Official Club Stuff North Ballarat - 2019 Return to VFL Unlikely

[Roogal]

Eureka Stadium now officially 'Mars Stadium':

Local Ballarat international confectionery giant 'Mars' has been announced as the new naming rights sponsor of Eureka Stadium in Ballarat. The newly-renovated venue, which will host its first AFL game in round 22, is now known as Mars Stadium.

 

[HedgeFund]

So now the AFL can officially announce that the Round 22 game will be played on Mars.....



.....Stadium

 

[Roogal]

So now the AFL can officially announce that the Round 22 game will be played on Mars.....



.....Stadium

Port Adelaide certainly will be the most travelled AFL team in 2017, one game in China and another at Mars.

 

[Roogal]

The Ballarat Courier reported yesterday that AFL Victoria general manager Steven Reaper has said that there is “some chance” the Roosters will not be in the competition next year. Reaper, speaking in an interview with Channel 7, said North Ballarat was still working through its prospects for next year, with AFL Victoria to make a decision in the “coming weeks”.

I personally believe that the NB Roosters have not made the truly hard decisions to warrant staying. They still have some in the club sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring some realities and truths. But time will tell.

 

[HedgeFund]

I can imagine North Ballarat leave the VFL, but I can't imagine AFL Victoria (or the AFL) leaving Eureka Stadium vacant in the short, medium, or long term.

A "Greater Western Victoria VFL" entity, whether it be the Kangaroos/Footscray AFL reserves bolstered by GWV located players, or a stand alone entity that rises up like a Phoenix from the ashes (like Frankston), will have to exist as part of the AFL's plan to dominate the sporting landscape in Victoria.

May mean it's dormant as a home base for 2018, and only AFL reserves games are played at Eureka on a rotational basis, but I strongly suspect AFL Victoria will be instructed to plug something back into the area ASAP.

 

[Walshawk]

I can imagine North Ballarat leave the VFL, but I can't imagine AFL Victoria (or the AFL) leaving Eureka Stadium vacant in the short, medium, or long term.

A "Greater Western Victoria VFL" entity, whether it be the Kangaroos/Footscray AFL reserves bolstered by GWV located players, or a stand alone entity that rises up like a Phoenix from the ashes (like Frankston), will have to exist as part of the AFL's plan to dominate the sporting landscape in Victoria.

May mean it's dormant as a home base for 2018, and only AFL reserves games are played at Eureka on a rotational basis, but I strongly suspect AFL Victoria will be instructed to plug something back into the area ASAP.

So if the strongest club in 'GWV' are struggling, then how would a new club win no players, committee, sponsors, fans or volunteers be able to do it better?
Local players would rather playing in local leagues, they are not going to drive to Ballarat three nights a week for training.
Local supporters would rather watch their club play against their traditional local rivals.
If NB quit the VFL, reckon they VFL would just schedule a few games there.
The stadium looks great, but will be a white elephant. Too small for aFL and too big for VFL.
Perfect for women's and pre-season.

 

[HedgeFund]

So if the strongest club in 'GWV' are struggling, then how would a new club win no players, committee, sponsors, fans or volunteers be able to do it better?
Local players would rather playing in local leagues, they are not going to drive to Ballarat three nights a week for training.
Local supporters would rather watch their club play against their traditional local rivals.
If NB quit the VFL, reckon they VFL would just schedule a few games there.
The stadium looks great, but will be a white elephant. Too small for aFL and too big for VFL.
Perfect for women's and pre-season.

I agree that a re-incarnation of the GWV/North Ballarat Roosters is highly unlikely.

AFL Victoria will have the AFL Reserves and AFL Womens competitions as their two main priorities, presuming the AFLW soon moves from summer into winter and usurps the VFL Womens as the primary winter competition. A combination of those two Western Bulldogs entities will use that stadium regularly provided the Bulldogs agree to host most of those games at Eureka (instead of Whitten Oval) either every alternate week, or as a double header, with perhaps 2 - 3 AFL senior fixtures every year (Western Bulldogs -v- interstates) as well.

 

[Roogal]

No decision has been announced yet and North Ballarat get to put their business case and proposals to the AFL next Wednesday. They want an outcome from the AFL as soon as possible, although the AFL are saying that no decision as to the Roosters future in the VFL will be made or announced until late October.

