NEW BEGINNINGS FOR DOWNS AFL
Gipps elected president
AUSSIE RULES: Pat Gipps has seen the highs and the lows of Australian rules football on the Darling Downs throughout his 35-year involvement.
After previously serving as a player, coach and umpire, he takes on a new role as president of AFL Darling Downs.
He said there were areas he identified which the league could improve in management, and said he was anticipating the challenges associated with the role.
“I thought it could be run a bit better,” Gipps said.
“I’ve seen how it’s been going over those years; back in the 80s it was brilliant football.
“In the last 10 or so years it’s started slowly going back, but in the last two years it’s really gone.
“We’ve got a new board except for our secretary, and I think we can go forward with that because we’re all going to work together and with the clubs.
“AFL Darling Downs are on board again and AFLQ in Brisbane are as well which you’ve got to have. They’ve got the resources and can help us out.
“I like a challenge, it’s just the way I am.
“If I can better it, good. If I can’t, so be it. With the group we’ve got and if everybody works together, I really do think this league will start lifting up again and get better moving forward.”
Something that Gipps is keen on seeing a comeback is representative football on the Downs, as well as greater relations between the seniors and juniors.
“I want to bring back rep football because I cannot see why it left,” he said.
“Whether it be City vs Country or we have a representative team itself and we play maybe a third division team from Brisbane it would be good.
“I want to have all the seniors and juniors playing at home at the one place, it just costs too much for parents and the clubs, so I want to bring it all together like it used to be.
“You keep them all at the one ground. People were going off the rails about it this season.”
Despite a number of onesided scorelines, the men’s competition in 2019 is set to remain as one division, with a decision on the structure of the fixture set to be made next month.
“You can have a weighted draw where the top five teams play the bottom five only once, that’s one way of doing it and you probably wouldn’t get those blowouts all the time,” he said.