Great to hear everyone so passionate about Victorian footy!
This is my take on things.
First of all, I am not a fan of the AFL involvement in our state competition. Granted, it creates exposure for the VFL that it would not receive as a stand alone entity, and it obviously raises the standard of play, but in my opinion it’s presence undermines the integrity of the competition.
If the league heads the way it is looking next season with split alignments etc, it once again means the league is divided. I mean how can you have a successful competition when some clubs are desperate only to win a premiership (Frankston, Port Melbourne, Williamstown, Northern Bullants, Werribee?, Tamania?) others a focused purely on developing players (Geelong, Carlton, Collingwood, Western Bulldogs?, Sydney?) and the rest have a foot in both camps (Bendigo, Box Hill, North Ballarat, Sandringham, Casey)?
I am envious of the situation in the SANFL, where all clubs are striving for a common goal, a clear player pathway is in place and they have a strong identity.
I believe we should follow their path.
I am aware the logistical issues are enormous and the current success of the TAC Cup doesn’t warrant any change to the format but a complete restructure can work – look at the success of the Hyundai A-League soccer.
Here is my proposal.
I would like to see the AFL go back to a Victorian reserves competition and the VFL once again stand alone.
All VFL clubs would merge with a TAC cup partner (most of which are in actually in place at the moment) to form one club.
Open up the age restrictions on the regional teams and turn them into senior clubs as they already have a strong local presence in their community.
Clubs consist of a senior team, reserves team, under 19’s, and under 17’s.
The teams:
1. Bendigo Pioneers
2. Box Hill Mustangs (Eastern Ranges)
3. Casey Scorpians (Dandenong Stingrays – Southern zone)
4. Coburg Lions (Calder Cannons)
5. Frankston Dolphins (Dandenong Stingrays – Peninsula zone)
6. Geelong Falcons
7. Gippsland Power
8. Murray Bushrangers
9. North Ballarat Roosters (Ballarat Rebels)
10. Northern Bullants (Northern Knights)
11. Port Melbourne Borough (Oakleigh Chargers)
12. Sandringham Zebras (Sangringham Dragons)
13. Tasmania Devils
14. Werribee Tigers (Western Jets – Zone?)
15. Williamstown Seagulls (Western Jets – Zone?)
The Benefits:
This would be a truly state competition with teams based in the key areas of Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Gippsland and the Murray.
In Melbourne it also establishes a presence in the western suburbs, eastern suburbs, northern suburbs, south eastern suburbs and bayside/peninsula. All bases are covered!
There would be tremendous interest in the competition with future AFL stars playing and it gives players a clear pathway to follow if they are not drafted.
Gives kids a chance to play against men and step straight into AFL footy if drafted.
An under 19’s competition would take pressure of 18 year olds completing VCE.
Money could go toward developing club facilities, personnel etc
Would love to hear what you all think?
Cheers
I think the idea has merit.
One of my concerns would be the player drain with the AFL Reserves competition luring players from the VFL, and lowering the standard of the comp.
I think the idea of aligning the U18 clubs to their aligned VFL senior club has some merit as a pathway system. I have a friend involved in coaching at an U18 club who has raised some good points regarding the need (or lack of) for consolidating the u18 and senior clubs together which I will try and find to post up here.
The worst thing that happened to VICTORIAN STATE COMP football was when South Melbourne moved to Sydney, and then they kept expanding, The WAFL and SANFL have had reasonably settled comps for 100+ years, where the the VFA and VFL have been through all sorts. As you see Adelaide was formed to move to the AFL, West Coast was formed to move to the AFL, where as for the Victorian clubs it just snowballed and before they new it, the were ina league Nation Wide,
Your idea sounds alright, but it would be ridiculously hard to invent senior VFL teams out of nothing(i.e, Murray and Gippsland) the money involved would be enourmous.
If funds were available it could work, but would take some time gain recognition etc, but if the VFL was to split from the AFL, the VFL would have no choice but to create u18/19's ad possibly 17's to create that pathway.
The TAC system was set up to benefit the AFL and the AFL only, the VFL has to do something to Benefit them for a change.
Have you sent this proposal to AFL Victoria?
Any sort of response yet?
Must admit it's not something I thought about. I guess I just thought it would fall on deaf ears?
As much as all of this sounds good who is going to come up with the money ? I loved the old VFA as much as anyone but it is gone. If you remove the AFL teams from it the what is left will become simply another metro footy comp. The TV coverage wont stand up and the level of sponsorship will drop.
The other problem with your idea is you are trying to revive clubs who have already gone under or pulled out of the comp.
