AFL takes the reins

By Marc McGowan and Paul Pickering
DANDENONG and District Junior Football Club presidents agreed to hand their competition over to AFL Victoria on Tuesday night.
Independent consultant David Code started a rigorous review of the management of the DDJFL in November and released a damning 33-page report to member clubs last week.
Code found that DDJFL management had ‘no strategic plan’ and ‘no objectives to guide the direction of the DDJFL’.
The bombshell follows AFL Victoria officials’ decision to fine DDJFL management last year for not reaching the minimum standard in the governing body’s quality management program.
Code made several recommendations, including advocating the appointment of a project manager from AFL Victoria.
The majority of the 19 DDJFL club presidents voted in favour of the recommendations.
The league name could now include reference to Dandenong, Casey and Cardinia, while consideration will be given to Dandenong club amalgamations.
Code also suggested the DDJFL becomes the junior partner of the Casey-Cardinia league and for Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League officials to manage the competition.
Besieged DDJFL general manager Anne-Marie Brown refused to comment on the result of Tuesday night’s meeting.
AFL Victoria development and planning manager Mick Daniher said the report was ‘very direct and forthright’ in documenting the issues that needed to be addressed.
“The report is all about providing support to the DDJFL and its clubs in the areas of governance and management,” he said.
“There are areas in Greater Dandenong with very diverse multicultural groups where participation has been declining that needs support.
“Then, on the other side, you have the growth areas of Casey and Cardinia where equally some clubs are having so much growth they are forced to put caps on teams.
“We need to do a better job overall of the way we plan the development of the game throughout these municipalities.”
The 12 Casey DDJFL clubs comprised 71 per cent of the competition’s teams last year, while three Cardinia-based clubs made up another 20 per cent of the sides.
The decline in participation within Greater Dandenong was evident in the fact that the city’s four remaining clubs fielded just 15 teams.
Dandenong Stingrays region manager Darren Flanigan sympathised with the DDJFL officials, but said the takeover was a sign of the times.
“It’s a tough one, because those people have done an enormous amount of work and held the league together for a long time,” he said.
“But maybe it is time that we need full-time professionals running the league, because it is a big business these days.”
The need for change was clear in the response from club officials this week.
Parkmore Junior Football Club president Steve Barnett voted in support of Code’s recommendations, saying it was inevitable that the league would evolve towards the growth corridor.
Barnett has seen his club reduced from 30 teams in the 1970s to just one in 2008, but he is hopeful that the club can rebuild via its healthy Auskick program.
Meanwhile, North Dandenong Junior Football Club president Bob Sibly went into Tuesday night’s meeting with some concerns, but left confident that the league was in good hands.
“I was concerned that they might just push us (the Dandenong clubs) aside,” he said on Wednesday morning.
“But from what they (AFL Victoria officials) said, it sounds like (the overhaul) is going to benefit everybody; the clubs and the league.”
Both presidents agreed that the league’s name should still include reference to Dandenong, but neither saw any problem with the relocation of DDJFL headquarters. Sibly, who spends around 25 hours per week at the club during the season, said he was optimistic about the sport’s future in Dandenong.
“I think this will help everyone in the long run,” he said.
“Our objective is just to get more kids out there playing football, and if we can get some help from (AFL Victoria) to make it asier for us, that’s great.”
Noble Park president Mark Durdin and Dandenong Saints president Sean Cornell declined to comment this week.