National footy begins next year
VFL football will be played up to four days a week next season,with teams from Perth and Brisbane joining the League.
Ross Glendinning,captain of the new Western Australian team,the Eagles struggles with Rod Carter of the Sydney Swans in the 1987 season.Andrew Rankin
League directors last night approved the new 14-team competition which will inject about $670,000 into each of the existing 12 clubs,giving many of them renewed hopes for survival.
But the directors opposed a private ownership plan for Fitzroy,the VFL’s most financially troubled club.
The decisions were the most important since the competition was expanded to include Hawthorn,North Melbourne and Footscray in 1925,and represent a big victory for the League’s commissioners.
Fitzroy officials will discuss the decision tonight and are expected to meet the VFL commission soon to discuss the club’s options.
But the inclusion of Western Australia and Queensland in the League has given the Lions – who have debts of $2.6 million – some prospect of surviving in Melbourne. The two new teams will pay a total licence fee of at least $8 million,which will be spread among the 12 existing clubs.
The national competition will also mean more revenue for the clubs from television rights and more scope for national sponsorship.
The Brisbane Bears take on the Sydney Swans in their first year in the competition,1987.Charles Cugley
The commissioners are expected to meet with the Perth syndicate this week to insist that the licence fee be paid up front.
The licence for Brisbane has been thrown open again because the three consortiums wanting to own the club have increased their offers and are now offering well over $4 million. There is no question that this sum will be paid immediately.
The League commissioners had originally recommended that the syndicate of sports promoter Mr John Brown be offered the Brisbane license.
Fitzroy’s president,Mr Leon Wiegard,last night was confident his club could survive in Melbourne despite the rejection of a bid by Hecron Pty Ltd to buy the club. “I can assure all Fitzroy supporters we will be in Melbourne for a long time to come as far as I am concerned,” he said.
The expanded competition will see games on Friday nights,Saturday and Sunday afternoons and Monday nights. Despite the increase in the number of teams,there will still be 22 home-and-away rounds.
The VFL’s executive director,Mr Alan Schwab,said it was impossible to play 26 rounds and thus have each team meeting the other twice because of the unavailability of grounds and the fact that the season would become too drawn out. He said Brisbane,Sydney and WA would each play 11 home matches.
The League’s chief commissioner,Mr Jack Hamilton,who retires on 10 October,described the result of the meeting as “tremendous”.
Although the commissioners were supported by club directors on the inclusion of WA and Queensland and the rejection of the Hecron bid for Fitzroy,it is believed the vote on WA’s inclusion was 8-4 – the bare minimum required under VFL rules.