Dandenong went under twice. Traralgon had to pull out of the VFL before the AFL sides became involved. Bendigo where a basket case before Essendon got involved. Geelong West are well gone.Coburg would find themselves under a cloud without Richmond.
On top of all this i feel if the TAC Cup sides aligned themselves with what would be a third tier comp they would suffer as well. The funding needs to be increased as far as the under 18's comp goes. If the AFL reserves comp came back in i think you would find the TAC Cup sides aligning themselves with the AFL sides and providing suplimentry players to their lists and having a chance of increased funding that way being aligned to a certain club.
As for the current VFL comp being compromised i would say that Geelongs efforts in the last 5 years would indicate that an AFL reserves side can play with complete integrity and develop players as well.
I think a lot of us would like to see the old VFA rise again but its day has past. The support has moved on and more people are involved with their local footy now days as their second footy interest outside of the AFL.
You make some great points 'ant555' but I disagree that the VFL would be ''just another metro comp'' if the AFL pulled out. With the best young kids in the state involved, the standard of play would still be at a high level.
Sure there will be some teething problems initially, but with a clear pathway for players to progress through if not drafted, clubs should be able to hold on to their best young talent rather than losing them to local leagues.
As for funding etc. The TAC cup has alot of support from corporate sponsorship, is there any reason why this cannot be transferred to the VFL? And why can't development funding to the TAC cup from the AFL be redirected aswell?
There was a good point raised in an earlier post re this money being inadvertantly used for player payments instead of going toward development which i must admit is a bit of a worry.
I do think you're right about alot of us wanting to hold on to the old VFA, we definately all need to get behind the new VFL.....whatever that is!
Cheers.
I agree with you ant555 about many people choosing to follow their local side outside of AFL, rather than a VFL side. The perfect example is Werribee. The suburb of Werribee itself is gigantic and still growing, it would have well over 100,000 people. So thus, you'd expect the Tigers to be very well supported and get good crowds to Bartercard Oval.
However, they don't get the huge crowds, as the people of Werribee seem to gravitate more towards teams such as Werribee Centrals in the GDFL or local Western Region Football League teams such as Hoppers Crossing, etc. Now I don't know if this would alter much, if at all, should Werribee be a stand-alone side from next year, but I think this could be a possibility, as the people of Werribee who don't follow the Bulldogs are more likely to go and watch a local side than they are the Tigers at the moment.
I think your idea is very sound and it would be possible to achieve but i feel that the Under 18 comp is more likely to align itself to The AFL rather than the VFL if an AFL reserves comp came back in. The AFL already has a large pull in the TAC Cup as far as AFL recruiters recomonding the type of players that the TAC Cup sides should be playing. I know someone who does some palyer spotting for one of the TAC Cup sides and they wont really look at players who fall outside the so called "guide lines"
As a Hoppers Crossing resident, there is HUGE support for Hoppers in the WRFL - mainly for two reassons...
1. Pokies - That brings in the $$$ and they are able to top up their side with some very good players.
2. Juniors - They are one of the biggest junior clubs in the country. On Sunday they need 3 home grounds to host their under-age sides, plus they also play on Friday nights - they numbers they have are incredible.
Point 2 in an indirect way has been the problem with the VFA/VFL for the last decade or so.
I remember back in Primary School (late 80s to early 90s) wher i could ask a kid what their favourite AFL side was (and everyone had one), where if you asked them what their fave VFA side was, they would look at you stupid, asking what is the VFA?
That's a big problem with the VFA/VFL... is the message about the comp getting through at school level - if not, there goes a generation of supporters missed.
The media arm of the Footy Vic (in my opinion) needs to find a way to make the VFL "hip". Simple things like getting a weekly spot on Nova and/or Fox FM - you have to hit that generation.
You need to focus on characters and bring back the suburban feeling. It's all about the sell.
Have any of you heard the VFL ads on SEN1116??? Very poorly written and produced, it doesn't rev you up, it doesn't make you want to go to the footy... it doesn't give you a reason to attend.
Mind you the above argument of alignments does also pose a problem.
I use to follow Williamstown, but my passion for them has gone because of the Collingwood alignment. It could be the same with some other sides, it rips away the suburban/territorial feel. However to be fair it does bring back some AFL fans to the game.
In pre-match yesterday I was talking with Phil Shaw and Joffa, saying I was dissapointed that I didn't seen the "AFL Cheer Squads" out in numbers at the VFL supporting their VFL sides. Wouldn't it be great to have them in numbers behinds the goals and alot of support and color (just like you use to see in the old footage of the Junction Oval grand finals)?
It's all about image.
Peter Holden.
(Above opinions are mine and mine alone)
'Post of the week' Peter. I agree with pretty much everything you said in relation to the image of the VFA / VFL.