Sport
11 April, 2024
The big shake up: Commission achieved a little bit says AFL
FOOTBALL in central Victoria has been given a massive shakeup on the eve of the new season with the sudden abolition of the AFL Central Victoria Commission. The commission, which oversees four major regional leagues, will be replaced by an...
FOOTBALL in central Victoria has been given a massive shakeup on the eve of the new season with the sudden abolition of the AFL Central Victoria Commission.
The commission, which oversees four major regional leagues, will be replaced by an independent council, which loses its fiduciary powers to AFL Victoria.
Expressions of interest for membership of the council will be issued, with the aim of finding “independent people with the right skills to make good football decisions,” according to AFL Victoria community football manager John O’Donohue.
“The Central Victoria Commission achieved a little bit,” he told the Loddon Herald, “but we are now looking for a more collaborative and bottom-up approach.”
O’Donohue said the commission system, implemented in 2012 after the Peter Jackson review of country football, had given local people power over decision making, which would continue under the new structure powers.
Employment of staff and operation of the central administrative hub would also remain under local control.
In a memo sent to leagues and clubs, O’Donohue said: “A council will adopt a bottom-up philosophy, with clubs and leagues having influence on regional strategies implemented by the council who will set Community Club Sustainability Program Caps, resolve transfer disputes and other matters under AFL Victoria Country Rules.”
The commission’s numbers had withered over time, with 13 original independent members dwindling to just four after the resignation of Leon Holt, a former North Central League president and Wedderburn player and official, in February.
In an exclusive interview with the Loddon Herald after he walked away from the commission, Holt foreshadowed the changes announced this week.
“I think the AFL will be looking at a different model – country councils – to take on the burden of finances and rules,” Holt said.
He said the role of the commissioners had been reduced to dispute resolution.
Despite the disbanding of the commission coming a week before the start of the football season in central Victoria, O’Donohue was confident there would be no impact on the season itself.
There was criticism last year of a lack of communication between the Central Victoria commission and its constituent leagues.
The commission proposed establishing a new football and netball league alongside the existing Loddon Valley, North Central, Heathcote and Bendigo leagues. An alternative proposal was to create a second division of the Bendigo league with a promotion and relegation system.
Aborted attempts by Loddon Valley league club Maiden Gully to enter a junior club in the Bendigo league also drew criticism of the commission after it rejected appeals.
Neither plan came to pass, with the leagues concerned they had not been consulted on the proposed change, although clubs had been party to discussions.
Last year AFL Victoria introduced councils to replace commissions in the Gippsland, Wimmera-Mallee, Western District and Goldfields regions, but O’Donohue insisted the abolition of the Central Victoria commission was not simply to fall in line with these changes.
“The trigger for the decision in every case is different. In Central Victoria, it’s a change in philosophy,” O’Donohue said on Monday.
Nicholas Rolfe, who has chaired the commission, was contacted for comment but did not respond before deadline.