Ovens and Murray, Goulburn Valley, Gippsland and Hampden leagues reap financial rewards in 2023

The Goulburn Valley league’s financials have been tabled and reveals a welcome turnaround on recent seasons. Read the analysis here.

The Goulburn Valley Football-Netball League has recorded its first profit in the post-Covid era.

It posted a profit of $26,257 at its annual meeting on Wednesday night compared to a loss last year of $45,968 that was attributed in part to switching providers for livestreaming of matches mid-year and costs associated with hosting an interleague match against Ovens and Murray.

A major boost to the league’s bottom line this year was an increase in fines on clubs from $1780 last year to $13,410 this season.

Goulburn Valley league chairwoman Jacqui Hudgson. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Finals revenue of $153,007 was slightly down on last year’s $153,036 and was well short of the $200,000-plus amounts raked in by the Hampden and O & M leagues, which both have one less finals match compared to the GV.

The GV has a top-six finals system compared to the O & M and Hampdens’ top-five.

Expenditure on this year’s interleague match against O & M at Albury was close to $10,000 less compared to last season.

The GV’s most recent profit was $4101 in 2018.

It pays $142,000 to be administered by AFL staff and recently entered into a three-year extension on its administration arrangements.

The GV welcomed three women onto its board led by Jacqui Hudgson, replacing three men who have resigned.

Andrea Pogue, Nicole Miller and Stacey Cole have replaced Anthony Putt, Freddo McMahon and Mick Williams.

“Our vision for the GV is significant, and our goals are diverse,” Ms Hudgson said.

“They allow us to navigate our collective short-term challenges while creating a foundation for long-term success.”

The GV 2024 fixture is yet to be released.

BUMPER FINALS CROWDS

The Ovens and Murray Football-Netball League has crashed through the $200,000 barrier in finals gate-takings for the first time.

Finals income of $205,375 this year was the biggest since the first season former AFL star Brendan Fevola played for Yarrawonga in 2012, when $181,563 was dragged in.

Record-takings have helped the O & M post a profit of $32,819 compared to $22,491 last year.

More than 22,000 people attended this year’s finals series including 10,156 for the grand final when Yarrawonga beat Albury by four points at Lavington.

In 2012, 25,600 people attended the O & M finals series.

Yarrawonga has been a common denominator in the two most successful finals series staged by the Ovens and Murray league. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

The grand final general admission price went up from $22 to $25 this year.

The bumper financial result was revealed at the league’s annual meeting last week.

“We’ve capped a hugely successful year reporting a $32,000 surplus,” O & M chairman David Sinclair said.

“Our finals series was one of the most successful in the league’s history with record gate receipts surpassing $200,000 for the first time.

“This was achieved off the back of a wonderful four weeks of weather, support from our fans and competitive finals games across football and netball.”

Yarrawonga’s Ryan Bruce celebrates a goal in the thrilling grand final win over Albury. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

The neighbouring Goulburn Valley league grand final was played on the same day as the O & M decider with an estimated 6000 people watching Echuca complete back-to-back premierships and $64,000 collected in gate takings.

The GV annual meeting will be held this week after being postponed a fortnight ago.

Leongatha completed back-to-back flags in front of a record crowd this year. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

The Hampden league also had a bumper finals series.

Its finals income was also up compared to last year with $219,308 taken in 2023 against $179,450 in 2022.

It recorded a profit of $44,055 at its annual meeting on Monday night.

“Once we got through the first year post-Covid, clubs have really rolled the sleeves up and got back into it,” Hampden president Shane Threlfall said.

“The evenness of our competition in senior football was fantastic and from a league’s point of view that evenness is exactly what you want.”

The Murray league also had a record finals series with $161,000 taken including a record grand final gate of $62,000.

The Gippsland league had a record crowd of 5654 people pay a record $59,381 in gate takings to watch Leongatha claim back-to-back flags.