romsey and lancefield, woodend and Macedon will never merge and IMO nor should they.I'm no stranger to controversy, been involved in local footy for over 40 yrs so i think I have a good understanding of where the league is, where it was and what its future should look like, if people bury egos and have footy in the region as there priority, and not concentrate on protecting there little empires, then I think the league has a chance of survival. But lets be honest, the vultures are circling the carcass that was the once the mighty RDNFL.
So lets break it down to a few simple facts.
Years ago the clubs in the RDFL were power houses, if an RDFL club took on any other club from the surrounding leagues we more than held our own, if fact we lead the way with recruitment and junior development. Unfortunately we never set the world on fire in Interleague as the problems of the today are the same of yesteryear , the best players do not want to play. To be honest the clubs got so powerful that neighbouring leagues (Bendigo, Ballarat and Essendon) saw what we had to offer and dangled the carrot in front of our big clubs and enticed them away. And apart from Melton South, all the clubs that left have won Premierships in there new leagues and to this day are powerhouses in there new leagues. So why did they leave......Opportunity? ......Better Competition?....Better Sponsorship?......they maybe some of the reasons, but the real reason they left was due to poor management from a league level. Poor Management took many forms and its a debate that has been debated many times so I wont go to deep here.
So here we are 20 yrs later and has the problems changed? Simple answer is No. We have sold our soul to Big Brother( AFL Goldfields).....who promised us the world but have delivered nothing, except high fees, poor representation at our local level and an uneven competition where clubs now want out...and who could blame them. Gee this sounds like the same story we had 20 yrs ago. In AFL Goldfields eyes we run a distant last compared to its other comps it manages, in fact all but the major league(Ballarat FL) have clubs that are struggling and uneven competitions. Has anyone seen league reps at a game? Or even more the men who walk on water from Ballarat at our games to see for themselves whats happening down here? So poor Management has created this mess again.....good to see our fees going to work to make local football better in Ballarat.
So whats the answer......is it Diggers and Rupo and Romsey joining Essendon next year, what about poor Rockbank....is the Western Region the answer for them?
I dont think so.... we have one last chance to save this league (AFL Victoria does) but unless we make noise now we will loose this comp forever, because once clubs leave they never come back. So I dont apologise for the ideas I am about to throw up, but we do need clubs to start talking and making noise. So here goes.....
Club Viability
To even out the comp AFL Victoria need to play hard ball with clubs and leagues, force mergers, and realign boundaries and entice clubs to make radical business decisions for the benefit of the game ( like they promised in the toothless review)
Lets start with our own comp......If you cannot field 3 teams as per the rules of the league your club is not viable? Hard to do they say? Lets looks at the Reserves.....struggling for numbers...why...Club Footy and Masters. Thats where all the 30 yo players are....Masters footy and Club footy are thriving, but most of them dont come under our clubs structure, they are independent. So why dont we throw out the idea of getting clubs to invest in the formation of a Reserves Comp that actually is the Super rules team or the Club Team.....brings back the older players to the clubs and older players drink beer and have business to inject funds into the clubs? Just an Idea. If you cannot field 3 teams you are in direct conflict of the rules and there fore cannot play....hate to say it and I know clubs work there arse of to get numbers, but its got to hard and players have to many other choices.
Years ago we never played U18s in the Reserves due to the roughness of that level of footy, but today its so much tamer at that level, so what about the idea of the reserves being a 50/50 mix of Under 19 and Reserves players, and those who miss out on a game with there own club play in sides who are short...once again just another idea.
So lets look at clubs individually and this is where it gets hard and people will get the s**ts with my commments
Mergers and why?
Lancefield and Romsey....... we all know Romsey owe the league alot of money, we all know that Lancefield are hanging on..just. so with just 10 or so KM between the towns ..bury the egos, do whats best for footy and merge...like you did yrs ago with the juniors. they would become a powerhouse.
Woodend and Macedon....Sorry Woodend but you are the closest club...Macedon have no 3rds....struggle for numbers in the twos, and have a strong senior team, these 2 together, who I know have hated each other for years would be a super powerful club lets call the Macedon Ranges for the exercise. the reason Macedon should look at it, is the facilities are poor (change rooms) and they dont meet the criteria of fielding 3 teams and they have a history... they did fold once before'
Unfortunately... Broadford belong in the new Northern League
Melton South want in....so lets welcome them back
Kyneton are in trouble and would fit this league beautifully.....lets welcome them
Rockbank need to cross the hwy and merge with one of the new estates teams and as a new identity start again.
Melton Centrals to change there name to Arnolds Creek to better represent its locality in the community and a name change would make sponsorship more appealing as there are alot of footy clubs with the name Melton in it
Time for us to look at CHFL....Ballan and even Gordon comming over to our new look league
So heres what it might look like...
Kyneton
Woodend/ Macedon (Macedon Ranges)
Romsey/Lancefield
Wallan
Rupo
Diggers
Riddell
Arnolds Creek (Melton Centrals)
Melton South
Rockbank/Plumpton...or similar
Ballan
Gordon
I know this will upset people, but we need to start talking, looking for solutions. We cannot continue as we are, but if we make noise and get AFL Goldfields to listen and the RDNFL board of there arse and start talking to clubs then we are doomed. Change is hard, and History is the past....please look forward, save our comp. People are talking and the war drums are starting to beat loud....... its gaining momentum...people are starting to put there hands up and ask questions of the management......its just the start. Happy to accept the bullets here but these are ideas and we have to start somewhere
Agree with you that clubs need to start making noise to save the Comp because it is in massive trouble. We all know goldfields have their own agenda and the rdfnl are right at the bottom of that and the rdfnl board are extremely good at sitting on their hands and making poor decisions. Change needs to happen, unfortunately can’t see it happening