Weekly Times | COLAC and District Football League club Forrest has gone into recess.
The club’s committee met last week to discuss their options, having met with league representatives in the days before Christmas.
Club president Warren Miller said AFL Victoria’s player points policy — an equalisation measure being introduced statewide this year — was a key reason the club was forced into recess now, rather than pushing on for another season, but it was far from the sole cause.
The club has also not fielded junior sides in the Colac and District league for the past few seasons.
“There are 100 reasons why it was going to happen. It wasn’t just the points system — it was the demographics, the whole circle of it,” Miller said.
“I could name 20 other reasons that have been more overpowering in the last 20 years than the points system.”
The points system policy assigns a value from one to six points to each senior player within community football teams, and sets a limit on the value fielded players can add up to.
Players with elite football experience are worth more points so the system will prevent clubs loading up on top-class talent and rewards clubs who play their former juniors or retain their recruits.
Forrest’s cap was set at 40 points.
“You’ve basically got to have 15 one-point players to survive and we’ve only got 12, and if we have an injury through the year we’ll only have 11,” Miller said.
“We had plenty of new players, good players, we would’ve been a competitive team, but we wouldn’t have fitted the new points system.
“It’s not a fault of the points system — I like the points system — but that’s in place.
“With no locals, no kids, nothing here … it’s just got the point where it’s just come to the end.”
Mr Miller said the netballers at the club were also “devastated” and the situation would have wider impacts on the community.
He also admitted that several factors would make it difficult for the club to recover.
The player points policy does allow for extra points to be allocated to clubs coming out of recess.
The Colac and District fixture will be revised.
