Two divisions, competing for one premiership with the potential for promotion and relegation is part of a bold new plan being mooted by CHFL president Eddy Comelli.
It’s a bold plan that will undoubtedly cause a massive stir within the Ballarat sporting circles.
Today, The Courier outlines the proposal, which Comelli will present for discussion at a special meeting of club representatives next week.
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THE PLAN
Eddy Comelli has a vision to split the 18-club Central Highlands Football League.
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But his plan, which involves synergy from the netball competition, aims at keeping the league united, with just one premiership up for grabs in each division.
In an exclusive interview with The Courier, Comelli detailed his ideas for the future, which will be discussed at a presidents meeting next Wednesday night.
While keen to stress that the proposal was simply his personal idea, Comelli is excited by its prospects.
While the plan is not fully bedded down, the key aspects are:
- 10 clubs in conference A and eight in conference B
- Separation decided by senior football ladder positions at a specified time. Top 10 sides to play in A and bottom eight in B
- All grades of football and netball to follow suit
- At the end of 18 home and away rounds, top eight in A and top four in B reach finals
- Top four in A have week off, while sides fifth to eighth battle elimination finals against top four in B
- The four winners of these games join the top four and an eight-team finals series ensues
- Potential for promotion/relegation
The basis of Comelli’s plan is to give clubs a better prospect of featuring in finals.
“The argument has been since we've had the 18 clubs: the clubs want to start their season with a hope of playing finals,” he said.
“With this scenario, there's 12 out of 18 sides that have got a hope of playing finals.
“It’s been six or seven years now (since the league swelled to 18 clubs) and there are still a lot of clubs complaining that it is just impossible to play finals.
“(The plan is) not perfect, but it’s some sort of a model to try and work on.”
Comelli said the system also allowed for new clubs to easily enter the league.
“Say there was two clubs out there that might want to come into the Central Highlands competition because they think this has got merit. Guess what? We don't have to change a thing,” he said.
Comelli said the AFL Goldfields’ announcement that it was conducting a region-wide senior football review had prompted the league to get the ball rolling with its own analysis of the competition.
“We will take any recommendations into consideration and it will come down to our members clubs to make a decision as to which direction we head in,” he said.
Comelli said he had already spoken with between 12-14 of the league’s club presidents about his idea and the feedback had been “very positive”.
He all but ruled out any change to the structure of the competition for the 2017 season.
“For us to change anything now would not be fair on those clubs that are out there recruiting coaches and that have appointed coaches just recently on the basis of what the competition is now,” he said.
“We'll certainly try and do something for 2018, but the clubs might not be willing to do it. They might not be ready to do it, we might not come up with the right model.”
THE NETBALL REACTION
Reigning Central Highlands Netball League A-grade premier Skipton would play in the second tier conference in 2017 if changes put forward by Central Highlands Football League president Eddie Comelli were to be implemented next season.
Skipton are one of a number of clubs who have had recent success on the netball court but have been less prosperous on the football field.
Other clubs such have Learmonth have also routinely featured at the pointy end of the CHNL’s finals series’ despite their respective football clubs failing to make the top eight.
Comelli said any changes to the league’s structure would ensure junior and senior football and netball were all played the same venue on the same day.
“Skipton, for example, would have finished in the top of the bottom conference and would have won their first elimination because that is how it's designed to work and then they would have progressed up as they have now,” Comelli said.
Comelli also highlighted the proposal was not set in stone, and clubs and the netball league would be invited to provide their opinion.
While stressing she had not had any official conversations with the CHFL, CHNL president Rebecca McCahon said she had concerns about a tiered system which was based on senior football results.
“My major concern is that a number of the sides which featured in the netball finals were different to the football,” McCahon said.
“It also poses a challenge for clubs with very strong juniors but less successful senior sides.”
As well as individual premierships, clubs also currently compete for the Merv and Mary Howard Shield, which is awarded to the club which has the most success across junior and senior football and netball.
McMahon said any promotion and relegation system should take into account the success of an entire club as opposed to just the senior football side.
“If it’s more looked at as a total club result and not just one part of the competition that would make it more equitable across the board,” McCahon said.
Despite the concerns, McCahon said she would engage positively with the football league on any possible changes in the coming seasons.
“As a league we need to look at whatever proposals are put on the table because these are football netball clubs.”
A FOOTBALL REACTION
Sam Richardson, Carngham-Linton’s president, said it would be silly if his club didn’t entertain talk of a split within the Central Highlands Football League given its history on the topic.
The Saints have been one of the big advocates for change to the current 18-club format.
Since joining the competition from the defunct Lexton Plains league for season 2011, Carngham-Linton has twice lobbied the CHFL board with a proposal to break apart the structure to form two conferences, decided geographically.
While not across all of league president Eddy Comelli’s ideas, Richardson is open to further discussions.
“We would support looking at whatever options there may be,” Richardson told The Courier.
Carngham-Linton endured a horror 2016 campaign, with its senior football team finishing last on the ladder.
TIM O’CONNOR’S REACTION
Should there be a split? Or should it stay the same?
It has been a hot topic in the region’s football and netball circles for years now.
And finally it looks as though the Central Highlands Football League is fair dinkum about change.
Or at least Eddy Comelli is.
The league president, in an exclusive interview with The Courier, has detailed his exciting plan for the competition he dearly loves.
By his own admission, it’s not foolproof, but the crux of his idea certainly has merit.
Essentially, Comelli wants to break apart the competition into two “conferences” to offer more hope of success, particularly for those long-time battlers.
But by playing for one premiership in each division of football and netball, the league would remain tight-knit.
"It's not perfect, but it’s some sort of a model to try and work on," was Comelli’s summation.
"Somebody is going to come up with a better model than this, but I've been mulling this over for a year now.”
Comelli has already spoken to many club representatives about his thoughts and there will be further discussion – in a more formal setting – at a meeting of presidents next week.
A split in the 18-club league has been voted down at least twice before, said Comelli, but a scheme such as his looks as though it might be more appealing.
While mediocrity or a poor work ethic shouldn’t be rewarded with a free ride to success, the view of plenty around the region is that 18 clubs together in one group is just too many.
In the senior football, the gulf between the top and bottom teams is enormous. And the chance of the lower sides reaching the summit seems miles away.
The league swelled from 14 clubs to its current state following the disbandment of the Lexton Plains competition at the end of 2010. Carngham-Linton, Rokewood-Corindhap, Smythesdale and Skipton joined and none have been able to manage an appearance in a senior finals series since.
Of course, the senior footy is not the be all and end all, but it’s the showpiece of the Central Highlands league and reflects its health to the wider community.
Surely, there can’t be too much harm in giving Eddy’s idea – or something like it – a go.