Hey all,
Since it's the off season and there isn't much to do, I thought I'd toss this up and see if we can solve the world's (ok, the standalone clubs') problems heading into an uncertain future. I know there are a million and one opinions out there about where the competition is headed.....my personal opinion is that the AFL clubs won't be satisfied in the long run until there is equity for them all in how their reserves players spend their weekends away from playing in the AFL sides.....which means the league will finally go back to a full reserves competition. It won't include any aligned or standalone clubs, because AFL clubs will consider us unworthy opponents for their professional boys wanting to prepare for the big time. A second division is quite pointless, because there will be no promotion/relegation allowed. And so, if my theory eventuates, where does that leave our clubs? Hopefully the AFL will recognise that the heartland of the game must have its' own state league - there must be a stepping stone to the AFL, and somewhere semi-elite that undrafted players can continue to play at a high level. This means hopefully a reconstituted state league with reasonable assistance from the AFL (yes, I know all of this is just theory, but roll with me ok).
As we are, we clearly don't have enough clubs to form a decent league. I would think we need either a 12 or 16 team competition (the number dependent on whether country sides are involved). So we have 6 right now.....I would think Casey wouldn't field a standalone, but maybe Box Hill and Sandy might under the right circumstances? So, that would leave us needing 4 metro clubs and possibly 4 country clubs (or regional representative "franchises").
My question to you lot is, which clubs out there are strong enough to compete in such a comp? A few clubs do spring to mind as possibles - Keilor, Vermont, Noble Park, Deer Park, Bundoora, Strathmore, Cranbourne, Greenvale, Spotswood, Heidelberg, Montmorency.....they spring to mind as successful clubs in their metro leagues. If regional Victoria is involved there's Leongatha, Traralgon, Strathfieldsaye, Golden Square, North Ballarat, Melton, Darley, etc etc etc.....though personally I would sooner see districts like Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland etc represented by a region team if it came to it.
Here's another curly to throw in, how about giving Fitzroy an invite?
So, who do you think should be involved?
I'd love to see a genuine Victorian state league. 12 teams would be ideal - play each other twice. As for the 'who', there are a number of financially sound suburban and country clubs who could step up - if they wanted to. Not sure it would be that easy to recruit them to a new league though. Another bonus would be possibly getting the game start times back to the traditional times. Personally I love the Sat/Sun 2pm start. Maybe we could even have a reserves comp? It would be great to be able to go to the footy and see two games again..
We might even get the Record back? I guess that would be too much to hope for..
For Frankston at least, the night games are a far better timeslot than the traditional 2 pm start. Maybe the reserves could play afternoon curtain raisers if the seniors play in the evening. Or you could offer the ground up to local or junior clubs to play as curtain raisers. Getting more fans from the local leagues would be essential for making the VFL viable.
Will Melbourne setting up base camp at Caulfield be the death knell for Casey?
It might spell problems for Casey. Melbourne may want to make Caulfield the home of their AFLW program as well, which leaves only the reserves playing at Casey Fields. If Caulfield is going to be their main admin and training facility, I don't see why they wouldn't want to have their reserves based there as well. Even if they were to keep the Casey name, it would have less meaning than the Bulldogs reserves using the Footscray name. The club would basically be an in-house reserves program with a different name.
The other question I suppose is would anybody care if Casey disappeared? Their connection to Springvale is tenuous at best and they don't appear to have built up any sort of following at Cranbourne so their ability to survive without Melbourne would be very problematic
Regional representation would be great, I'd love to see the regional comps fielding a rep side, the best of the ovens and Murray, the best of the Gippsland comps etc. Even the Bendigo Gold would be great. I miss travelling up to the QEO.
It would be hard to convince the local clubs to get on board though, giving up their best players.. Maybe rule of no more than 3-4 games in representative colours.
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
I think we would also need to be giving something back to these local clubs, more than just "we take 3-4 of your best players and you get exposure". My dad has suggested before the idea of advertising local clubs around the ground, which I think would be a good step. Having local clubs and players directly involved on game day is also important, such as inviting them to play games as curtain raisers or something like the longest kick competition that Frankston held at half-time during the Box Hill game this year. For local leagues to throw the effort into supporting the VFL, they need something to gain from it too.
As for Casey, I don't think they'd have the membership numbers to sustain a standalone club. We went up there in R3 this year and while there were a few Casey chants in the crowd, they really didn't have a strong presence. Unless the City of Casey stepped in to prop up the club and promote it to draw supporters in, I think whatever's left of the club would probably fold.
Casey surviving would be dependent on the financial deal between Casey council and Melbourne, wouldn't it? If they both figure that deal is still worthwhile, albeit with some changes if the training base is moved, then you'd think the VFL team would continue as is.
Hope you miss coming to the "Rooster" home NorthPort !
We might be from the bush. but we ain't green
AFL teams seem to find a way to wriggle out of those deals if they want, eg the St Kilda/Seaford fiasco - if Melbourne want to relocate to Caulfield what motivation would there be for them to maintain a presence at Casey? Whatever the outcome, Casey would appear to be the most precarious of all the aligned teams - if Melbourne had the financials to go stand-alone then Casey would be dead in the water maybe.
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