Geelong Advertiser, Friday 16 February 2007, p. 48.
Geelong will have more time to prepare an attempt to join the Football Federation Victoria’s proposed new V-League. Yesterday the FFV deferred the introduction of the new league, which was originally scheduled to occur at the start of the 2008 season.
The decision is not surprising because it meant that all existing clubs would have to apply for places next year in competition with new regional entities, perhaps including one from Geelong. FFV President Vasko Stojcevski said, ‘The decision was made after extensive consultation with a number of key stakeholders including Football Federation Australia, State and Local Government departments, member clubs and other interest groups’. But it is clear that such a radical step required a great deal more planning, though the longer the process takes the greater the chance of special interest groups derailing the project.
Stojcevski was correct when he added, ‘We will only get one chance to get this right and we want to be sure the introduction of the V-League is the renaissance our game deserves in Victoria. … we realise more work needs to be done to ensure the V-League is guaranteed success’.
For Geelong the urgency to get a fully costed and organised program off the ground is reduced but it would be a pity if the momentum which is currently building were dissipated. Entry into the V-League would be much more realistic for Geelong than a jump straight to the national A-League, though that should remain the ultimate goal.