Five members of the Hughes clan - whose head was the late Bulldogs patriarch Peter "Bullfrog" Moore, the father of coach Kevin Moore - handed in their life memberships in a letter the club received early this week.

The five include Moore's nephews, the trio of brothers - Garry, Graeme and Mark Hughes - who played in the Bulldogs' 1980 premiership team, together with two of Garry's sons, Steven and Glen, also former Bulldog players and brothers of Corey.

It is believed to be rugby league's biggest single mass resignation of life membership, one of the code's greatest honours and privileges.

Chief executive Todd Greenberg, already reeling from the loss of two points for the Bulldogs being caught with 14 men on the field in a win over Penrith last week, described it as "a real shame".

He said the club, the only NRL franchise without a principal sponsor, was successfully managing a makeover and needed all its past greats to reposition the Bulldogs in the eyes of a sceptical public. "We are at the start of an exciting journey for the club, and I'd like to think we can have the Hughes family on board but it's something we will have to accept," he said. "Because the letter arrived [on] Monday, I haven't tabled it at board level yet."

Asked the basis of the Hugheses' grievances, Greenberg said: "I've met with representatives of the Hughes family on a number of occasions and told them the current board can't undo the events of the past."

It would seem the focus of the Hughes family anger is president George Peponis, the captain of the 1980 team and a former Australian skipper.

Peponis escaped any public censure following the sexual assault allegations in Coffs Harbour - subsequently dropped - which cost the administration careers of the Bulldogs' greatest ever player, then chief executive Steve Mortimer and the popular football manager Garry Hughes.

Although Garry Hughes reached an out-of-court settlement with the Bulldogs over his wrongful dismissal, he has sought to clear his name with a public mea culpa from the club. The board has refused, saying it would breach the terms of the confidential settlement.

The Bulldogs' official line on why Corey, now at Cronulla, was not extended life membership is that he has not finished his professional career. They point to former half Brent Sherwin, now playing in the English Super League, who has played more games than Corey and is yet to receive life membership.

But in the turmoil which followed the Bulldogs' election last year, when Graeme Hughes missed a seat on the board, the Hughes family believe Corey was the victim of a vendetta.

Graeme Hughes, a broadcaster with 2SM, also filed a defamation action on March 6 against the Bulldogs and former chief executive, Malcolm Noad.

In an affidavit lodged with the District Court of NSW, Hughes contends he was the victim of an email sent from the club in March 2006 when 2SM was challenging rival radio station 2GB for the NRL radio broadcasting rights. The email, although not identifying Hughes, referred to a drunken rant against NRL officials at Star City Casino, and was read on radio by 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley, who forwarded it to NRL chief executive David Gallop.

Gallop believed it identified Hughes, and emailed him to complain, only to be told by Hughes the information was incorrect and he suspected the original email was spurious.

Hughes, with the subsequent co-operation of Hadley and Gallop, has claimed to have forensically sourced the email back to the Bulldogs RLFC firewall gateway, for which Noad, as chief executive, had ultimate responsibility.

Graeme Hughes refused to comment on the legal action or the mass resignation of life memberships by his family.

Should Corey be offered life membership when his playing career concludes, it is highly unlikely he will accept.

The Bulldogs, who are on an alumni program to identify all 710 past players with an individual number, are desperate to return to their 1980s image as the "family club". But behind the scenes, their squabbles resemble the dramas of the cast of TV's The Brady Bunch.