Central Victoria Super League: Bendigo and Goulburn Valley two conference structure plan
A long overdue revamp of footy in Central Victoria is inevitable. Here is how things could work for clubs from eight leagues including Bendigo, GV, Ballarat and O&M.
The Bendigo Football League is in the midst of another revolt from its country-based clubs.
Similar unrest has happened before in the competition’s 143-year-old history, with no bigger controversy than Rochester being forced to sit out the 1972 season when a move to the Goulburn Valley was initially blocked.
Rochester eventually was cleared and was followed by arch rival Echuca, leaving the Bendigo league with only seven clubs.
Fifty years later history could repeat itself with clubs on the south side of Bendigo wanting out, concerned they can’t keep pace with their city rivals.
Kyneton departed last year and Maryborough is on the brink of following 12 months later, leaving eight clubs next season, and question marks on the futures of Castlemaine and Gisborne.
Gisborne is the only non Bendigo-based club to win a flag since Castlemaine’s most recent premiership in 2000.
It has been wooed by the Ballarat league before and is expected to come knocking again.
Derrick Filo, one of the league’s modern day greats, spent time at clubs in and out of Bendigo in his 400-plus match career.
He said city-based clubs had definite “advantages” over their country cousins.
“There are always people moving into schools, working on big projects, compared to a Kyneton or Castlemaine,” he said.
“You’ve got kids coming in for uni, kids coming in to play for the Bendigo Pioneers, they will always go to a Bendigo club.
“The Bendigo league has become boring.”
One reason Echuca put forward for leaving 50 years ago was the longstanding tradition of playing all finals matches at the Queen Elizabeth Oval, unlike all other major leagues in the state that rotate them.
Hosting a big final can be a financial windfall for a struggling club, but half-a-century later nothing has changed in Bendigo.
In 2019, Maryborough, Kyneton, Gisborne and Castlemaine collectively went to the league wanting a better system and their pleas “fell on deaf ears”.
“We did our very best to fly the flag for the country clubs staying,” former Kyneton president Karen O’Sullivan said.
“We’d hate to say ‘we told you so’, but this was the way it was always going.
“Gisborne did win a premiership, but they have a much bigger population.
“But those concerns weren’t addressed to the level they should have been at the time.
“We pleaded for finals, but the Bendigo clubs didn’t want to come to Kyneton.
“If they had shown a bit more love for the country clubs and wanted them to stay, they would still be in the league.”
Filo said an eight-team competition won’t be popular with the game’s most important assets, the players.
“What player is only going to want to play 14 rounds?” he said.
“You can’t have a major league with eight teams.
“The clubs mightn’t like me saying this, but they are light years away from Ovens & Murray, standard wise.
“Bendigo used to be a really good standard.
“But every year they might lose 10 really good players and only six come in.
“You mightn’t notice it over a 12-month period, but you will over a five to 10 year period.
“The money on offer for players is higher than it has ever been and player movement is higher than it has ever been.
“That’s nearly 10 years after a system (salary cap and player points) has been in place to stop those two things.”
The Bendigo league has tried to inject fresh blood by introducing Maiden Gully-YCW under-18s this year, a first step of integrating the entire club that presently plays in the Loddon Valley league.
But two attempts were rejected back by the AFL Central Victoria Commission.
It wanted to see Maiden Gully-YCW initially play in the Loddon Valley league after two years without a junior team.
It’s senior team has won only two matches this season.
Marong wants to join the Bendigo league eventually, but believes going in the next year or so is premature, leaving few, if any, options to replace Kyneton and Maryborough in the short term.
The AFLCV Commission last year hastily attempted to set up a new competition involving Kyneton, Maryborough, Castlemaine, Maiden Gully-YCW, Marong and Cohuna Kangas.
But the move was doomed due to Kyneton’s switch to the Riddell District league being too far advanced.
Leon Holt was a member of the AFLCV Commission before it dissolved this year.
He said meaningful changes won’t happen unless leagues ended their “protectionist mentality”.
“It’s the biggest issue we’ve got,” he said.
“It’s death by a thousand cuts presently.
“We all want to look after our own backyard and stuff the rest.
“It’s not hard to find a competition around here that has got three to four teams that are struggling.
“I’m sure there is a structure that could change that, but it will take leagues all being prepared to give something up.
“Also, imagine for example if the Bendigo, Goulburn Valley and Ballarat all got in a room and were prepared to do something really visionary to make sure footy is around in another 50 years.
“History will judge them pretty kindly.”
Filo also backed calls for brave decisions in troubled times.
“Everyone wants to appease everyone,” he said.
“No one likes to be unpopular and nowadays people are more sensitive.
“But if you try to keep everyone happy, you will keep no-one happy.”
CENTRAL VICTORIA SUPER LEAGUE
The Weekly Times has proposed a major shake up that could involve clubs from eight leagues with the biggest players being the neighbouring Bendigo and Goulburn Valley leagues.
Movement between the Goulburn and Bendigo conferences would be based on application and not promotion and relegation.
GOULBURN CONFERENCE
Sandhurst
Strathfieldsaye
Eaglehawk
Golden Square
Shepparton Bears
Echuca
Rochester
Mooroopna
Kyabram
Euroa
Seymour
Shepparton Swans
Rationale: Four strongest Bendigo-based clubs join up with the Goulburn Valley’s strongest eight clubs to form a powerhouse league that could instantly become a must-watch competition, maximise player retention and added corporate, sponsor support.
BENDIGO CONFERENCE
South Bendigo
Kangaroo Flat
Castlemaine
Shepparton United
Tatura
Moama
Marong
Cohuna Kangas
Rationale: Teams currently struggling to keep pace with the best in their current competitions and some that have flagged previously they want to explore change.
In the case of Marong and Moama it would be a step up, but given growing populations they could handle the jump.
BALLARAT
Gisborne
Rationale: No-brainer. Ballarat has tried before and will try again.
Benefits for Gisborne are instant rivalries and most importantly big gates for clashes against Sunbury, Melton and Darley.
MARYBOROUGH-CASTLEMAINE
Maryborough
Rationale: Already flagged that the Bendigo league is no longer a sustainable home.
OVENS & MURRAY
Benalla
Mansfield
Rationale: Benalla previously played in the O&M and long trips to Echuca and Rochester eliminated.
Mansfield’s geographic location is an obvious challenge, but it currently travels more than two hours to Echuca and Rochester.
Mansfield to Albury is under two hours with the bulk of the trip on a dual lane freeway.
O&M needs more clubs as evidenced when Corowa-Rutherglen went into recess last year.
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