Claims the mercy rule may be introduced to the Mininera and District Football League have been rubbished by AFL Victoria Country Western District general manager Rod Ward.
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Ward said a report by ABC that AFL Western Victoria hadn't ruled out bringing it in after Ararat went down by 509 points in its match against Great Western on the weekend was false.
"There's been no suggestion the mercy rule will be brought into senior footy," Ward said. "Also, these things are a matter for league boards, not AFL Western Victoria.
"Any rule like that would have to be approved and adopted by the board."
Ward said the final result was disappointing, with Great Western belting the Eagles 79.41 (515) to 1.0 (6).
"We would encourage clubs to show some mercy and that may involve positional rotation of payers or loaning the opposition players if they are short.
"No one likes to see a score like that.
"It's not good for the game."
The mercy rule is used in some junior leagues and usually involves not showing the score to players once a team hits the lead by a certain number of points.
"There's various incarnations of the mercy rule - in other parts of the state they stop playing completely, but we would recommend a more common sense approach rather than a mercy rule."
Ward said it was disappointing the Eagles struggled to field a full side on the weekend.
Former Mininera and District League player Jason Mifsud had a different reaction to the final score.
"The first thing I thought was that's a massive score and the second thing I thought was I've lost my record," he said.
Mifsud holds the league record for the most goals in a match, kicking 28 for Caramut against Dunkeld.
He was relieved to discover his record still stands and doesn't believe teams should take their foot off the pedal in matches. "I don't subscribe to the theory that we should be finding ways to equalise the game," Mifsud said.
He said he believed all clubs went through challenging periods.
"It's resilience, determination and perseverance that shines in the end," Mifsud said.
He said clubs needed to work hard on junior development to strengthen their teams.
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