End of footy record?
Clubs to have say on guide
THE future of the GFL and BFL Records is up in the air, as AFL Barwon awaits club feedback on the importance and relevance of the weekly publications.
The Western Region Football League has announced it will be scrapping its booklet in 2017, as footy fans continue to turn to the internet for player details, results and ladders.
And the GFL and BFL match-day guides could be heading in a similar direction, after numbers were slashed by 50 per cent in 2016.
AFL Barwon region manager Lee Hartman said club feedback would be the best guide as to whether the Record would run this season.
“There is no concrete decision for this year, it’s definitely something we’ve been discussing for a while now,” Hartman said.
“It’s a discussion we need to have with clubs.
“We’ve asked clubs to canvass their members.”
Hartman said the Record continued to attract sponsors, however the league was not making a profit on them.
“It’s definitely not a profitmaking exercise. What it costs to print is what we sell to the club for and what they sell it for,” he said.
“We employ someone to collate the information that goes into the Record.
“It’s not a cost-effective service. Some clubs are struggling to sell them. Clubs that don’t have a gate struggle to sell them. But some clubs do order above normal if they’ve got blockbuster or marquee games. There are traditional- ists who do like the record.
“No doubt, in the future, records will be a thing of the past.”
LET US KNOW: Should AFL Barwon keep its match-day footy records? sport@geelongadvertiser.com.au