A points system is the way to combat rising player payments, local football clubs say.
Northern Football League clubs Bundoora and Whittlesea said they would prefer a points system over a salary cap, one of the strategies proposed by AFL Victoria in October.
The “framework” suggested by an AFL Victoria working party included three major elements – a state-wide salary cap, equalisation provisions and an enforcement policy.
Such a salary cap would need to be “supported by other measures, such as a player points system or an alternative equalisation provision”, AFL Victoria general manager Steven Reaper said.
But many clubs agree a salary cap would be hard to police.
“A salary cap sounds good but it will never work because you’ll never be able to take away the paper bag aspect,” Bundoora football manager Darryl Richards said.
“The points system is the only fair and reasonable way that it can work, that’s the avenue that I push for.”
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Richards said Bundoora was fortunate in that it has the support to raise funds to attract players, but agreed something had to be done to combat rising playing payments across the league.
“Demands of players for money is putting the whole competition in jeopardy,” he said. “It certainly doesn’t get any easier.
“I’m not sure it will work to the extent [AFL Victoria] wants it to but at least it will limit the payments to some players.”
Whittlesea president Rob Barker said his club struggled to attract the bigger names.
“A points system might work a little bit better,” he said. “Some clubs are able to pay two or three times more than what we are able to, and it comes down to sponsorship.
“If you want to compete you have to come up with the money and it gets harder and harder each year.”
NFL CEO Peter McDougall said many clubs in the league faced financial difficulties.
“All the clubs deal with it the best they can, by living within their means,” he said.
“But it does place additional strain on volunteers who are continually trying to raise funds, not just to pay players but to run their clubs.”
McDougall stressed that AFL Victoria had no fixed model in mind for next season, and admitted all parties involved would struggle to reach a consensus.
“I don’t think there is a perfect model,” he said.
“There won’t be a system that is foolproof, but if you have a level of goodwill and cooperation amongst clubs then it’s certainly worth exploring.
“We might need to look at … if a club was found guilty of breaching the rules there would be significant penalties to deter clubs.”
Southern Football League clubs also expressed concerns about the proposed salary cap system.
