Future of the WRFL

[Avg at best]

Where is the league and it's clubs heading?
What could new clubs come from and which ones are at risk?
Do the Western Bulldogs do enough in the region to promote the game?

Strengths:
Population boom. Melbourne's West is the fastest growing area in Victoria (if not Australia).
Grounds - seems as if every new housing estate is being built with a footy oval

Opportunities:
Club equality. We know what has happened in div 1 with a team winning 7 consecutive flags.
Competing with other sports. Western United A-League game is about to start with a new stadium in Tarneit. The changing demographic of the area is one you wouldn't associate with footy. The WSUCCA churches cricket comp have 10 divisions worth of competition.

 

[CoachK]

The first thing that needs to happen, is a shoring up of what is in the WRFL first and foremost. From the Junior clubs, through to the Senior clubs, help them find stability, whether that be through lower affiliation fees, or lower insurance costs, council fees etc. Do it on a League scale to lower the costs for everyone. Then get extra resources to help at ground level. Whether that be a person or persons that can be a resource to help ensure clubs are compliant and financial, and have the knowledge base to build revenue streams. This could be someone who shows the committees how to think outside the box, to utilise their clubs strengths to generate revenue, instead of relying on a dwindling sponsorship stream.

Once the clubs are on a footing whereby they can be assured of financial continuance, help push kids back to club land, and away from other sports, continue to reach into new communities, and build the junior base. It has almost disappeared on the inner fringe, and this needs to be reversed. There are still kids there, yes they may be a different demographic, but we need a product that is enticing for them and their families. The AFL and the Western Bulldogs can definitely both have a greater impact here if they wish.

My gut feeling (albeit that data suggests otherwise, but the data has been skewed due to the take up of female participation) is that Junior numbers are much lower. Yes, we see new clubs form, such as Truganina, however, too many clubs have limited, or in some instances no junior programs at all. Every club needs to be fully invested in building a junior program, and the League need to find a compensation plan to ensure this happens. You reap what you sow WRFL!

There needs to be some common sense approach given to clubs merging. I understand this is a situation that no club wants to see happen to them, or that no administrator wants to be responsible for, but, if resources can not be found, and there are too many clubs in very small crowded areas, we as a League, risk losing more clubs than necessary to the encroachment of other sports. Better to have a strong base, than spread the little we have among the many and watch it all disappear.

Clubs like Werribee Centrals, Rockbank, Melton Centrals, Bacchus Marsh, Melton, Darley, Melton South, Burnside Heights, Taylors Lakes, Lara and Williamstown CYMS should all be approached to come into the fold in Seniors (and hopefully Juniors). Sure, most are going to say no, but throw your hat in the ring, and look for further expansion. The RDFNL is looking very shaky at the moment with Rockbank being questioned, Broadford already leaving to join the AFLOE (I think?), and a couple of the top fish talking strongly to the EDFL about a 2021 move to that league. In future there will be additions like Truganina Thunder to the Seniors, and expansion clubs come in some of the newer areas, who can all eventually transition to Seniors as well.

This is only food for thought, and also not overly expansive on each point, so don't get too worked up at what I have said, LOL. The next 5-10 years there will be a lot of upheaval in the Leagues in the outer lying areas of Melbourne, AFL Vic needs it this way, and they will get what they want. Being at the forefront of this can only be a good thing, better to ride the wave, than to get swamped by it.

 

[Avg at best]

The first thing that needs to happen, is a shoring up of what is in the WRFL first and foremost. From the Junior clubs, through to the Senior clubs, help them find stability, whether that be through lower affiliation fees, or lower insurance costs, council fees etc. Do it on a League scale to lower the costs for everyone. Then get extra resources to help at ground level. Whether that be a person or persons that can be a resource to help ensure clubs are compliant and financial, and have the knowledge base to build revenue streams. This could be someone who shows the committees how to think outside the box, to utilise their clubs strengths to generate revenue, instead of relying on a dwindling sponsorship stream.

Once the clubs are on a footing whereby they can be assured of financial continuance, help push kids back to club land, and away from other sports, continue to reach into new communities, and build the junior base. It has almost disappeared on the inner fringe, and this needs to be reversed. There are still kids there, yes they may be a different demographic, but we need a product that is enticing for them and their families. The AFL and the Western Bulldogs can definitely both have a greater impact here if they wish.

