Weekly Times | THE Picola and District Football League will affiliate with AFL Goulburn Murray this year.
The standoff between the two parties has been brought to an end, with the league releasing a statement from president Denis Brooks this morning confirming the decision.
The agreement means the Picola and District league will adopt parts of the Community Club Sustainability Policy — which includes player points and payment rules — this season.
“The PDNFL board met last night ... to further discuss the proposed 2017 affiliation agreement provided by AFL GM,” Brooks said in the statement.
“In forming its decision, the PDFNL board considered feedback provided by all 17 PDFNL clubs, the time frame of the impending start of the 2017 season and the potential impacts on the 2017 season.
“As such the PDFNL have agreed to affiliate with AFL GM for the 2017 season and looks forward to collaboratively negotiating with AFL GM, on concerns raised by the PDFNL clubs, for affiliation beyond 2017.”
AFL Goulburn Murray region general manager Martin Gleeson said the board’s decision was a great outcome for local footy.
“I’m pleased that we can now put it behind us and focus on the on field stuff,” Gleeson said.
He said the Picola league clubs would receive 48 points to use in their senior teams under the player points model, but clubs could apply for more if required.
“We can’t un-recruit players, so any player that’s been recruited up to this point will need to be accommodated on a playing list,” Gleeson said.
A representative from the Picola league would also be invited to sit on the panel that assesses applications for extra points from the clubs in the AFL Goulburn Murray region, Gleeson said.
This will be the first year AFL Victoria’s player payment framework will be implemented across Victoria’s community leagues.
There would be no club salary cap figure set for Picola league but the clubs would be “bound to the same rules and processes as any other club”, Gleeson said.
The data collected would be used to establish a salary cap figure for next year, he said.
Gleeson said affiliation also required the league to agree to the formation of a working party to “look at the league’s administration and also the cost and benefits of the (AFL Goulburn Murray) administration centre”.
That proposed panel, he said, would include some Picola league board members and AFL Goulburn Murray commissioners but be chaired by an independent facilitator.
AFL Victoria has announced all country leagues’ administration services should be integrated into their local regional administration centres by 2019.
The Picola and District league also announced a partnership between itself and Bendigo Bank for the next two seasons.