Junior footballers like Cranbourne premiership player Shannon Marsh will play in a revamped Dandenong and District Junior Football League after AFL Victoria officials assumed control of the competition this week.By Marc McGowan and Paul Pickering
DANDENONG and District Junior Football League 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.
AFL Victoria officials will advertise the position this weekend.
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.
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.
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 the three Cardinia-based clubs made up another 20 per cent of the sides.
Both municipalities are expected to experience exponential growth in the coming years and Code said the development of new clubs was a must.
But AFL Victoria manager of community football development Peter McDougall said the dwindling playing numbers in Dandenong – represented in there being just 15 teams across four clubs in the area – are a major concern.
“The shift has moved over the years from being a very strong football region to now being our most challenging region,” he said.
“We have to put the work in to achieve the results and we’re prepared to do that, as the report suggests.
“That’s the benefit of this review. It’s now got AFL Victoria’s support to improve and plan for the future.
“It’s always had our support, but to this level it now has a commitment for us to structure football to manage the game for the next 50 years or more.”
Dandenong Stingrays regional manager Darren Flanigan sympathised with 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 evident in the response from DDJFL club officials this week.
Cranbourne Junior Football Club president Alan Courtney supported the recommendations, but did have some reservations.
“At the end of the day, change is required to make the competition more contemporary,” he said.
“The only thing I worry about is that it can be very easy for the AFL to say the growth corridor is in Casey-Cardinia.
“In 15 years’ time it will be even further out and (the likes of) Cranbourne and Narre Warren could end up being in the position of the Greater Dandenong clubs at the moment.
“The AFL says they will put steps in place to improve football in the Greater Dandenong area, but they need to articulate those steps.”
Courtney also has some concerns about how junior clubs would operate if official links were established with senior MPNFL clubs.
One of the major issues for the presidents of Endeavour Hills and Berwick junior football clubs, Mario Aiezza and Andrew Young, was the lack of quality of the DDJFL website.
