Flagstaff Hill coach Darren Vanzetta quits over contract dispute, three months after club’s Southern Football League flag
In September, a local footy club won its fourth-consecutive premiership. Now, the team is searching for a new coach after Darren Vanzetta walked out when he felt “backed into a corner”.
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The Southern Football League’s reigning premiership coach has quit his club – three months after leading it to a fourth consecutive flag – due to a contract dispute.
Darren Vanzetta, who was an assistant for Flagstaff’s A-grade premierships from 2016-18 then senior coach for this year’s grand final triumph, walked out on the Falcons a fortnight ago over a contract dispute.
Vanzetta told Local Footy SA he felt “backed into a corner” while negotiating a new deal for 2020 and he was “not going to be able to coach the way I wanted”.
He said when he wanted to change the team’s coaching group, the club called a meeting and offered personal feedback he disagreed with, prompting his exit.
“I didn’t see it (quitting) coming, but it’s just one of those things,” said Vanzetta, who had a one-year contract for the 2019 season.
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“Just before presentations in October, everything was hunky dory and we all agreed to sit down and go again for next year, let’s do the same stuff again, no drama.
“But then I decided to make some decisions around the coaches box – I think we need to freshen it up a bit – and then I got called in to face the music about what was going on.
“I was open to the feedback, but there was a lot of little things in there I disagreed with.
“For my own personal values, I couldn’t coach under those circumstances.
“There was stuff in the contract I didn’t agree to.
“I asked for it to be amended and they pretty much said ‘no’.
“If you can’t agree to move forward, it’s probably not worth being there.”
In September, Vanzetta guided Flagstaff to its fourth-successive flag when it beat undefeated Noarlunga in the grand final.
Vanzetta said he maintained a very good relationship with the players and would be at the Falcons next season because his son, Kobe, featured for its under-17.5s and reserves.
“There’s no animosity between me and the club, we just didn’t come to an agreement,” he said.
“I’m quite comfortable and have had plenty of other offers to go elsewhere.
“But at this stage I’m just going to have a year off, sit back and relax and spend some time watching my own kids play sport.”
Flagstaff president Neil Williams said the club was surprised at Vanzetta’s decision and had asked him to reconsider, but “he was pretty adamant he didn’t want to go on”.
“It’s normal for a club and coach to be having discussions at this time of year, but I can’t talk about those discussions,” Williams said.
“We were working through those things during one of those meetings, which as far as I was concerned was going quite well, but he didn’t want to go around again.
“You don’t expect to be looking for a coach in this position when you’ve got one and are quite successful but as with anything, you’ve got to get on with it.”
The Falcons began advertising for a new coach not long after Vanzetta quit and Williams was hopeful they would appoint someone by early February.
“We’ve had a bit of interest in the position but we don’t want to rush it, we want to get the right person,” he said.
“We’ve got a really great core group of leaders at our club – four premierships doesn’t happen by accident – and they’ve just been getting on with the business and making sure everything’s ready to go for season 2020.
“We’re pretty confident we can keep being successful.”