GDFL WINS INDEPENDENCE FOOTY FIGHT

League to remain independent from AFL Barwon

THE Geelong & District Football League has won its battle to keep its independence.

The league will remain selfadministered for the next three seasons, with an option for a further three-year extension, after resisting a push to come under AFL Barwon’s full control.

The developments are reflected in a revised affiliation document verbally agreed upon between the GDFL and AFL Barwon in recent days.

The GDFL will continue to pay to use AFL Barwon servi- ces such as the tribunal, match review process, salary cap auditing and junior administration, but will keep its own board of management, control its own governance and administer its own senior football and netball competitions.

AFL Barwon runs the Geelong and Bellarine football leagues and is one of 13 regional administration centres across the state aimed at streamlining local football management.

GDFL president Neville Whitley had waged a public battle against AFL Victoria in recent months, fearful of how the hubs would impact the daily workings within clubs and country leagues.

He yesterday celebrated the “common sense outcome”, believing it could be a blueprint for other leagues across the state facing similar concerns.

“This is what we set out to do — to let country footy people run country footy and not be dictated to by the hierarchy up in Melbourne,” Whitley said. “What they wanted was for the three leagues to be governed and run by AFL Barwon and the regional administration centre.

“That was the (push for leagues) across the state and we opposed that because our clubs wanted to administer their own footy and manage their own destiny.”

It serves as a further blow to AFL Barwon’s looming restructure, casting further doubt as to whether the threeleague carve-up will go ahead as planned next year.

Underpinning the concerns of GFL and BFL clubs is how a three-league promotion-rel- egation system could possibly work without having the GDFL under AFL Barwon’s direct control.

The GFL’s 12 clubs have also unanimously rejected AFL Barwon’s push to have the league cut back to 10 teams.

Whitley admits he has doubts whether the restructure blueprint will go ahead.

“If the GFL and BFL stay as firm as they have been with what’s been documented, there may not be any changes in the near future,” he said.

Hartman said the fate of the restructure was a decision for the AFL Barwon Commission.

“Obviously, on one hand you’ve got the GFL and BFL saying they want all three levels of competition administered by us, GDFL saying that’s obviously not happening in the short term, so where that leaves the restructure, the commission will obviously have a discussion around that at their next meeting,” AFL Barwon region manager Lee Hartman said. Hartman said AFL Barwon never spoke to the GDFL about taking over its governance, but offered to take on its administration to help run the competition.