VFA Revival?

[eth-dog]

Why do people play VFL now then? If you’re silly insistence was right then VFL lists would be struggling to fill themselves but they are not.

And your travel point still ignored country footy… ignores teams like Werribee centrals travelling to Winchelsea for games, etc, etc

and ignores VAFA where players earn nothing and travel from Preston to Clayton or Ringwood to Brunswick

Give it up

You're talking about players. I'm talking about clubs. Tell me you've never been an admin at a footy club without telling me you've never been an admin at a footy club.

Yeah, but you aren't talking about country footy. You're proposing big suburban clubs move away from being a shark in a pond to being a goldfish in the Pacific for no tangible benefit for their club, to join a comp that would last a couple more years at best before it folded for not being commercially viable.

Also I'm an admin at a VAFA club. A suburban VAFA club. Also Winchelsea plays in the GFL, whilst Centrals play in the WRFL, so try again. Or not, I don't really care.

 

[whiskeytown]

You're talking about players. I'm talking about clubs. Tell me you've never been an admin at a footy club without telling me you've never been an admin at a footy club.

Yeah, but you aren't talking about country footy. You're proposing big suburban clubs move away from being a shark in a pond to being a goldfish in the Pacific for no tangible benefit for their club, to join a comp that would last a couple more years at best before it folded for not being commercially viable.

Also I'm an admin at a VAFA club. A suburban VAFA club. Also Winchelsea plays in the GFL, whilst Centrals play in the WRFL, so try again. Or not, I don't really care.

You have no idea. You think being an administrator at a club makes you privy to AFL House ?

And your gotchya moment retort was incorrect too

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I’ll sign out here.

Everything you’ve said about distance, no participation, no AFL money, VFL clubs folding etc… is just your hearsay

You and the Carlton poster can relive glory days together

 

[MortlockWatcher]

Have another Woodstock champ as I stick you on ignore ...

 

[random observer]

I think you're being a bit harsh on Frankston and Coburg. The Lions have so far been competitive on the field and from what I've heard their membership numbers have improved a great deal.

Frankston meanwhile went from a bottom 4 team to a finalist last year, we've not only retained our most important players but also recruited well, and financially we're doing well. Our debt is wiped out and I'm confident our net loss from last year is going to be turned around this season. I don't appreciate the doom and gloom talk about our club when we've come a long way over the past nine years.

Fair enough - I will stand correction on Frankston.

I'm still dubious about Coburg. Any club that finds it worthwhile to host VAFA D2 finals must be practically searching down the back of the couch for coins...

 

[random observer]

Probably a mistake buying back into what is rapidly degenerating into a slanging match, but I'll bite anyway:

But personally I think stand-alone clubs would want to participate in a Melbourne only VFL… as this is what they are in now and the AFL would fund such a league

If/when AFL Reserves is revived, the standalone clubs would certainly want to participate in a Melbourne-only VFL - their only alternative is immediate death. But there is no reason for the AFL to fund it. The players who miss out on matches in the AFL Reserves would just be farmed out to clubs in the top tier of the suburban comps. Similarly, they would draw talent from these comps.

And that would be more economical feasible for the AFL than to an expanded to senior age Talent League… because the VFL clubs draw crowds and sponsorship that the Coates Talent League clubs don’t

I don't know what the crowds are like at Coates Talent League matches, but they can hardly be smaller than those at matches between standalone VFL sides. Port Melbourne vs Werribee had a smaller crowd than at Port Colts down the road. Less than a dozen people in the grandstand. The standalone VFL clubs do not 'draw crowds'.

You’re effectively arguing that the VFL would just be wrapped up and the AFL would surrender the rights for that and allow those clubs to potentially organise themselves into a rival product[...]

...that no one wants. No VFA is going to bleed any significant number of supporters or viewers from the AFL. Or even the AFL reserves. The AFL has nothing to fear from them (in the unlikely event that most the clubs don't just collapse, leaving the few survivors stranded), and no reason to keep the rights.

 

[SurfySainter99]

Interesting opinions

My take is that when the AFL Reserves comp eventuates… the VFL will remain.