My gut feeling (albeit that data suggests otherwise, but the data has been skewed due to the take up of female participation) is that Junior numbers are much lower. Yes, we see new clubs form, such as Truganina, however, too many clubs have limited, or in some instances no junior programs at all. Every club needs to be fully invested in building a junior program, and the League need to find a compensation plan to ensure this happens. You reap what you sow WRFL!

There needs to be some common sense approach given to clubs merging. I understand this is a situation that no club wants to see happen to them, or that no administrator wants to be responsible for, but, if resources can not be found, and there are too many clubs in very small crowded areas, we as a League, risk losing more clubs than necessary to the encroachment of other sports. Better to have a strong base, than spread the little we have among the many and watch it all disappear.

Clubs like Werribee Centrals, Rockbank, Melton Centrals, Bacchus Marsh, Melton, Darley, Melton South, Burnside Heights, Taylors Lakes, Lara and Williamstown CYMS should all be approached to come into the fold in Seniors (and hopefully Juniors). Sure, most are going to say no, but throw your hat in the ring, and look for further expansion. The RDFNL is looking very shaky at the moment with Rockbank being questioned, Broadford already leaving to join the AFLOE (I think?), and a couple of the top fish talking strongly to the EDFL about a 2021 move to that league. In future there will be additions like Truganina Thunder to the Seniors, and expansion clubs come in some of the newer areas, who can all eventually transition to Seniors as well.

This is only food for thought, and also not overly expansive on each point, so don't get too worked up at what I have said, LOL. The next 5-10 years there will be a lot of upheaval in the Leagues in the outer lying areas of Melbourne, AFL Vic needs it this way, and they will get what they want. Being at the forefront of this can only be a good thing, better to ride the wave, than to get swamped by it.

Interesting comment about clubs merging and i certainly understand the thought!

What clubs do you think should explore the option and with who?

I will start:
Braybrook - North Sunshine

 

[AFDogs]

Interesting comment about clubs merging and i certainly understand the thought!

What clubs do you think should explore the option and with who?

I will start:
Braybrook - North Sunshine

Why would anybody merge with North Sunshine? Ridiculous comment.

 

[Avg at best]

Why would anybody merge with North Sunshine? Ridiculous comment.

Lol true. And calm ya ****

 

[Over The Post]

Well given the demographics out west, and the kids and adults playing/practicing cricket year round, I'd say getting the Bharat Warriors into the comp in some way would be a great move.

 

[GrumpyOldMan_NC]

Well given the demographics out west, and the kids and adults playing/practicing cricket year round, I'd say getting the Bharat Warriors into the comp in some way would be a great move.

Well, its AFL international cup next year, how about having a few rep games against the Indian touring side. Advertise through the Indian diaspora and make some positive moves to entice the local kids into AFL.

 

[CoachK]

Interesting comment about clubs merging and i certainly understand the thought!

What clubs do you think should explore the option and with who?

I will start:
Braybrook - North Sunshine

Absolutely could be a potential, as could Sunshine Kangas with either club, or West and North Footscray, or Albion with 1 of the Sunshines. Any of them could work, once people got over the shock of losing their identity. The reality is that most would just get the shits on, and allow the club to just close the doors, and be lost to history, which would be a shame for the club, the community and all those who came before.

 

[Turbos mail]

Absolutely could be a potential, as could Sunshine Kangas with either club, or West and North Footscray, or Albion with 1 of the Sunshines. Any of them could work, once people got over the shock of losing their identity. The reality is that most would just get the shits on, and allow the club to just close the doors, and be lost to history, which would be a shame for the club, the community and all those who came before.

I guess clubs could look at the Yarraville-Seddon merger. Has it been successful? Well both clubs still alive and history still going in part. Good junior set up but the senior side hasn’t got any stronger as yet but it’s a place these clubs can still call home and meet up.
Running footy clubs has changed as I thought a club like Hoppers would be a dominant club but they are just like everyone else. Good club but not a powerhouse I thought they would have become. Is it due to Werribee Districts entering the WRFL or Werribee Centrals on the improve. All 3 clubs appear to offer different alternatives but are probably rated on par in most aspects whereas if someone asked me 5-10 years ago I would have said Hoppers would be a powerhouse club.

