Yarrawonga president Ross Mulquiney has floated the prospect of nobody in the league being paid for at least a few years in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
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It comes after AFL North East Border regional general manager John O'Donohue suggested leagues slash their salary caps by 50 per cent, as outlined in The Border Mail on Saturday.
The O and M has a salary cap of $160,000.
"AFL Victoria and the AFL need to think about whether football clubs can ever pay," Mulquiney said.
"(It might be) whether or not we've all got to not pay, umpires, players, everyone has to think about a couple of years of not getting paid."
Mulquiney is a three-time Leo Burke medallist for the league's reserve grade competition so he, potentially, could be directing himself to play for nothing.
Everyone has to think about a couple of years of not getting paid.
- Yarrawonga president Ross Mulquiney
Of course, he could well have played for nothing throughout his career, but it shows the unselfish attitude the Yarrawonga-based solicitor is taking with the sport facing its greatest crisis.
"Five of our top six sponsors are currently closed, the only one which is still open is Kennedy's Builders," he said.
"The O and M's major sponsor is the SS&A Club, it's not open.
"How are we going to raise the money we need to raise? How do we cut costs? A lot of our costs are fixed, the insurances aren't going to change, the cost of getting a ground prepared isn't going to change.
"There's one big ticket item where we can make a saving, but that's going to take real leadership and we've got to drive that leadership."
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Ironically, Yarrawonga would have hosted its biggest crowd of the season with its annual Easter Sunday clash at Mulwala.
The match tradtionally attracts at least 2000 fans so, even using conservative figures, the no-show has cost the Pigeons at least $40,000.
