, families and kids of the club.

There have been many insightful comments left on this petition, and also on the Eltham Wildcats Basketball Club facebook page where they have published further updates and amendments to their public comments, particularly this one that appears to be pinned. Community member Kristy, from one of these posts, sums up so well how I feel in response to the Wildcats executive's piecemeal dribble of statements. Kristy achieves a great balance of moderation, critical assessment, and encouragement for the club towards best practice (or just better practice), while describing well what the community needs to be able to move on:

"Eltham Wildcats management may have done everything within its scope of authority, but how you respond to and communicate with the community moving forward is just as important.

"Asking the community not to 'speculate' or discuss this situation has caused real harm and further eroded trust. Open conversation, when conducted respectfully, is an important part of accountability and healing.
The fact that this information came to light through a whistleblower is precisely why these conversations matter. Without people feeling able to speak up, serious issues can remain hidden.

"From my experience working in community settings, people are not looking for a carefully worded corporate statement followed by a link to an external psychological support service. They want to see genuine care and compassion from leadership. They want to know that management believes and supports survivors, acknowledges the harm that has been caused, and understands the impact this has had on the wider community.

"Set aside the corporate and legal language. Lead with empathy, transparency, and compassion. That is what will begin to rebuild trust."

Perhaps my own response to this expresses part of your own -- please feel free to add further comment to this petition or the club's facebook post. I think the legalese is here to stay, but maybe something authentic can accidentally find its way through to us nonetheless.

Thank you for signing, and please keep sharing this petition to get us to 3000 signatures. The more representative we are in just the mathematical stakes, the more seriously our demand will be, for the three committees of Eltham Wildcats to resign. This update is too long. My next update will be about founder David Hickman's semi-official words to circulated to a select few. Not the best idea, but hey he's the founder -- I'll listen and treat with much respect that has been earned.

Thanks for your support -- let's make sure we can be effective in our petition, help the club be better and stay proud to be part of the Wildcats membership and community.