Shrewdly,the McGuire board encouraged a couple of long-serving board members to step down (Alisa Camplin and Ian McMullin) and went on and appointed the ex-Copeland Trophy winner Paul Licuria,whose popularity with the masses would ensure he’d withstand any challenge,and Jodie Sizer,an Indigenous woman with a corporate accounting background.

Jeff Kennett’s second coming at Hawthorn,meanwhile,was devoid of membership input,apart from the formal show of hands at the annual general meeting. Kennett was more or less invited back by the board as a result of the botched appointment of Tracey Gaudry as chief executive and the resultant dysfunction within the club.

Essendon are among the more democratic clubs – six of the nine directors must be elected,albeit most are elected unopposed and the hierarchy seldom – actually never - fails to get their preferred man or woman up.

These clubs are democratic in theory,yet governed by their elites in practice. As they’ve become increasingly corporatised,their membership has shifted from being “owners’’ of the club to consumers. They are owners in name only.

While it is still possible for the members to blow up the club – they can call an extraordinary general meeting and cause the board to be spilled – there has to be credible candidates ready to step in;it’s far more likely that a transfer of power will be negotiated.

The regime of Tom Elliott’s father,John Elliott,indeed,was the last to be spilled and swept from power (2002) – a revolution that stemmed from two realities:One,that the Blues were in dire shape (on the bottom,in massive debt and without draft picks as a result of salary cap cheating),and two,that John Elliott and (most of) his board were unwilling to cede control.

Privately,clubs will acknowledge that,while they are member organisations,they don’t want elections,which led to people getting involved without the specific skill sets. Fans will always vote for a good midfielder who played 200 games ahead of the lawyer or businessman the hierarchy craves. On those rare occasions when there is a club election,only a small proportion of the base actually votes.

The West Coast Eagles have never had a single election in their 31-year history;all directors are appointed (ratified by the WA Football Commission). Adelaide and Port Adelaide allow a few to be elected,as does Fremantle (hence the heavier presence of ex-players on their board).

If democracy has withered to the point of irrelevance at club level,the fan still can exert influence in this way:by not showing up,by cancelling or micro-waving his membership,by phoning the club,flooding the Facebook page and perhaps ramping up the pressure on the club and its sponsors. The clubs certainly listen to the concerns of sponsors. Social media has given the fan another pressure point.

The fan’s genuine power is as consumer. Coaches are sometimes sacked when the club calculates that action is needed to stem financial losses. Clubs will take drastic (and often stupid) action in response to fans – sign a player,sack a coach,bring back a favourite son. While a president may step aside “under pressure”,the member of 2018 doesn’t vote him out.

Consumer power is more evident everywhere. Corporations haven’t simply embraced “diversity’’ and “inclusion’’ because of their inherent virtue. In part,they’ve been forced to demonstrate inclusion to customers,since the bottom line will be hit by any whiff of exclusion.

In this new game - where the club is both a company and a community - political power grows out of the wallet,not the ballot.