THE Warrnambool and District Football League (WDFNL) is turning its back on thousands of dollars by refusing to consider being part of a central administration hub, according to the sport’s governing body.
Victorian Country Football League (VCFL) chief executive officer Steven Reaper yesterday hit back at WDFNL president Justin Balmer over comments country competitions had been stripped of crucial funding.
Balmer yesterday said the VCFL had decided to no longer pay it about $3600 a year and competitions around the state as much as $100,000 after scrapping a player registration rebate.
He was criticial the VCFL had made the change and communicated it on the eve of Christmas, suggesting it was trying to “sneak it through” and push for more leagues to be centrally administered. But Reaper said the VCFL had made it clear more than six months ago it intended ending a player registration rebate paid to leagues in favour of setting up central administration hubs.
Historically, the rebate had been paid to leagues as compensation for them inputting players’ details in a central database. But about three years ago, clubs and players were given access to the system, meaning leagues were being paid for a job they weren’t doing, Reaper said.
He said the VCFL paid about $160,000 a year to leagues under the rebate system, but it was prepared to provide more than three times that amount — $500,000 — to help fund central administration hubs.
Reaper said the WDFNL and Balmer’s unwillingness to consider being part of a central administration hub was costing its clubs significantly more than the $3600 the WDFNL received under the rebate system.
The VCFL is proposing the WDFNL, Hampden and Mininera district leagues be administered from a central hub, with the VCFL prepared to fork out $25,000 a year towards the cost.
He said he had personally offered to meet WDFNL officials in Warrnambool to discuss their concerns and outline the benefits of being part of a central administration hub.
But he was “disappointed” Balmer and the league had not responded to the “open invitation”, choosing instead to air their views through The Standard.
“Justin’s been negative to hubs forever and a day,” Reaper said. “He would claim we haven’t been down there to sell the hubs. It’s just that Justin hasn’t listened.
“I’m disappointed. The door was open for us to again come down and talk to him, the WDFNL and the Hampden league about a hub. There are more positives for it than not.
“From the WDFNL’s point of view, we are talking about $3600. They have thousands in the bank and are not reliant of this amount to run the organisation.
“The reality is if they (the leagues) were all in bed together, then they would get more funding.”
Reaper stressed the WDFNL would not lose its independence if it was centrally administered. He said the WDFNL would retain control of its competition but instead of leagues all paying to rent individual offices, meeting utility bills and funding computers, the costs could be shared under a hub.
He said having a full-time paid administrator running a hub would ensure that someone would be available for leagues that relied on volunteers or part-time operators when needed.
“We are not saying a league has to drop all its governance, we are saying they have to work together through administration,” he said.
“We are not telling them (the WDFNL) they have to be governed by the HFNL. If the WDFNL had been wanting to get a hub up and running, there is no reason why they couldn’t be the leader.”
He said administrative structures would be reviewed, indicating the push to establish hubs would continue.
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