Country footy: Major league presidents to meet on big issues in Bendigo

The presidents of Victoria’s big country football leagues are heading to Bendigo to discuss the burning issues facing the game.

The presidents of Victoria’s major country football leagues will gather in Bendigo this month to discuss the biggest issues facing the game including the salary cap and player points system.

The February 23 get-together has been convened by community football advocate John White and will be the first meeting of its type since the Covid disrupted years of 2020-21.

“It’s something that needs to happen regularly,” he said.

“It’s an opportunity for us to look at a number of the current issues facing community football, particularly in country regions.

“There are a number of new league presidents and a lot of league executives who have changed over recent years.

“The aim is to come up with how everyone is looking to the future and what we can do to encourage the game to go further and further ahead.

“The objective was to hold before the season started because opportunities to do so during the season are a lot harder.”

Community football advocate John White. Picture: Supplied

Agenda items also include the potential resurrection of interleague football, umpiring, reserves competition, women’s football, age groups for junior competitions and statewide governance.

AFL Victoria took over from the Victorian Country Football League as the governing body more than a decade ago.

POLL: Can country footy clubs survive WITHOUT the salary cap, but retaining the player points system? @theweeklytimes@ctryfootyscores@aflvic

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The major leagues invited to the meeting were Ballarat, Bendigo, Gippsland, Ovens & Murray, Goulburn Valley, Geelong, Hampden, Murray and Mornington Peninsula-Nepean.

Mr White said district leagues weren’t being snubbed.

Traralgon beat Leongatha in the Gippsland league grand final last year. Picture: Warren ‘Wazshots’ Leyden

“In due course I’ve been requested to see if I can pull something together for them,” he said.

The last time a meeting of leagues took place was in 2018 at Bungaree when leagues successfully bandied together to head off a push from AFL Victoria to have all competitions administered by regional administration centres.

Bendigo, Goulburn Valley and Geelong remain part of regional admin hubs.