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I fired off this e-mail to Jim Main in response to someone calling me and other VFL people (which no doubt included you guys here) pessimists etc.
Dear Jim,
I am interested to know why you have become so disenchanted with and/or have a disdain of the former VFA now VFL competition?
Craig Tilley (27/6) suggested the VFL people such as myself and others are being pessimists when we suggest that our clubs can't survive without an alignment, but there is more to it than that.
Clubs such as Vermont (EFL) and Heidelberg (NFL) are able to pay players considerable amounts of money because in most costs there is a single individual or organisation that is bankrolling the operation of the football club.
This isn't the case at VFL level, where clubs often struggle to obtain a slice of the sponsorship market because other community groups have taken up opportunities that would otherwise be available to those in the VFL.
The comment made regarding the standard of the VFL not been strong for years is nothing short of an uninformed and stupid comment. If people think that the VFL's standard hasn't been good enough for years, then the Victorian team shouldn't have thrashed the WAFL earlier this season.
What about players such as Dale Morris (Werribee/Western Bulldogs), Ben McGlynn (Box Hill Hawks/Hawthorn) and Jake King (Coburg Tigers/Richmond), surely the clubs who rookie listed these players thought that competition they played in before making the AFL grade wasn't of a poor standard.
I have an issue with you and others who continue to treat the VFL competition with complete disdain, it's a high standard competition that doesn't deserve to have negative opinions directed towards it.
Regards,
Ben Carbonaro
I wonder what sort of a response I will get?
Hope that he edits my letter, I didn't proof read e-mail well enough and let's just be confident that he won't print the errors.
