Bendigo FL discussion 2024

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With all the discussion regarding which clubs could fit into which leagues, I’ve had some thoughts on a complete overhaul.
Whilst I post this in the Bendigo forum, as it’s the most active, it could be applied to other regions of the state.

Apologies about formatting, the dot points have been lost as I pasted into the forum


Divisional Football / Netball League Proposal

Option A:

30 Clubs – Three 10 Club divisions
18 match H&A Season
Full Competition Byes at Easter, Kings Birthday and Middle Weekend of School Holidays
Final 5 – 4 week finals series. Grand Finals on AFL Preliminary Final Weekend
Promotion / Relegation based on Club Championship*

Option B:

32 Clubs – Four 8 Club divisions
14 match H&A season
Full Competition Byes at Easter, Kings Birthday and Middle Weekend of School Holidays
Final 4 – 3 week finals series. Grand Finals on AFL Semi Final Weekend
Cup Competition
Open draw
Round 1 all teams per club at same venue
Round 2 onward, teams follow winning Senior Football / A Grade Netball open draw. All teams for a particular club will be at same venue, may be neutral.
Cup completion to be weeks 3, 6,13,16 & 22 of season
Cup Finals on AFL Preliminary Final Weekend
Promotion / Relegation based on Club Championship*


*Promotion / Relegation

Home & Away season only to be included in Club Championship Rankings
4 points per win Senior Football
4 points per win A Grade Netball
2 Points per win Reserves Football
2 Points per win B Grade Netball
Draws – half win points of the grade of Football / Netball
Club with highest ranking in division to be promoted if club wishes to be
Club with lowest ranking to be relegated if champion club from lower division chooses to be promoted
Club to be promoted to inform league within 14 days of conclusion of H&A Season of their intention.


Lower Grades

Football
U19 / U18 / U17 to be determined by the league as a whole. Age group to be aligned with Netball
All clubs in all divisions to endeavour to field teams in this grade, including “Cup” competition under Option B.
Underage competition does not contribute to Club Championship for promotion / relegation.
Lower age groups to be run as geographically based separate competition. No “Cup” competition. Align Age Groups & Clubs with netball
Netball
All clubs to endeavour to field C/D/E grades and underage aligning with football underage grade including “Cup” competition under Option B.
C/D/E and underage netball does not contribute to Club Championship for promotion / relegation.
Lower age groups to be run as geographically based separate competition. No “Cup” competition. Align Age Groups with football


Womens Football

All clubs to be encouraged to field womens teams under a “one club” philosophy
Womens competition to be separate league until such time that all clubs field teams
Upon sufficient teams in the league, the competition will align with existing Football / Netball divisional structure
Womens teams to contribute to club championship rankings as per mens Senior football and A Grade netball


Salary Cap / Player Points

Salary Cap to be applied equally across all clubs in all divisions
For the purposes of player transfers, Division 1 to be considered a Premier Community Competition
Division footy will never work in country footy. Where's mitiamo find netballers and junior footballers if they make the top division

Plenty of good points though
 
It would be bendigo Ballarat merge into one league with 2 divisions.
Ovens and murray and gv merge
Geelong and bellarine
West Gippsland and Gippsland.

Other clubs surrounding can enter the 3 super leagues.
No tac cup. Have under 23 interleague between the 3 and metro leagues. Have a draft from the pios region for the best 17 year olds to enter from the clubs not in superleagues where the bottom club in top division gets the first pick.

Blow up the points system and have a requirement of 10 locals per team
 

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It would be bendigo Ballarat merge into one league with 2 divisions.
Ovens and murray and gv merge
Geelong and bellarine
West Gippsland and Gippsland.

Other clubs surrounding can enter the 3 super leagues.
No tac cup. Have under 23 interleague between the 3 and metro leagues. Have a draft from the pios region for the best 17 year olds to enter from the clubs not in superleagues where the bottom club in top division gets the first pick.

Blow up the points system and have a requirement of 10 locals per team

I can see two or three of those four being possibilities:
  • WG have more interest in being a top-tier while Ellinbank acts as their Div 2 (Ellinbank have no interest in that though).
  • Geelong and Bellarine I believe is set to start a multi-divisional setup in 2025 or 2026.
  • I could see O&M and GV working.
  • Ballarat league clubs have no interest in being involved with Bendigo. They'd probably look to Ararat and Stawell if they wanted to increase their numbers.
 
Last edited:
Trent the flight Steward said:
The only way div footy will work is if two major leagues merge and have two divisions

That’s somewhat arse about thinking. Merging major & district leagues in a geographic area allows clubs, whole clubs, to find their level and be competitive, without excessive travel. I see on these boards laments about massive inequalities within leagues. This could help with this.
 
That’s somewhat arse about thinking. Merging major & district leagues in a geographic area allows clubs, whole clubs, to find their level and be competitive, without excessive travel. I see on these boards laments about massive inequalities within leagues. This could help with this.
Yep but only marong and maiden gully could possibly ever go up from the 3 district leagues around bendigo. no other district side could and itd ruin the club.

If you merged two major leagues into the teams that played finals and missed out it would be far more even comp and there wouldnt be that much additional travel.
 
It would be bendigo Ballarat merge into one league with 2 divisions.
Ovens and murray and gv merge
Geelong and bellarine
West Gippsland and Gippsland.