I kind of think that, that is BS. I suspect that with North Melbourne joining the VFL as a stand alone entity, Werribee being forced to stand alone from next year and the re-entry of the Frankston Dolphins, that the VFL may become a little cluttered and that there will be no space or room for a regional team in the competition. I stand by my prediction that the VFL will eventually become totally an AFL reserves and AFL team aligned club competition and metropolitan only by 2020. That will please the supporters that won't have to travel to Ballarat and Channel 7 (who don't know where the Hell Ballarat is)

 

[Roogal]

AFL Victoria to decide on Roosters future by mid-September
1 Sep 2017, 3:34 p.m.
https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/tel:+61353399633

The North Ballarat Roosters can expect to know whether they will feature in the 2018 Victorian Football League season by the middle of the month.

Roosters chairman John Nevett met with representatives from AFL Victoria on Wednesday to discuss the club’s future in the competition, with the North Ballarat boss setting out a number of proposed changes to keep a western Victorian presence in the competition.

AFL Victoria general manager Steven Reaper said the governing body was still considering several factors of the Roosters’ application.

“It is expected a decision regarding the Roosters’ license will be made at the AFL Victoria board meeting which is scheduled for September 15,” Mr Reaper said in a statement.

Speaking to The Courier last week, AFL Goldfields general manager Rod Ward said the Roosters had played an important part in the strength of community football throughout the region and would be sorely missed if the license was not granted.


“The number of coaches we've had who have been able to come back and share their skills and experiences (from the Roosters) at community level has been outstanding,” Mr Ward said.

“I hope North are successful in retaining that license and if they’re not then possibly all stakeholders can work together in the future to do a Frankston (Dolphins VFL club) and get that license back.”

The Courier contacted Mr Nevett for comment. The Courier also contacted City of Ballarat mayor Samantha Mclntosh and chief executive Justine Linley, who both declined to comment

 

[Mortimer]

Any news on the likelihood of North Ballarat having a VFL licence in 2018?

 

[eth-dog]

Any news on the likelihood of North Ballarat having a VFL licence in 2018?

50/50 from my understanding.

 

[Roogal]

Any news on the likelihood of North Ballarat having a VFL licence in 2018?

No decision until this Friday I believe. It will be tight and the Roosters will have to put up some serious proposals and changes. It's acheivable but the Roosters will have to make some momentous changes to unlink themselves from their 'North Ballarat Football Club' brand. The antipathy toward them in Ballarat is deep, and they will never garner the full support from the local footbal community until they separate from it.

 

[thegreig]

SEN just confirmed that North Ballarat will not compete in the 2018 VFL season due to issues at board level

 

[thegreig]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/...9/news-story/b6a93e10ab2d1d3e3fc302c9398da631

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Right move for all concerned.

 

[eth-dog]

Cynical but needed to happen. Talent is spread way too thin in the VFL at present, and the quality would have been further jeopardized with 2 new teams

 

[PerfectFooty]

Cynical but needed to happen. Talent is spread way too thin in the VFL at present, and the quality would have been further jeopardized with 2 new teams

While i agree, i don't think older struggling teams should take the fall for AFL reserves expansion

 

[rdhopkins2]

Disappointing for the Ballarat and regional areas after the loss of Bendigo a few years ago.

But that's Tassie, Bendigo & now Nth Balla.

Frankston lost their license for a year but back now.

VFL quickly becoming AFL reserves as others have mentioned.

 

[BlueJet]

Seemed inevitable but bloody disappointing all the same.

 

[Roogal]

So if the strongest club in 'GWV' are struggling, then how would a new club win no players, committee, sponsors, fans or volunteers be able to do it better?
Local players would rather playing in local leagues, they are not going to drive to Ballarat three nights a week for training.
Local supporters would rather watch their club play against their traditional local rivals.
If NB quit the VFL, reckon they VFL would just schedule a few games there.
The stadium looks great, but will be a white elephant. Too small for aFL and too big for VFL.
Perfect for women's and pre-season.

You're right on the money there. There will be champagne glasses chinking across Ballarat tonight with the Roosters VFL demise as much as there will at VFL HQ. There was total antipathy toward the Roosters within the Ballarat Football community as well as the VFL who have been actively and unambiguosly driving toward and AFL Reserves competition. Next in their firing line will be the remaining stand alone clubs.