 

[Wickers18]

Absolutely could be a potential, as could Sunshine Kangas with either club, or West and North Footscray, or Albion with 1 of the Sunshines. Any of them could work, once people got over the shock of losing their identity. The reality is that most would just get the shits on, and allow the club to just close the doors, and be lost to history, which would be a shame for the club, the community and all those who came before.

What does that achieve though, out side West Footscray the clubs you mention have basically no juniors or very limited Juniors. Merging clubs won't change this in the inner west. It is a massive issue for the WRFL if you look at the new clubs to the North of the freeway in Wyndham, not one is thriving even the traditional big clubs in Hoppers and Districts, they aren't the power house especially Hoppers kids aren't drawn to hoppers any more, they will drive past Hoppers to go to Point Cook. The New Clubs Tarneit, Manor Lakes, Suns aren't setting the world on fire in fact struggling to really build Junior programs, add in Wyndhamvale to this as well. The biggest club in that area now is Werribee Centrals. Across the other side of the freeway one Point Cook Club is massive and the other one has Grown OK but considering the size of the club up the road you would have thought they would have had better growth.

You look at Spotswood again was a powerful club Juniors and Seniors, they are struggling for Juniors, they seem to head up the road to Williamstown or Newport

The issue right across the WRFL there is just to many clubs, that means they are chasing the same players both seniors and Juniors which leads to over inflated player wages in the seniors that clubs can't sustain. It leads to a deluded Junior program that will see goods kids clubs leave to find better sides or kids that love footy but struggle at the level they are playing at and drop out. Kids need to be graded to play at the level that they can be challenged and get a kick, be it Div 1 or Div 6, there is only a handful of clubs that offer multiple sides in each age group.

Development is the other big issue, Jets, Werribee and Williamstown need to develop programs that will develop kids. You need to be getting more kids from our league drafted or playing VFL. AFL NGA are a waste of time for most kids, unless you qualify under the AFL priority selection the clubs aren't really interested in you, nor should they why would they spend time and money developing a kid that they have no priority access to.

Unfortunately Clubs aren't clubs anymore, you don't take off your Footy Jumper in September and pull on the cricket whites for you club anymore, which means the loyalty isn't there and people move clubs with ease.

This is not just isolated to the WRFL.

 

[Mattdougie]

If your senior club doesn’t play in the WRFL your junior club shouldn’t be allowed to either.

Make Div 3 an amateur comp with no money or a cap of very little.

Promotion and relegation should be mandatory not by choice.

 

[table tennis]

If your senior club doesn’t play in the WRFL your junior club shouldn’t be allowed to either.

Make Div 3 an amateur comp with no money or a cap of very little.

Promotion and relegation should be mandatory not by choice.

The problem the WRFL has with juniors, it relies heavily on St.Bernards, Williamstown, Werribee Centrals (could argue they have a senior Women's team in WRFL) Pegs, Flemington (aligned with UHS-VU ).
Truganina Thunder are aligned with Westbourne, they will grow too.

That's a lot of kids to alienate. You want more kids playing the game, not to make it harder for them.

I get your idea, and the simplicity of it makes sense. The WRFL needs to generate income too, how else will they they afford to go to court when Deer Park challenge the wet lettuce leaf it was hit with.

 

[Mattdougie]

The problem the WRFL has with juniors, it relies heavily on St.Bernards, Williamstown, Werribee Centrals (could argue they have a senior Women's team in WRFL) Pegs, Flemington (aligned with UHS-VU ).
Truganina Thunder are aligned with Westbourne, they will grow too.

That's a lot of kids to alienate. You want more kids playing the game, not to make it harder for them.

I get your idea, and the simplicity of it makes sense. The WRFL needs to generate income too, how else will they they afford to go to court when Deer Park challenge the wet lettuce leaf it was hit with.

Unfortunately the league need to be concerned with their own teams and not what happens if kids leave to other leagues as they won’t become senior players anyway so in the end it’s no real loss.

And the reality is a lot of those kids will move over to WRFL clubs because there are not many parents that are driving little a Johnny to Bannockburn or Lilydale at 8am on a Sunday morning.

