North Ballarat news

From the Ballarat Courier
Reported by Melanie Whelan
Full article - Ballarat Courier

 Roosters captain Shaune Moloney reflects on the 2008 VFL premiership cup. The club went on to win the next two in an historic three-peat.

 BELIEF: Roosters captain Shaune Moloney reflects on the 2008 VFL premiership cup. The club went on to win the next two in an historic three-peat.

THIS was a huge risk but on this night, almost 10 years ago, players were ready. They believed.

North Ballarat Roosters defied the odds and claimed the club’s first Victorian Football League premiership. 

This was a country football team taking on the state’s best, cohesively working in players from a partial AFL alliance with North Melbourne and proving what many had thought was unlikely.

A decade on, Ballarat needs to decide, as a football community and a city, whether it can take the risk to believe again.

The VFL grand final is on Sunday afternoon. This is the first season in 22 years Ballarat has not been prepared to put a team out on the park to watch what might be possible for our region’s most promising players.

We can pretend like it does not greatly matter – we’ve got quality leagues and a good senior Ballarat Football League flag showdown set for Saturday. 

But it is not really a challenge anymore. We are comfortable and our best players are pretty comfortable.

There is still a VFL flavour about the BFL but this influence on the grassroots game will fade.

The Roosters offered a clear pathway for players in western Victoria and for other country footballers, who preferred the regional lifestyle and what Ballarat had to offer. This was particularly in being a place to study at university and play state league football without having to be based in Melbourne.

This was the pathway that has produced AFL talent like Hawthorn triple premiership midfielder Isaac Smith who, 10 years ago, was happily on his way to winning a flag with Redan in a quality Ballarat Football League final.

Redan encouraged Smith to take a leap of faith and try VFL about midway through the next season.

Or, like Sydney Swan Dean Towers, a Colac boy who was studying teaching at University of Ballarat. Towers won the Fothergill-Round Medal as VFL’s best under-23 player in 2012, then drafted a month later.

The pathway is about more than producing draftees.

Grand final night, a Friday in 2008, the Roosters were in uncharted territory. 

They had been in VFL grand finals before – this was their third – but this was something different. This night was the first VFL grand final under lights, the first at the Docklands stadium, the first in a double-header with TAC Cup under-18s and it turned out to be the first in a premiership trilogy.

Stawell Times: North Ballarat kicked out of VFL

From the Stawell Times
Reported by David Brehaut
Full article - Click here

 

UPDATE, 4.45pm: North Ballarat chairman John Nevett plans to address the media tomorrow morning.

When contacted by The Courier, Nevett said the announcement was still being analysed and he needed to meet with the club board.

He was unwilling to make any further comment at this stage.

EARLIER: Ballarat will be without a Victorian Football League team next year.

AFL Victoria on Thursday informed the North Ballarat Roosters it would not be renewing their VFL licence for 2018.

 

From www.afl.com.au
Reported by Marc McGowan
Full artilce - Click here

VFL 2016 Rd 12 - Frankston v North Ballarat
​North Ballarat won't be permitted to field a VFL team next year

NORTH Ballarat will not field a Victorian Football League team next year.

AFL Victoria announced on Thursday afternoon it had stripped the Roosters of their VFL licence because of governance issues, but remained hopeful they could return as soon as 2019.

The club has battled "significant" board problems in the past two years and lost the confidence of the state's ruling body, according to AFL Victoria CEO Steven Reaper. 

North Ballarat won a hat-trick of VFL premierships between 2008 and 2010 under legendary coach Gerard FitzGerald, but claimed only four victories from 36 games in the past two seasons.

"AFL Victoria needs to ensure there is a sustainable team in Ballarat, and one that is representative of the region and is fully focused on a state-league presence," Reaper said.

 

From The Age website
Reported by Daniel Cherny
Full article - Click here

It was announced on Thursday that the Roosters would not be a part of the league next year after failing to satisfy governance requirements set out by AFL Victoria.

North Ballarat celebrating the 2010 premiership.North Ballarat celebrating the 2010 premiership. Photo: Sebastian Costanzo

Formerly aligned with North Melbourne, the Roosters were a VFL powerhouse less than a decade ago, winning three straight premierships between 2008 and 2010.

However the alignment ended following the 2015 season, with the Roosters subsequently falling on hard times, including finishing last in 2017.

"After significant upheaval at board level in recent years at North Ballarat, AFL Victoria believes the current position the club finds itself from both a governance and on-field perspective doesn't meet the key criteria needed for a continuation of the club's VFL licence," AFL Victoria chief Steven Reaper said.

 

 

Bill Mundy resigns as North Ballarat CEO

From the Ballarat Courier
Reported by Brendan Wrigley
http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/4577076/bill-mundy-walks-from-north/

North Ballarat Football Club chief executive Bill Mundy has walked from Eureka Stadium less than four months after taking the role at the embattled organisation.

Mr Mundy offered his resignation to the board on Tuesday, just one week out from the beginning of the Victorian Football League season.

Roosters chairman John Nevett said while he had made contact with Mr Mundy, who is currently on leave, he had not discussed the reasons behind his resignation.

He said he would meet with Mr Mundy on Monday and declined to make further any comment on the matter.

** Breaking news from the Roosters **

Link to be added shortly (doing this from my phone)

Two more North Ballarat Football Club board members have stood down as the crisis at the Roosters continues.

Ray Gluyas and Di Nevett have resigned, leaving just Mark McGrath and Richard Start on the current panel.

This follows last week’s news that interim chairman Shaune Moloney and Stephen Jurica had also taken themselves off the board, following a number of others in recent times.

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