THE Victorian Country Football League is receptive to a possible merger of the Lexton Plains and Maryborough Castlemaine District football leagues.

The prospect of a merger - which could create a 19-team Goldfields ‘‘superleague'' - has been raised recently.

The creation of such a league would decrease the amount of onerous travel for some clubs.

It would also help to ease the burden on existing clubs that have felt the attrition rate prevalent in local leagues in the past decade.

When the Lexton and Western Plains leagues merged 10 years ago, they had 12 clubs. The Lexton Plains league now has eight clubs.

VCFL chief executive Glenn Scott, whose organisation is undertaking a review of footy in the region, did not shut the door on the idea.

‘‘Everyone up there should be commended for having a look at that concept,'' he said.

‘‘When any league gets down to perhaps seven or eight clubs and they are geographically stretched, such as Lexton Plains, for them to solve what they think is a problem by looking to expand their league isn't an easy decision to make.

‘‘I think one of the things that should always be looked at is that if a couple of leagues, when they are in the same geographical area, can come together.''

Scott said he was optimistic something positive would come from the review, but said a league merger could only eventuate if it had the support of the member clubs.

‘‘Our commitment is to work through a review process and meet with all of their clubs individually to ensure they get a chance to share their thoughts,'' he said.

‘‘Because it's really not just about this year, it's about the years to come.

‘‘It's one of those things where if there is enough groundswell of support and the reviews go that way, I'm sure our review panel will be recommending to the VCFL board that it (the merger) is the way to go.''

Scott denied a league with only eight teams, such as the Lexton Plains league, was too small to survive.

At the other end of the scale, he said a 19-team league was not necessarily untenable, but any potential league might look at the example of the Picola and District League - which last year split into two divisions - as a model for its competition.

Article by Matt Windley

Article first appeared The Herald Sun, 28th March, 2010

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