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To the uninformed outsider, the state of football in Victoria might look particularly rosy at the moment. It’s an easy mistake to make. The state boasts the most successful team in the A-League’s short history, and there’s another team on the way, ushering in what will be an enthralling rivalry.
Melbourne’s favourite son, Mark Viduka, is rumoured to be on his way back home, while the likes of Vinnie Grella, Scott McDonald and Josh Kennedy continue to do the state proud.
But ill-feeling at the game’s state level has been simmering for some time now. And the pot finally ran over last week.
In a letter sent to Football Federation Victoria and circulated to the media, the Victorian Premier League men’s standing committee voiced its disillusionment with the current hierarchy of the state’s governing body.
Among a list of eight resolutions, the letter outlined a complete lack of confidence in FFV chief executive Mark Rendell.
The letter claims to have the support of all VPL clubs.
And while the extent of the sustenance may vary from club to club, that they have banded together speaks volumes itself.
Most clubs widely think that FFV has a hidden agenda to eventually force them out of business.
It’s a heady accusation, but it’s one that club chiefs, such as charismatic Melbourne Knights’ chairman Matt Tomas, firmly believe.
“Many of these clubs have been involved the whole time, and (the FFV want to) sweep them under the carpet like they never existed,” Tomas told Leader Newspapers this week.
Owners and chairmen point to a new fines system and the FFA ruling compensating them with just $3000 when losing talented players to A-League clubs as proof.
The proposed introduction of a senior men’s summer zone competition is vehemently opposed by clubs, who believe it will be established as an eventual replacement for the VPL.
FFV has launched an independent investigation, headed by Ken Jacobs, to probe the state of the game in Victoria.
Clubs, believing they smell a rat, have refused to deal with him.
FFV’s relationship with its member clubs has been testy for some time now. But the letter indicates that things could be coming to a dramatic head.
Like others around the country’s various state leagues, VPL clubs maintain strong links with their ethnic backgrounds.
They believe they have the violence and crowd control issues that plagued the former NSL in check, but are still being punished for them.
Feeling like captive tigers, these proud clubs have been edged and prodded further backwards into a corner.
But they won’t be giving in easily, as Hume City owner and chairman Steve Kaya stated to the Leader: “What gets me is that instead of the FFV being proud of the VPL clubs and trying to keep them alive… they are going straight for the jugular,” he said.
“The FFV is standing over and hoping the club will buckle. I’m not going to buckle. No way.”
Stay tuned.
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