Eastern Ballarat clubs could consider breakaway league by 2017, Darley president Grant Wright says

EXCLUSIVE: Local football clubs in Melbourne’s north-west have proposed a breakaway competition which, if approved, could be established by 2017.

Melton and Melton South are among clubs mentioned as potential members of a breakaway competition featuring eastern Ballarat Football League teams. Pic: Kylie Else.

A  BREAKAWAY competition featuring teams from the Riddell District, Ballarat and Bendigo Football leagues could be established by 2017.

Darley president Grant Wright told the Leader Ballarat’s eastern block clubs — Melton, Melton South, Sunbury, Bacchus Marsh and Darley — could form a new competition in the next three years under the AFL Goldfields banner.

It comes after Sunbury announced its intention to investigate a move to the RDFL or Bendigo league and ahead of a meeting between the five BFL clubs tonight.

Wright said the proposed league could include RDFL clubs such as Melton Centrals, Diggers Rest and Sunbury Kangaroos along with Bendigo outfit Gisborne.

“Some of the eastern sides want to make an eastern division,” Wright said. “It would be an eastern division of the Goldfields region.

“A lot of people are thinking Sunbury will just walk out of the BFL and that just can’t happen, AFL Victoria won’t allow that.

“What will basically happen, and I think it will happen in the next two to three years, is there will be another league set up with the eastern sides.”

If the proposed league came to fruition, it would likely start with 8-10 teams, three of which could be Melton clubs.

Wright said four Central Highlands Football League clubs would need to move to the Ballarat competition for the proposal to work.

“Gisborne would then come out of the Bendigo league and join this eastern conference league, then we’d have the two top teams from Riddell join our league,” he said.

He said the money on offer in the Essendon District league had made it difficult for eastern block clubs to attract top players to the Ballarat FL.

“A player that may have done a pre-season at Williamstown comes back to a Ballarat or eastern side and might get $500 a game,” he said. “In the EDFL he’d get $1500 a game. The money they’re spending is double and a little bit more than what the Ballarat league can afford to spend.”

Would a breakaway competition featuring teams from the Ballarat, Bendigo and Riddell leagues work? Tell us below.

The new league would slash maximum travel distances for the proposed nine teams by between 40 and 71 per cent, with travel a major factor in Sunbury’s bid to leave the Ballarat FL.

Diggers Rest president Chris Payne said he was yet to hear anything about a new competition.

“The RDFL is the oldest league in Victoria and for the foreseeable future we want to see the RDFL stay and that’s what we want to be a part of. In saying that, I’m not too sure what AFL Victoria’s plans are,” he said.

RDFL club Sunbury Kangaroos have been mooted as a possible member of a breakaway competition under the AFL Goldfields banner. Pic: Kylie Else.

Sunbury president Phil Lithgow said he expected tonight’s meeting would focus on its future in the BFL and not the development of a new competition.

He described an eastern conference as “a hypothetical that has been kicked around previously”.

AFL Goldfields general manager Rod Ward said he would not comment on speculation about the future of its competitions.

But he acknowledged booming populations in areas such as Melton demanded close attention.

In a statement provided to the Leader, AFL Victoria said it “has been advised that some clubs in the region are currently assessing their options” regarding their future.

“At this point in time nothing formal has been presented for our consideration, but we are liaising with AFL Goldfields and the RDFL,” the statement read.

MAXIMUM TRAVEL DISTANCES FOR THE NEW COMPETITION’S PROPOSED CLUBS

• Bacchus Marsh — 38km, Sunbury (current maximum: 63km, North Ballarat)

• Darley — 35km, Sunbury (62km, North Ballarat)

• Diggers Rest — 32km, Bacchus Marsh (75km, Broadford)

• Gisborne — 32km, Bacchus Marsh (104km, Eaglehawk)

• Melton — 25km, Gisborne (76km, North Ballarat)

• Melton Centrals — 25km, Gisborne (94km, Broadford)

• Melton South — 28km, Gisborne (76km, North Ballarat)

• Sunbury — 38km, Bacchus Marsh (101km, North Ballarat)

• Sunbury Kangaroos — 38km, Bacchus Marsh (75km, Broadford)

Where the teams for the proposed new league could come from.

THE BURNING QUESTIONS

• Would AFL Victoria and AFL Goldfield back the establishment of a new league?

• How would three Melton-based clubs compete in the same competition?

• If Sunbury moves to the Bendigo FL, would it kill any hope of the new league being adopted?

• Where would the RDFL and BFL be left without the eastern block clubs?