Why arent Pegs and StBs playing in the EDFL ? Because the EDFL won’t have their senior teams without juniors so why should the WRFL?

the league needs to stop folding to clubs that have no concern for the league only their own nests.


I’d be giving all teams that don’t have seniors in the comp 2 years to come over or enjoy driving 50kms to play under 10s

 

[Over The Post]

the league needs to stop folding to clubs that have no concern for the league only their own nests.
I’d be giving all teams that don’t have seniors in the comp 2 years to come over or enjoy driving 50kms to play under 10s

And here's silly ol' me thinking kids football was about the kids, not self-aggrandising muppets and their online apologists building an empire.

My mistake; carry on.

 

[Mattdougie]

And here's silly ol' me

had it right til here

 

[Over The Post]

I agree. I should have stopped at "self-aggrandising muppets."

 

[Mattdougie]

I agree. I should have stopped at "self-aggrandising muppets."

Considering nothing I said relates to me or anything I’m involved in I find it amusing you attempt to be intelligent with the moniker of “self aggrandising”, considering it does not have any relevance to my post.

Next time you are trying to appear semi intellectual at least try to use the correct grammatical context although I think that is probably above your level of situational nuance so play on.

 

[Over The Post]

I have been pwned! The ignominy of it all.

 

[Over The Post]

By the way, "self-aggrandising muppets" refers to the league, as is obvious from "self-aggrandising muppets and their online apologists" and at no point did I refer to you - next time you are trying to appear semi intellectual at least try to understand what you read.

 

[Mattdougie]

By the way, "self-aggrandising muppets" refers to the league, as is obvious from "self-aggrandising muppets and their online apologists" and at no point did I refer to you - next time you are trying to appear semi intellectual at least try to understand what you read.

Beep beep beep

 

[trucka]

Unfortunately the league need to be concerned with their own teams and not what happens if kids leave to other leagues as they won’t become senior players anyway so in the end it’s no real loss.

And the reality is a lot of those kids will move over to WRFL clubs because there are not many parents that are driving little a Johnny to Bannockburn or Lilydale at 8am on a Sunday morning.

Why arent Pegs and StBs playing in the EDFL ? Because the EDFL won’t have their senior teams without juniors so why should the WRFL?

the league needs to stop folding to clubs that have no concern for the league only their own nests.


I’d be giving all teams that don’t have seniors in the comp 2 years to come over or enjoy driving 50kms to play under 10s

Not quite correct. When Point Cook entered their Seniors in VAFA & WRFL threatened to kick their juniors out, EDFL was one of the leagues who contacted them to discuss the possibility of joining them.

 

[Avg at best]

If the doggies spent more money then I think the return on investment would be worth it. Personally i dont see much promotion from them other than around the Footscray area. They need to push there focus further west towards Werribee as that is where the real growth lies not only for them but for the future of the game in the area.

 

[AFDogs]

If the doggies spent more money then I think the return on investment would be worth it. Personally i dont see much promotion from them other than around the Footscray area. They need to push there focus further west towards Werribee as that is where the real growth lies not only for them but for the future of the game in the area.

They seem to target the Sunshine/St Albans/Footscray area when they should be targetting the Tarneit/Caroline Springs/Werribee/Taylors Hill/Hillside areas, definitely.

 

[Mattdougie]

Not quite correct. When Point Cook entered their Seniors in VAFA & WRFL threatened to kick their juniors out, EDFL was one of the leagues who contacted them to discuss the possibility of joining them.

With a strategy for them to join seniors one day as was always their intention

 

[trucka]

With a strategy for them to join seniors one day as was always their intention

They would have been waiting a while.

Based on your theory, you would be happy for the WRFL to forgo $40/$50K in affiliation fees (ex Umpire & insurance costs) by getting rid of those Junior clubs that don't have seniors with WRFL.

The last time I looked, the WRFL were a Senior AND Junior comp. Based on your logic, no seniors, no juniors, then it should also be no juniors, no seniors. Maybe this would encourage those Senior only clubs to try and get juniors, like Lavo who are at least having ago.

Also, at least all these Junior only clubs are paid up, unlike some of the Senior only clubs that I understand still have outstanding monies owing.