Long-term Brisbane Broncos servant Bruno Cullen stepped down as chairman of the club's Red Hill leagues club at Thursday night's annual general meeting following the release of an annual report that admitted governance failings over $300,000 of unapproved spending by former football manager Andrew Gee.
Cullen told members he was retiring consistent with a two-year-old succession plan, while others speculated he was a casualty of a palace revolt over poor governance practices at the licensed club.
A former chairman of the Broncos NRL club, Lawry Brindle, is the new leagues club chair, while Tony Joseph, another long-term Wayne Bennett supporter and Broncos director, joins the board of the licensed club.
The exit of Cullen and the ascension of Brindle and Joseph are perceived to be a victory for Bennett, whose exit from the Broncos six years ago was partly because of a falling-out with Cullen.
The NRL took no action against the NRL club over the unexplained $300,000 spending because no salary cap breach could be proved, but questions persist in Brisbane and the wider league community.
Gee, who was also a director of the BLC, resigned both his posts and refused to co-operate with the NRL's salary cap investigation.
The NRL has indicated Gee will not be registered should he apply for a position in the game.
Fans joined the protest with NRL chief executive Dave Smith acknowledging receipt of a letter pointing out that previous admitted salary cap breaches by the Broncos have not been punished and the officials concerned allowed entry to NRL games.
The letter, seen by the Herald, complains: "This [inaction against the Broncos] is identical to how an investigation was closed down after the Broncos' former chairman Don Nissen admitted on oath that the club cheated the salary cap under him.
"In July 2009, Nissen testified in a Brisbane corruption trial that mining billionaire Ken Talbot was a 'through and through' Bronco fan who 'made generous gifts to a number of players'. Star players, Nissen confessed, were paid cash by Talbot which was never repaid. Talbot, he testified, was also secretly paying Broncos coach Wayne Bennett $100,000 a season. [Talbot died in a plane crash six weeks before his court appearance.]
"But when Nissen refused to co-operate with the NRL, the investigation was abandoned. Bruno Cullen, the Bronco chief executive, told the media: 'When people won't talk, you obviously can't get anywhere.' The NRL agreed and did nothing. Incredibly, Nissen was still welcome at NRL games. On 11 April 2011, at the Bronco-Knights clash at Suncorp Stadium, Nissen watched from a private box alongside Nathan Tinkler, Bronco officials, and Wayne Bennett's wife Trish."
Smith responded to the letter, writing: "An investigation was conducted into the Brisbane Broncos but it found no evidence of any breach of the cap."
News Corporation, the majority shareholder of the Broncos, is concerned at the distraction the club causes to its core business, publishing and broadcasting.
The sloppy accounting at the BLC, together with innuendo of salary cap breaches, follows the 2010 revelations of cheating at the Storm, then owned by News Ltd.
News has the power to appoint the three top officials of the BLC: the chairman, deputy chair and treasurer. Traditionally, it endorses those elected at the AGM.
Relationships between the Broncos football club and its licensed premises have become strained, exacerbated by competing explanations about how the $300,000 was spent by Gee.
Former Broncos premiership player Shane Webcke, who was one of the players mentioned by Nissen as receiving payments from Talbot, resigned as a director of the BLC earlier this year. However, he brought Phil Murphy, a wealthy developer, into the Broncos fold. Murphy is now the Broncos' second-largest shareholder.
