The Equalisation Working Party was established following the AFL Victoria Community Leagues Conference in December 2013, whereby thevast majority of leagues, both in metropolitan Melbourne and country Victoria, aired concerns over escalating player payments and competition equalisation.
This was againoverwhelmingly supported in a survey conducted in 2014, with 83 per cent of club responses supporting the introduction of a system or regulation to tackle escalating player payments.
Along with provisions such as a points system and salary cap, the Community Club Sustainability Program will include tools to educate administrators, and particular players, about the impact that match-payments and player demands have on the viability of clubs.
While the system is designed to be adopted state-wide, the testing will ensure regional strategies are refined to cater for the many different elements in the Victorian football landscape.
Under the proposed points system, players will be classified by their playing history and achievements, thus rewarding clubs for promoting player loyalty and investing in junior development where possible.
It will also act to discourage the excessive movement of players between clubs and leagues and therefore target the inflammatory impact this has on player payments.
The second component of the framework relates to the establishment of a salary cap. Whilst this is often a contentious discussion it is important to note that the control of player payments was considered one of the key issues arising from the club survey.
The League’s salary cap will be set by the Executive with consultation and sign off from the AFL Goulburn Murray Commission. Therefore, it is incumbent on the League to be able to set a cap based on factual and accurate figures. A confidential data collection process will be instigated over the coming weeks to allow League executives to make informed decisions.
To better understand the application of the points system each club will be asked to run a ‘trial’ throughout June and July.
AFL Goulburn Murray staff will be available to assist GVFL clubs in running the trial within their club if required.
Results from the trial will be tabulated and reported back to each league by the end of the season. This trial will also assist each league in setting a points cap for their league and to make any local decisions as per the framework.
Due to the intense public interest in this Program and the need to provide accurate information about the draft framework, a number of activities will be rolled out over the next few weeks to put as much information into the public domain as possible.
The draft framework has been distributed to all clubs and club forums will be held on 20 May (Barooga Sports Club) and 27 May (AFL Goulburn Murray) to discuss the framework in full detail. It is important that all clubs attend one of the two forums.
More detailed information will be provided in next week’s edition of The Weekender and the website.
Last Modified on 27/09/2016 18:07