Mar Meelis's alleged efforts at controlling the Church Committee and taking possession of its assets (which had been registered under the Companies Act) split the Church of the East community into old and new calendar factions. He took the Old Calendar faction to court in order to take full control of St. Mary's church in 1988–9. This conflict also caused a split in the Australian branch of the AUA (based on the Church factions), and led to inter-communal rivalry between the Nineveh Club and the Assyrian Sports and Cultural Club, which aligned itself with the Old Calendar faction of the Church of the East and began its own Nisibin Assyrian School.