Player payments at community football level in Victoria will be the focus of a significant review and AFL Victoria Deputy General Manager Steven Reaper is “very confident” his team will find a solution to one of the big issues facing football in Victoria.
Reaper is part of a 10-person working party that is casting the spotlight on escalating player payments across country and metropolitan leagues. The party also consists of AFL Victoria Country General Manager Brett Connell, AFL Victoria Metropolitan General Manager Michael Daniher, North-East Border Region General Manager John O’Donohue, Barwon Region General Manager Lee Hartman, Central Victoria Region General Manager Paul Hamilton, Eastern Football League Chief Executive Phil Murton, Essendon District Football League General Manager Marc Turri and AFL Victoria Community Football Board members Nicholas Rolfe and Tony Mitchell.
“For the first time in December, all leagues were on the same page in regards to trying to minimise player payments. Nothing is going to work unless all leagues are buying into whatever we come up with,” Reaper said.
Reaper said payment increases were impacting on leagues in all parts of the state and local leagues have seen the issue serious enough to warrant a review. However, he did stress that must be a realisation that the better players will always attract higher payments. “We are certainly of the view the best players getting paid to play country footy should more often than not get those amounts for playing higher standards of football,” he said.
Reaper said he did not share the same thoughts as AFLGoldfields Region General Manager Rod Ward, who told The Courier he had a “strong degree of confidence” a player points system – used in a range of leagues across the state – would be implemented Victoria-wide by 2015.
“Not at this stage, not until that working party has done the work,” he said.
Reaper said the working party was yet to ascertain whether a player points system would have any impact on stemming rising player payments, but this would be a topic for the group to work through.
Last Modified on 15/02/2014 12:48