THE HARTMAN YEARS

Key events under Lee Hartman’s tenure as the head of local footy in Geelong between 2008-18

Hartman announced as Football Geelong chief executive in December 2007 as the replacement for Steve O’Dowd. Hartman previously served as operations manager in the newly formed Northern Football League, a league he played a major role in setting up.

The football season starts as scheduled in 2008 after $300,000 was spent by council converting nine sports grounds after the 2006-07 drought. A further nine grounds upgraded that year. Now, almost all grounds have drought-tolerant grass.

The ongoing restructure push. The Addy’s archives show discussions as far as back as 2010 about potential promotionrelegation ideas. Since 2014, AFL Barwon’s restructure blueprint involving all three leagues was officially on the agenda, but has faced constant delays, tweaks, logistic hurdles and emotional club resistance. As it stands, nothing will happen until at least 2020.

Bellarine netball sides leave the Bellarine District Netball Association to join a new BFL netball league in late 2010.

After under-achieving at interleague, the GFL claims the No.1 ranking in 2013 and holds it until being beaten this year.

Football Geelong becomes AFL Barwon in 2013, as part of AFL Victoria’s rollout of regional administration centres.

Previously independent leagues including Eastern Colts Little League, Newtown Little League and Moorabool Valley Little League come under AFL Barwon’s governance.

G21 Sport & Facilities Strategy. About $32 million sourced for local football and netball infrastructure, another $15 million earmarked for future projects

Salary caps and points systems introduced across the three leagues in 2016.

Forrest Football Club goes into recess heading into the 2016 CDFL senior season. The birth of a new junior club, the Surf Coast Suns, in 2016. Torquay found guilty of a minor breach of the salary cap on its way to the 2017 BFL premiership. Slapped with $20,000 in fines and a raft of sanctions, mainly for not always co-operating during the investigation.

Growth of women’s football, with record participation numbers this season across all levels, and the establishment of a senior women’s league for the first time.