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TheBrownDog
- Dec 23, 2002
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Just to clarify, they do not pay a royalty to the WAFL. They pay it to the WAFC who are responsible for the game in WA. That money then funds grassroots and junior footy in WA.
Yeah, I should have said WAFC.
I am not having a go really at the structure and as I said I am well aware that the WA teams need to collect additional revenue so they can meet their obligations and requirements and I do agree that clubs need to keep reserves for leaner periods.
Unlike Victoria and most other states, the AFL do not fund the lower tiers.
That is because that is what the WAFC demanded as part of the condition of purchasing the licences and fielding teams in WA, they didn't want the AFL involved at any level... from grassroots up. The AFL had offered to both WA and SA to buy out the licences so they would be handed to the clubs and the AFL would take over responsibility for grass root development like they do everywhere else, but they both declined.
The financial stability and power of the WA clubs is necessary to run footy in this state, it's not to fill a room full of money for Trevor Nisbett to swim in.
Outside of the money that West Coast and Fremantle pay to the WAFC, how does the rest of the money help anyone? How is it being used? $43m of member money is sitting in an investment portfolio and another $15m is sitting in cash reserves. When have the eagles looked like they would have any issues meeting their requirements, when have the Eagles ever needed to dip into their reserve to fund footy in WA?
They have the capacity to spend significantly more on the football department and bear the equalisation tax to gain an on-field benefit and the club doesn't even use that wealth for an on-field advantage. If the club needed that extra money or used it for a benefit then that is great. However, I think overcharging members of a NPF just to sit on a massive pile of money without having the members vote on it and say that is something they wish to do is not in the spirit of NPFs imo. If it was a for profit entity then what they are doing is relatively normal.
I don't want to have a go at him specifically, because he has been great not just for West Coast but football in general and I don't want to have a go at him particularly, he has been a staunch supporter in forcing the AFL to get their s**t together and fix problems in Victoria that the AFL created and have dragged their collective arses on the ground for decades.
I just think he should cut the supporters some slack if they don't actively need the extra money. Perhaps not be a dick and force people on a waiting list to pay for that privilege, at the end of the day, his commitment to WAFC is limited to ensuring that the club has the capacity to meet it's financial requirement, he has far greater responsibilities and a legal duty to represent the members and supporters of the club and to operate it as an NPF, not a for-profit entity.