Footy

By Paul Pickering
AFL Victoria officials have vowed to target Greater Dandenong’s multicultural communities in a bid to revive the one-time football stronghold.
The sport’s governing body will commit extra resources to Greater Dandenong as part of its takeover of the Dandenong and District Junior Football League (DDJFL).
The details of the plan were revealed in the DDJFL Future Direction Review released this month.
The review, compiled by independent consultant David Code for AFL Victoria, said football in Greater Dandenong was ‘at serious risk’, with participation rates dropping to the lowest mark of any Melbourne metropolitan area.
It’s a far cry from the city’s football heyday of the 1970s and ‘80s, when the influx of young families in Dandenong made the DDJFL a regional powerhouse.
Today, only four junior clubs have survived in Greater Dandenong, and those clubs fielded just 15 of the league’s 176 teams in 2008.
Code’s report acknowledges this demographic shift in recommending that the DDJFL should align itself more with the Casey and Cardinia municipalities.
But as AFL Victoria community development manager Peter McDougall noted this week, that doesn’t mean officials will turn their back on Greater Dandenong.
“If anything, it’s an opportunity for us to say, ‘hang on, we need to sharpen our pencils in that area and provide support for the clubs in Dandenong to try and increase their player numbers and team numbers,” McDougall said.
AFL Victoria development and planning manager Mick Daniher agreed that Dandenong would now get the attention it needed.
Daniher said the multicultural strategy was nothing new, but it would now be a case of all hands on deck.
“It’s important to provide opportunities for diverse multicultural groups in the city of Dandenong to play the game as well,” he said.
“And we need to connect with people from all different levels, particularly club volunteers who are working so hard in Dandenong.”
AFL Victoria’s revival blueprint will be detailed as part of the DDJFL strategic plan to be completed by 30 June.