Country football administration: Leagues voice concerns at Bungaree

ABOUT 50 people attended today’s meeting in Bungaree on AFL Victoria’s regional administration push, with league representatives from almost all corners of the state present.

ABOUT 50 people attended today’s meeting in Bungaree on AFL Victoria’s regional administration push, with league representatives from almost all corners of the state present.

The meeting was organised by Geelong and District Football League president Neville Whitley so groups could voice their concerns about the regional administration centres in country football.

The attendees also included representatives from the Alberton, Bendigo, Central Highlands, Mid Gippsland, Murray, Ovens and Murray, and Picola and District leagues.

Most of those leagues are administered independently, Bendigo being the exception, while Alberton was formerly in the AFL Gippsland RAC but withdrew.

However AFL Victoria is pushing leagues to join their RACs by next year, or have plans in place to join.

At the meeting there were also representatives from individual football clubs both within and outside those leagues, including several from the Mornington Peninsula, as well as umpiring groups and a junior football league.

“The meeting was very fruitful and we have formed a subcommittee to analyse the minutes and then we will be meeting again to form a proposal to AFL Victoria,” Whitley said.

The comparative costs of self-administration versus being administered by RACs and the outcomes of each, as well as leagues’ experiences dealing with their own commissions and RACs were the hot topics of discussion.

No representative of AFL Victoria attended.

About a week after Whitley’s memo went out “to all interested leagues” setting up today’s meeting, AFL Victoria boss Steven Reaper told The Weekly Times: “We haven’t been asked/invited to attend the meeting at this point” and that “we believe working in collaboration is a far more effective way of achieving positive outcomes”.

However Whitley said he had spoken to Reaper on Friday.

Reaper has also previously said he “strongly disagrees” with Whitley’s view that leagues are being coerced to join the RACs.

Whitley said he was pleased with the cross-section of attendees, but said he would have liked more leagues who were part of their local RACs and “that were pro the RAC as well, some of the benefits in it, but they chose not to turn up”.

“I was quite surprised at the cross-section of leagues that had the same concerns, and AFL Victoria should realise there is some problems with their regional administration centres out there in the football world across the state,” Whitley said.

Bendigo league chairwoman Carol McKinstry said the meeting was “illuminating, and there is a lot of common concerns and issues”.

“It was really good to come together and hear what’s going on in different parts of the state, and to hear the pros and cons of belonging to a regional area commission,” she said.