Frankston Dolphins adopt motto ‘keep your feet’ as club fights to rejoin state league in 2018
IT HAS been booted out of the VFL for next year but Frankston Football Club intends to apply for a licence to rejoin the state league in 2018.
South East
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IT HAS been booted out of the VFL for next year but Frankston Football Club intends to apply for a licence to rejoin the state league in 2018.
The Dolphins have called a meeting for Thursday night to discuss their next move after AFL Victoria’s much-criticised decision last week to scrub them from the fixture.
A meeting between administrator Worrells and club creditors scheduled for yesterday was postponed until October 28.
“On Friday, September 29 a request was sent to Worrells to delay any decisions/plans by themselves and the creditors regarding the future of the club, with the proposal that the Frankston FC has an intention to continue to operate in 2017 (with no VFL team) and then reapply for a 2018 VFL licence in mid-2017,’’ Dolphins great Peter Geddes said in an email to Dolphins members yesterday.
“We have been inundated with a tide of support for the Dolphins over the last week and are confident that we can put together an effective business plan to guide us through the next few years.’’
Geddes said the club was adopting the motto of “keep your feet — let us not stumble during this important time’’.
He said it was important to get as many members and supporters as possible to the meeting at Frankston Park on Thursday at 7.30pm.
The Dolphins have formed a steering group consisting of board members John Georgiou, Ash Roberts, Shane Boland and Jamie Crowder; past players and officials Geddes, Rocky Loyd and Mick O’Neil; coaches Pat Hill and Greg Scott; and captain Jason Pongracic.
Frankston went into administration in August with debts of more than $1 million.
Worrells devised a financial strategy to keep the club operating but AFL Victoria last week terminated the club’s licence, saying its debts were too hard to ignore.
ABC sports commentator and presenter Paul Kennedy, a former Dolphins player, accused the AFL of turning its back on “one of its richest and proudest footballing regions’’.
“It makes the announcement while its executive walks the red carpet in fancy suits,’’ Kennedy said.
“No Frankston in the VFL means boys and young men aspiring to be their best have no place to better themselves beyond local ranks. If the AFL was worried about Frankston then why didn’t it provide more help.
“Think about what — and who — the peninsula and Frankston have given to the great game of Aussie rules in the past 125 years. Look at the names. Then tell me this not a lazy, shallow, heartless decision. And the responsibility for this axing lies not only with the branch-level AFL Victoria. It is with the AFL’s boss and his advisers.’’