The Courier |THE Ballarat Football League will address a decline in player numbers that has impacted club’s reserves grade.
A number of clubs within the league are playing without enough players every week, with one club even forced to forfeit a reserves game two weeks ago.
Last year’s senior grand finalists North Ballarat City and Ballarat are feeling the pinch the hardest towards the back end of the season, often forced to borrow players from opposition clubs just to be able to field a side.
BFL operations manager Aaron Nunn admitted it was a concern to see traditionally strong clubs struggling to fill sides each week.
He said the league would address the issue in the near future, aware of the problems clubs were facing.
“There were a lot of clearances outside of the league this year and clubs are feeling it,” he said.
“It’s an issue we’ve got to work on over the summer. It’s gradually got worse as the season goes on, which is what you will find in nearly any league.”
Nunn said there would a number of options explored at board level to counteract the shortage, citing the possibility of playing 16-a-side games in the reserves next year.
“That’s one option, it’s a very drastic option, but we will go through a range of options.”
Reigning senior premier North Ballarat City is arguably being hit the hardest, forced to forfeit its last match against Sunbury.
North City borrowed players from Sunbury for the match but was struck down with injuries during the game, meaning umpires called the game off in the last quarter because North didn’t have the required 14 players.
North City football manager Stephen Darbin labelled it the “single biggest issue facing AFL Goldfields” at the moment.
While admitting his club was not as proactive as it could have been on the recruiting front this year, Darbin said leagues such as the Central Highlands continued to poach many players that spent most of their time in BFL reserves.
North City is bound for the finals this year and Darbin said he felt his side would be able to generate enough numbers to remain eligible.
“The CHFL is grabbing a lot of these fringe players, normally the young ones, and throwing all sorts of money at them,” he said.
Ballarat Swans have also played short a number of times throughout the season, with president Darren Fraser labelling it the most difficult year his club has faced in terms of numbers.
However, he guaranteed his club would never forfeit a match, regardless of the situation.
“It just seems the norm this year that clubs are struggling to field sides for reserves footy,” he said.
“I think the points system and salary cap will help but that hasn’t made it any easier this year. Everyone recognises there is a shortage.”
For the Ballarat clubs that are struggling, however, there are some that continue to flourish.
Redan has won the last three premierships and has little issue with player numbers.
Lake Wendouree president Dave Clifton said his side had been fairly comfortable all year, as did his counterpart in Chris Parker at Sebastopol.
At East Point, president Maurice O’Keefe said his club had battled early in the season when there were injuries, but did not feel the situation was much worse than any of the previous five years.
