Country football

[play on]

In the paper, it has an article about how the Congupna FC in the Murray league, last week lost a game by 198 points. And a few weeks ago they lost by more than 300 points. This week they have moved off the bottom of the ladder after winning by 144 points.

And in the Riviera league, Nambrok beat Payneville by 207 points. How much is country football suffering as a result?


------------------------------
Play on says the umpire
------------------------------

 

[Joe Mama]

I'm sorry to say this, but the information that you've got from the Congupna F.C is false, that was their fourths that won by that margin, in the seniors they lost by two goals to Tocumwal, who have only one four games in three seasons.

Also in the Picola League, Wunghnu went through the season without a win in their firsts and seconds, (their thirds and fourths have performed a bit better) and from all reports, they look like doing it again.

Arse kickings like this are also happpening in the larger leagues as well, Kyabram in the G.V.F.L are in a financial quagmire (similar to Wang. Rovers, who had to play as an amateur team for a year to reduce debt) and they have had to make huge sacrifices to pay the debt. because of this, they are short of players, look like losing every game for the year, and looking horrible for a team that was always strong and competitive.

This is happening in an all to regular basis and as more young men leave country areas to pursue work and study, this shows no signs of slowing down

 

[Spogs]

I've been fairly heavily involved with a club here in Mildura and while the comp up here is going fairly well, it is getting more and more difficult to keep clubs viable.

Although there is a salary cap up here of $51000, that excludes 1 top player or coach who will generally attract a payment of over $20,000 so total player payments (including awards) will be around $70k to $80k for most clubs. Add to that the cost of footballs, jumpers, umpire payments, association fees, ground maintenance and marking etc., and we need to turnover between $250k and $300k per year just to break even. That may not sound much but when your top sponsors are only putting in between $5000 and $10,000 per year you have to work very hard to pull income.

The other big problem now is that any young player who shows real promise now has to move to Bendigo if he wants any chance of playing AFL footy. His home club gets no benefit from this whether or not he makes an AFL list.

Keeping administrators is also difficult as most committee members would need to commit between 30 and 40 hours per week to the club.

Next year is going to be even harder with live footy on TV on Saturday arvo's keeping people at home instead of watching the local games.

While I suppose you can't blame the AFL for everything, and they do provide training for coaches and medical staff, they really do need to look at the state of country football which does provide a large number of good players the the major leagues.

 

[eagleskickass]

I play for a colts team in the GSFL (WA, Great Southern Football League) and their is a team in our league who hasn't lost for 4 years, although we went close 2 weeks ago and should be able to beat them sometime this year. We recently beat a team by 197 points. At present they have 88 for and 1088 against. Our league team has won two successive premierships. The comp is still strong though.

 

[Mobbs]

Can you tell me some more about the Great Southern FL? Wouldn't mind making a reference to it in the Footypedia.

 

[play on]

Their is a brief history on the Southern league on their website. Not much of it, but better than nothing. My printer is not working properly, otherwise I would have posted the history of the league. SO go to

www.sfl.com.au



--------------------------------------------------------
Ball says the crowd, play on says the umpire
--------------------------------------------------------

 

[Mobbs]

Hiya play on,

I was actually asking about the Great Southern FL in WA, but thanks anyway!