Other clubs surrounding can enter the 3 super leagues.
No tac cup. Have under 23 interleague between the 3 and metro leagues. Have a draft from the pios region for the best 17 year olds to enter from the clubs not in superleagues where the bottom club in top division gets the first pick.

Blow up the points system and have a requirement of 10 locals per team

I’m not sure how mandating 10 locals for clubs that already have issues with numbers will help… some areas just don’t have many people in the right age bracket who are good footballers.

That idea will kill off more clubs than it helps.

Most clubs who struggle do so because of a lack of decent juniors.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yep but only marong and maiden gully could possibly ever go up from the 3 district leagues around bendigo. no other district side could and itd ruin the club.

If you merged two major leagues into the teams that played finals and missed out it would be far more even comp and there wouldnt be that much additional travel.

Which is why it’s a high bar to be promoted, and the choice is there to take the opportunity or not. The divisions create the even comps.

And as for extra travel, it’s not just the clubs that travel, it’s the umpires also. A larger geographic area would require them to travel more, and be less likely to be able to double up in Major League U19s in the morning and then District Seniors in the afternoon, therefore requiring more umpires, or having District Leagues rely on Clubbies even for seniors.
 
Which is why it’s a high bar to be promoted, and the choice is there to take the opportunity or not. The divisions create the even comps.

And as for extra travel, it’s not just the clubs that travel, it’s the umpires also. A larger geographic area would require them to travel more, and be less likely to be able to double up in Major League U19s in the morning and then District Seniors in the afternoon, therefore requiring more umpires, or having District Leagues rely on Clubbies even for seniors.
But the whole point of relegation and promotion is one club goes down and one club goes up.

So this year it would be maryborough going down and marong or white hills going up, which could work. But you can't Mt pleasant, mitiamo, newbridge, serp, colbo, locky etc go up it would ruin the club for a year.
 
I can see two or three of those four being possibilities:
  • WG have more interest in being a top-tier while Ellinbank acts as their Div 2 (Ellinbank have no interest in that though).
  • Geelong and Bellarine I believe is set to start a multi-divisional setup in 2006.
  • I could see O&M and GV working.
  • Ballarat league clubs have no interest in being involved with Bendigo. They'd probably look to Ararat and Stawell if they wanted to increase their numbers.
Sorry to go away from Bendigo chat a bit but on this point, if this is to be the case they definitely need a couple of sides from Pakenham/Officer/Beaconsfield/Berwick area or Wonthaggi/Leongatha to move across which I'm not sure how that'll be received by existing clubs or those two clubs - WG fans/admin/media seem to think they're comparable to Gippy league but the bottom end of WG is so far away from it I don't think they can be a major competition at the moment. I don't think they're comparable competition at the moment on field or off it (admin, streaming etc. - though the commentary & radio coverage is very good along with some of the facilities), despite GL being maybe at its lowest standard on field for a few years. Phillip Island, Inverloch, Tooradin, NNG, Cora Lynn - sure, potentially top div quality clubs. Maybe Koo Wee if they can build a bit on what they have. Cora Lynn have no juniors either. Plenty of work to do if it's going to get out of discussion level.
 
But the whole point of relegation and promotion is one club goes down and one club goes up.

So this year it would be maryborough going down and marong or white hills going up, which could work. But you can't Mt pleasant, mitiamo, newbridge, serp, colbo, locky etc go up it would ruin the club for a year.

But then would those clubs meet the bar for promotion? And if they do, they can choose to stay at the level they are or go up.

Modification to the previous promotion / relegation provisions:
If the last placed club in the higher division wants to be relegated, and the first placed club in the lower division does not want to be promoted, promotion could be offered to the second placed club.
That’s why there’s relatively tight timeframes to make decisions, in order to inform other affected clubs and let them plan accordingly before the finals are completed.
 

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Appreciate all views and opinions re Broadfords entry however the constant put down of them is disappointing.
I totally agree the Bendigo comp is not a good suit for club nor league.
The problem is I think the comp they should be is the Kyabram league.However those clubs dont see nor care about the pickle they are in.Sadly many clubs and people only care about their own club and dont care that young men and women in Broadford have no options.
Yes I know poor decisions have been made in the past but the current workers are busting their ar$e to get a club up and running and im sure you all agree a town is better with netball and footy club.
Many wonderful families and people have and are still involved there and deserve better.
I reckon Afl vic needs the step in and get them in Kdfl.
Sorry for the rant but they need solutions not a constant battering .
Any suggestions?
Btw im in now way involved just respect many people at. Broadford.
 
Appreciate all views and opinions re Broadfords entry however the constant put down of them is disappointing.
I totally agree the Bendigo comp is not a good suit for club nor league.
The problem is I think the comp they should be is the Kyabram league.However those clubs dont see nor care about the pickle they are in.Sadly many clubs and people only care about their own club and dont care that young men and women in Broadford have no options.
Yes I know poor decisions have been made in the past but the current workers are busting their ar$e to get a club up and running and im sure you all agree a town is better with netball and footy club.
Many wonderful families and people have and are still involved there and deserve better.
I reckon Afl vic needs the step in and get them in Kdfl.
Sorry for the rant but they need solutions not a constant battering .
Any suggestions?
Btw im in now way involved just respect many people at. Broadford.
They burn their bridges wherever they go. Always the victim.
Bendigo League will just be another case of wearing out their welcome real quick
 

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