Sport
4 December, 2023
Sport comment: unhelpful 'agenda' silence
FOOTBALL in country Victoria has become a semi-professional pursuit. Leagues and clubs receive financial support from business sponsors and even Loddon Shire and other councils. Their acceptance of public money brings responsibility to be...
FOOTBALL in country Victoria has become a semi-professional pursuit.
Leagues and clubs receive financial support from business sponsors and even Loddon Shire and other councils.
Their acceptance of public money brings responsibility to be transparent in dealings. That includes their plans about changing competitions.
But Maiden Gully, involved in protracted agitation to find a home away from the Loddon Valley league. is staying “mum” on plans.
And Bendigo league has cited confidentiality for sidestepping any statement that would unveil its plans for the future.
Yet both have taken aim at AFL Central Victoria commissioners for communication and information on the rejected under 18 football side bid by Maiden Gully, or the lack of it.
On the football field of public opinion, those responses may be perceived as nothing short of whinging. Simply taking a swipe because things didn’t go the way they wanted.
The commission is far from perfect and cannot be fully absolved from responsibility for the ongoing debilitation that has beset the structure of football in the region.
But a major league and a disgruntled club hiding their plans - the agenda - lacks commonsense if there is to be conversation to benefit football locally and in the region.
- CHRIS EARL