 

[Roogal]

Disappointing for the Ballarat and regional areas after the loss of Bendigo a few years ago.

But that's Tassie, Bendigo & now Nth Balla.

Frankston lost their license for a year but back now.

VFL quickly becoming AFL reserves as others have mentioned.

I don't think that they are necessarily gone forever, the VFL are not writing them off completely, just saying that they haven't gotten their act together and they need to stop acting like a small club and properly engage with their region, their Council and get their act together as a board. Have a read of the following article from the Ballarat Courier today, it gives a pretty fair account of the situation:

North Ballarat kicked out of VFL
David Brehaut
14 Sep 2017, 3:55 p.m.

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.

The termination comes after 22 seasons in the competition and two years of governance problems, including instability at board level.

North Ballarat has also struggled on the field over the past two seasons.

The Roosters won one game and finished last this year and three wins for second-last on the ladder in 2016 - a stark contrast to the golden era of three consecutive premierships in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

AFL Victoria rejected a submission by the Roosters' board of management for an extension of its licence.

AFL Victoria chief executive officer Steven Reaper told The Courier that the competition's governing body was not confident in the club's ability to meet the key requirements in its existing structure.

"After significant upheaval at board level in recent years at North Ballarat, AFL Victoria believes the current position the club finds itself from a governnance and on-field persepctive does not meet the key criteria needed for a continuation of the club's VFL licence

AFL Victoria chief executive officer Steven Reaper on Thursday.

"It needs to get its act together.

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

Reaper said a football review at the club indicated issues with the existing governance structure to support a VFL program, given it also had a focus at community level with North Ballarat City playing in the Ballarat Football League.

"When combined with the identified need to also restructure the on-field program, AFL Victoria believes all the proposed changes would take significant time to effectively implement.

The Roosters' three-peat premeirships will remain the highlight of the club.

"AFL Victoria believes the club would be better placed to focus on making the changes before again considering a VFL presence."

Reaper said there were also concerns surrounding the uncertainty of lease arrangements between the club and City of Ballarat at Mars Stadium.

He said any future entity needed to form long-term relationships with key stakeholders in the region, and ensure all parties were working to grow the game in Ballarat and surrounding areas.

"With all parties working together, a quick return could be seen for a Ballarat entity in the VFL," he said.

 

[crows dude]

Can we join the VFL please. Gotta get out of the SANFL.

 

[Walshawk]

Cynical but needed to happen. Talent is spread way too thin in the VFL at present, and the quality would have been further jeopardized with 2 new teams

So 15 teams in 2018? Surprised they let Frankston back in given this. A few Roosters might go to Werribee, nut not sure where Frankston will get their players from.

 

[Roogal]

Roosters left wondering where it all went wrong
Daniel Short
18 Sep 2017, 9:19 a.m.

A frustrated Roosters chairman John Nevett says there is no guarantee Ballarat will have a VFL presence in 2019. The North Ballarat Roosters’ VFL licence was terminated on Thursday by AFL Victoria leaving Nevett “angry” and “gutted”.

The chairman, who joined the club in February, painted a lone figure at the front of Friday’s press conference as he voiced his dissatisfaction towards AFL Victoria’s decision.

Nevett said he would attend a board meeting on Friday night to discuss the club’s movements going forward and whether it would endeavour to deliver a VFL side in 2019. But Nevett could not guarantee that it would be a positive outcome given the significant setback the revoked licence has dealt the Roosters. “I can’t give anybody a guarantee that this club will endeavour to bring back a VFL club,” Nevett said. “I always thought we would be here (in the VFL), so you can imagine the shock yesterday. The disappointment, that feeling of emptiness, that went last night, and now there’s a certain amount of anger.”

Nevett had been in contact with AFL Victoria since the disappointing decision and had fought for the Roosters short-term survival in the VFL competition.
Nevett said he had asked for AFL Victoria to consider reinstating North Ballarat into the VFL competition for 2018 with the condition it would conduct a restructure of its board and football department to meet AFL Victoria’s requirements. Part of the governance issue was AFL Victoria having a “fractured” relationship with “some members of the board”.

Nevett said a restructure, which would seperate the Roosters, North Ballarat City and North Ballarat Sports Club, would ensure the Roosters would be its own VFL entity and remove any perception there would be crossover of boards.