Unlike WA and SA the AFL already owns the rights to the Victorian top tier football

To walk away from that…and allow potentially another league to form for the current non aligned VFL teams (plus others) … would be foolish

It would cost bugger all for the AFL to run the VFL comp without flights interstate. They’d go from paying for the comp to charging licence fees

All they’d need to do is set up a VFL website and they can stream the games as they do

And like the SANFL and WAFL, a functioning VFL comp would be a feeder to AFL lists and the AFL Reserves comp

So I think a VFL comp would still attract very good suburban players, I drafted kids and ex AFL listed players

Williamstown, Port Melbourne, Werribee, Box Hill, Coburg, Preston, Frankston, Sandringham, Casey..

The league would only need 1 more teams to have a 20 round home and away season with top 4 playing finals

All this is easily enough achieved

Splitting the VFL into the AFL reserves and new VFA is a good idea in theory, but the reality is that it just isn’t practical.

1 - The talent pool in Victoria particularly is way too thin to support top ups in 10 AFL reserves teams + an elite VFA comp + the 4 Northern states teams too as I know currently that a lot of Sydney and GWS reserves players come from Victoria. It would work for the WA and SA teams as they only have two teams to support and they are both in standalone comps as it is where the SANFL and WAFL teams don’t need West Coast or the Crows to help provide them with revenue, but IMO this couldn’t be possible in Victoria and would have to see at least 3-4 of the VFA teams fold.

2 - This new VFA would only have six probably five teams? Box Hill, Casey/Springvale and Sandringham have been aligned for 20+ years, it would be a real struggle for them to re-establish their identity and go alone, just look at how hard it has been for the Bullants. Even then, the smaller standalone like Preston and Coburg won’t be getting the revenue of AFL supporters coming to their grounds to watch the AFL reserves teams, which is how they make a lot of their money. That would see a pretty quick end to them…and where do they find other teams to come in? Southport would likely just go back to the QAFL as they’re not going to travel down to VIC every week to play the same 3-4 teams. There’s no chance the big suburban clubs would leave their small ponds to come in and play against teams they have no history with, even if it is marketed as a bigger comp. Your only hope would be to establish new clubs, probably in country areas, but North Ballarat and Bendigo both didn’t work out standing alone in the VFL for a reason… Maybe a Canberra, NT team, possibly some of the stronger QLD and NSW teams can come in and create a NEAFL style comp, but then again, is that sustainable and is the talent there?

There is also a lot more you can list but that is the reality.

 

[SurfySainter99]

Why do people play VFL now then? If you’re silly insistence was right then VFL lists would be struggling to fill themselves but they are not.

And your travel point still ignored country footy… ignores teams like Werribee centrals travelling to Winchelsea for games, etc, etc

and ignores VAFA where players earn nothing and travel from Preston to Clayton or Ringwood to Brunswick

Give it up

A lot of the VFL standalones are filled up of mainly of young guys who are still ambitious enough to be drafted or recently delisted players who are trying to have another crack at getting picked up. It isn’t like the old days where clubs are staples of the local community and players play for the one club for 15+ years. The sad reality is that a lot of these players (not all) would only be using Port or Willy, Coburg as a stepping stone to a better place . Anyway, eventually a lot of them leave to play local footy once they realise that AFL is no longer in reach 2-3 years down the track and they can earn more $$, travel less and train less. This means the likes of Ben Jolley and Dom Brew who have long illustrious VFL careers are going to become rare as unicorn poo. For example Port Melbourne only have 8 players on their list who are 25+.

However, if the VFA and AFL Reserves do seperate, that means that most of the standalone player market is likely going to leave those clubs to go to the AFL reserves, leaving the VFA teams with not much…

 

[ItsAllAboutMe]

The only way it works for the standalone clubs is to merge/align with a Coates league team and become one football club, ensure a pipeline of players come through and share costs for resources and facilities.

 

[MortlockWatcher]

... which is exactly what the VSFL proposed more than 30 years ago with the creation of a state league to replace the VFA and the VSFL (AFL reserves).

The AFL clubs vehemently opposed it so we have what we have now.

 

[ant555]

The VFA is not coming back IMO. There has been a number of discussions about AFL reserves in the last 5 years at AFL and club level but it is not likely from what I hear.
If it was to happen then the plan would be an AFL funded VFL comp that aligns with the under 18 pathways as the AFL clubs will not be aligned with them. Would be a similar set up to the SANFL and WAFL.