AFL Victoria have released a draft Community Club Sustainability Program, designed to address competitive balance and player remuneration in community football. The draft plan will be the subject of club forum to be staged in the coming weeks discussion the framework and allowing club feedback.
Background
An Equalisation Working Party was established following the AFL Victoria Community Leagues Conference in December 2013, whereby the vast majority of leagues, both in metropolitan Melbourne and country Victoria, aired concerns over the escalating cost of player payments and their desire to tackle the issue.
This was again overwhelmingly supported in a survey conducted in 2014, with 83 per cent of club responses supporting the introduction of a system or regulation to halt the rise in 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.
A key component of this testing will be focused on confirming the appropriate number of points allocated to each team and a suitable salary cap figure within individual competitions.
Click HERE to see a replay of the AFL Victoria Media Release and click on the document below for an outline of the program
Last Modified on 18/05/2015 16:40