‘We were left in the dark’

North Ballarat Roosters chairman John Nevett believes his club was left in the dark during the decision-making process surrounding its future in the Victorian Football League competition. In Friday’s press conference following AFL Victoria’s decision to remove the Roosters VFL licence, Nevett felt North Ballarat was not kept in the loop on a number of occasions when it came to determining its future in the VFL competition.

Nevett said he believed the decision to boot the Roosters out of the competition was decided before the club even got a chance to present its case to AFL Victoria.

Three weeks ago, the Roosters were given a last-chance opportunity to prove to AFL Victoria it was capable of fielding a sustainable VFL team for next season and beyond. A presentation Nevett felt met all the criteria required. But the chairman told the media that during the presentation, he was advised the Roosters’ program should be deferred for 12 months, while dialogue throughout the year with AFL Victoria was not to the level he would have liked.

“We were left in the dark...they’d already formed an opinion, before the presentation,” Nevett said.

The aim of that presentation was to meet AFL Victoria’s criteria to conduct a VFL program and provide AFL Victoria with a case as to why it could deliver a program that had all the elements of “stability, purpose, ownership, financial solidarity, football department structure and future security of the VFL side. In my view our presentation covered off on that in detail,” Nevett explained.

Given this, Nevett was left disillusioned about the decision and said it had huge ramifications on its ability to return to the competition. He dismissed the Roosters had financial woes and said the club was in a great position, hence his disappointment and bewilderment towards the call.

“We don’t understand why a VFL side in Ballarat has been removed. There’s a real problem coming back into the VFL ... we would have to start from scratch. We would spend a lot of time and energy putting into place what we’ve already done in our presentation, there’s nothing more to that presentation that we could add.”

Nevett fully understood there was a “disconnect” with some factions of the Ballarat region, but stressed the VFL pathway was crucial to football as a whole.

“There are a lot of people out there who have a disconnection to the North Ballarat footy club...but the VFL side becomes the instrument to promoting football from here through to the border.” The chairman added the timing of the announcement did it no favours.

“To do this licence renewal at the time it was done was always going to put us behind the eight-ball – and maybe that was known. Having to wait until yesterday, the damage was already done in the sense of...getting people on board for next year and going forward.”

City of Ballarat agreement could be tested

In February, the City of Ballarat announced the compulsory acquisition of the freehold title of the Eureka Stadium sports club. However, that was under the condition North Ballarat would meet a number of requirements in order to secure the lease to the facility, one of which was to field a VFL team. Thursday’s decision to revoke the Roosters VFL licence further clouds the murky waters surrounding the matter.

Roosters chairman John Nevett made it clear on Friday he expected the agreement to be honoured.

“If they don’t give us a lease because we don’t have a VFL side, what are we going to do with this business? We’re going to have to move...the City of Ballarat would have to fund the purchase of land and the construction of a similar building on that land (according to the land acquisition compensation act) if they were to force us out,” Nevett said.

City of Ballarat CEO Justine Linley spoke on the matter in February. “They need to be able to field a VFL team and they need to be able to provide access to the facility,” she said.

Doubts set in on VFL future

Nevett felt this process would take two months, and if the Roosters could not meet this time frame, it would step aside. But the request was not accepted, leaving Nevett and the club shattered. Nevett said if it were to reapply for a VFL team, that presentation would be exactly the same as the one presented this month. He said he felt for the coaching staff and players, he also conceded the playing group took a while to embrace him as chairman, but by season’s end felt he had their respect.

Nevett slammed any insinuation the North Ballarat decision could be compared to Frankston, Nevett saying the comparison was “inappropriate because they were two different scenarios.” Frankston were booted out of the VFL competition for the 2017 season, but have since met the requirements to return to the competition in 2018. He also added that any suggestion the Roosters commitment to having a VFL team was lip-service was “simply not true.”

 

[Roogal]

So 15 teams in 2018? Surprised they let Frankston back in given this. A few Roosters might go to Werribee, nut not sure where Frankston will get their players from.

It would nigh on impossible for North Ballarat to field an effective team in 2019 if half of its players walk next year along with coaching staff. Otherwise, what are they to do with a full team of players and staff. They can't pay them for doing nothing.

The VFL have really stuck the boot in and put the club in an untenable situation.