Cudgen signs with Norths

Special report by Jo Kennett

CUDGEN LEAGUES Club board has recommended an amalgamation with North Sydney Leagues Club (Norths Collective), which members hope will speed up the club’s rebuild after it was gutted by fire in May 2020.

Seven clubs, including Titans Rugby League, Parramatta, Tweed Heads Bowls Club, and Twin Towns — whose earlier offer of amalgamation by the past board was knocked back by members before a new board was installed in December 2021 — have also put in expressions of interest for amalgamation, which members will get to vote on.

“Cudgen Leagues Club’s board is excited by the opportunity for what an amalgamation with Norths Collective could bring for our community,” Cudgen Leagues Club president Sean Alcorn said in the notice which was released on Monday, August 7.

“We are clearly aligned on company values and share a passion for local sport. “Norths Collective is very interested in hearing from Cudgen Leagues Club’s many connected sporting teams and community organisations that make up the heart of Cudgen Leagues Club, as well as establishing support into the future, as evidenced in the communities they already operate within.”

Norths Collective CEO Luke Simmons told The Weekly, “At Norths Collective we are focused on connecting our community and are thrilled the Cudgen Leagues Club board has resolved to move forward to the next stage of the amalgamation process with us as its preferred partner.

“We share strong community values with a great passion for sport, which makes us even more excited to begin engaging with the membership and wider Cudgen community on how we bring to life The Clubhouse Cudgen.”

In March 2021, Norths Collective tabled their interest in amalgamating, providing a 12-page merger proposal and capability statement. They offered to provide a meeting and memorabilia space for the RSL — a proposal that was knocked back in favour of a Twin Towns amalgamation.

However at a fiery meeting later that year, members voted against the Twin Towns amalgamation, saying they weren’t consulted before the former board signed a memorandum of understanding with Twin Towns without presenting other offers.

All but one of the former board members resigned at the meeting.

The Save Cudgen Leagues Club organisation, helmed by Idwall Richards and Alan MacIntosh, took control of the board, with the two businessmen promising to underwrite the rebuild if there was any shortfall once insurance was paid out, an offer which was still on the table.

President Sean Alcorn told The Weekly he will provide details of the reasoning behind the decision next week, including why the club hadn’t signed with Norths earlier and why the board chose not to take the offer of Mr Richards and Mr MacIntosh.

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