Picola District league prepares to lose AFL affiliation status

By Zac Standish

Dec 6, 2022

Nothing reached: Picola District Football Netball League is preparing to enter next season without affiliation status with AFL Victoria. Photo by Megan Fisher

Picola District Football Netball League is preparing to enter season 2023 unaffiliated with AFL Victoria after an updated agreement could not be reached.

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The two parties had been at loggerheads for a number of weeks regarding a new affiliation agreement with the league unwilling to agree to the terms set out by its governing body.

The league and AFL Victoria had signalled a desire to come to an agreement in recent weeks, but communication between the parties has now broken down to a stage where a resolution is unlikely.

AFL Goulburn Murray said it had received written confirmation from the league it would not be signing the agreement.

“The PDFNL have no intention of signing the ‘non-negotiable’ affiliation agreement, under the terms provided, that AFLGM have previously supplied for season 2023,” the statement read.

This means that as of December 31, which is when the current affiliation agreement expires, any benefits that come with being affiliated with the AFL will cease for the league and its member clubs.

League operations manager Shane Railton explained the reasons behind the breakdown in communication.

“What happened last week was our president Col Senior had a courtesy phone call with the chairman of AFL Goulburn Murray being Quentin Thompson and following that conversation Col indicated that the terms (of the agreement) weren’t suitable,” Railton said.

“(AFL Goulburn Murray) sought that we provide our intent in writing, so that letter was in regards to that conversation, it wasn’t that we came out and said we don’t want to be affiliated.

“We’re pretty disappointed that the correspondence we sent to AFL Goulburn Murray was released, it was sent in goodwill and we think as a result there has been a breakdown of that goodwill.”

Railton said as a result of this development it was now unlikely an agreement would be reached before December 31.

“The conversation between Col and AFL Goulburn Murray was seen as an opportunity to commence some sort of realistic negotiation and it was felt it had opened up a door on a potential resolution,” he said.

“But on the back of that information being released it would appear an agreement would not be reached.

“As such we are doing planning on that basis (of not being affiliated) and the majority of clubs agreed to not sign the agreement in its current form.”

The league also held its annual general meeting last week with the outcome to be published later this week.