AFL Victoria has identified the return of a salary cap as the preferred option to controlling escalating player payments in country football.
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The working party examining rising costs of player payments at community level yesterday gave its update to suburban and country league representatives.
The Ovens and Murray league is widely considered one of the highest-spending competitions with an estimated $2.5 million spent annually on players at its 10 clubs.
Major changes are still 12 months away, but the “suggested framework” includes three major elements — a statewide salary cap with specific limits for individual leagues; equalisation provisions to support implementation of a salary cap and an appropriate enforcement policy.
No detail was given on how the salary cap could be enforced.
The inability to police it killed it off in country leagues more than a decade ago.
League bosses and regional managers will be asked to consider how the suggested framework would work in their areas.
Feedback will shape guidelines to be announced before Christmas and tested in a selection of competitions without enforcement next year.
O and M general manager Aaron McGlynn attended the conference yesterday and confirmed his league would be happy to be one of the trial competitions.
“We’ve indicated that previously,” he said.
“It is a matter of working out the finer detail, but I would be confident it will be right to go in 2016 in some form.”
The O and M action group of former coaches, players and administrators wanting a more even competition was disappointed with the lack of detail released yesterday.
“If salary caps are coming back we would like to know who is going to do the policing and what resources they will have,” it said.
“It can’t be some Mickey Mouse set up.”
AFL Victoria general manager Steven Reaper said the working party was determined to bridge the gap between the “haves and have nots”.
“While we understand the concern across all levels of football regarding these issues and the demand for a quick solution, we are committed to developing a considered set of guidelines,” he said.
“Any salary cap mechanism needs to be tailored for specific regions to incorporate challenges faced by individual leagues.
“It also understands a salary cap needs to be supported by other measures, such as a player points system, to have the desired impact.
“It must be enforceable.”