For Love or Money?

[Monniehawk]

I thought this may have been a joke, since the story was released by the Hun on April 1st!
The VCFL is still concerned about clubs overspending and players overpricing themselves. They have prepared a guide "For Love or Money" and sent it to clubs to determine how much they should pay for players. The VCFL database tagged players performance and is the basis for a payment scale which can be down loaded from the VCFL.

A couple of links:
Weekly Times article -
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2010/04/01/171601_country-footy.html
VCFL website article and download
http://www.vcfl.com.au/index.php?id=222

I wonder how this will affect our league - or local footy in general.
Will this stop the off-season recruitment frenzies we have come to expect, or will clubs just continue the meat market?

BTW, the inside title page of the Player Payment Guide has a full colour pic of a Monbulk v Upwey game!

 

[_XIV_]

An extremely interesting document I must say.
Even at a (relatively) low level like ours the cash certainly does flow.
Some good work from Big League Towers there.

 

[Monniehawk]

"BALLARAT and Bendigo football league bosses have welcomed the Victorian Country Football League's plan to develop an online database of country footballers to prevent clubs overspending on overrated players. An existing database detailing player movements was created in 2003 but the proposed new file will include extra information on the playing history of every VCFL-registered footballer, including their age, number of games played, achievements, tribunal history, past injuries and employment record.
Every player would also be given a ranking and the VCFL would provide a suggested payment range.
The idea for the database was formed as a result of the VCFL's player payments survey, conducted last year.
The results were released to clubs in March and it was revealed 10-15 per cent of clubs were paying too much for players and 10 per cent of clubs did not check recruits' background before signing them.
VCFL chief executive Glenn Scott said the purpose of the database project was to assist clubs and help them manage player payments.
"The idea would be to give clubs enough information about players so they could make better decisions about payments," Scott said.
"It will act as a guide so when clubs in the bush are looking to recruit someone from the other end of the state they will be able to go online and have information at their fingertips rather than go flying in the dark."
He added the concept was going to be a big exercise and could take two to three years to set up.
"At this stage we think it can be done but will need the assistance from clubs."
Ballarat Football League chief executive Rod Ward said anything from the governing body to help with soaring player payments was a good thing. "Player payments have skyrocketed over the past 10 to 20 years to the point where it's putting stress on volunteers who are struggling to raise enough money to field a side," Ward said.
"Anything the VCFL are doing to prevent this is commendable and we support it."
Bendigo Football League chief executive Steven Oliver said he would wait to see how the data would be used and collated before making any further comments.
"At this point in time it sounds like it has merit but we need to see how it is going to be utilised," he said.
Scott said there was no guarantee the VCFL would be able to put the database together and there was no substitute for clubs being more diligent with player payments."
Herald-Sun 28 April.

There's a lot of merit in the idea, but its not without its problems. The VCFL might be a little over-ambitious in what the data base could do - and can be used for. The increased complexity could bring some nasty side effects.
1. Privacy. Some of the planned data is problematic in that it could be a little too invasive on footballers privacy.
2. Reliability. Particularly, subjectivity of the data. i.e. If a player is leaving a club, will the club's assessment be objective, or influenced by the circumstances of the player leaving? Personalities, politics and recruitment tactics could play a big part when clubs assess players.
3. Necessity. While I like the idea of providing info to clubs, is there a limit to how much the data base should contain and the relevance of the data?
4. Counter-productive. Could the guidelines actually encourage more aggressive recruitment of players by providing info for players/managers to push the existing thresh-holds?
5. Integrity of records. Just how much of the info will be freely available and what controls will the VCFL over its use?


Thoughts?

Link info - VCFL data base plan

 

[Upwey Fan]

Havn't they got any recent pictures-one of the Upwey Players shown is Adam Townsend and the ball has the old Amcor Logo

 

[Monniehawk]

Havn't they got any recent pictures-one of the Upwey Players shown is Adam Townsend and the ball has the old Amcor Logo

OK for you.



I'm not old enough to remember Towner!