INTERLEAGUE football was once something every player aspired to.
It was a chance to play alongside and against the best in country Victoria.
But over the years rep footy has slowly lost its appeal and last week AFL Victoria dumped it, announcing it would not be organising the Community Championships in 2020.
It’s another tradition lost and sadly, once these things go, they rarely return.
Representative football was once a big deal, getting picked in the interleague side carried a lot weight and credibility.
But sadly, like lots of things, its appeal has slowly dwindled over the years as player payments started to increase.
Unfortunately, money has again contributed to the demise of a great tradition.
It’s easy for people to point the finger and blame AFL Victoria, but it has only reacted to feedback it has received from league administrators.
In this instance, AFL Victoria is not the bad guy.
If anyone is guilty of killing off representative football it’s the players.
You only have to look at the SFNL in recent years and the lack of support its players have shown for the concept.
It’s disappointing, but a fact of life that some players aren’t interested in playing if they aren’t getting paid.
You can talk about the prestige and everything else, but at the end of the day that means nothing to some players.
It’s sad to think footy has got to a point where money is the driving force, but that’s just the reality of the modern game, even at grassroots level.
And to a certain extent I can understand the reluctance of players to commit to something that potentially could harm their earning capacity.
Footy, even in the bush, is often the main source of income for some individuals, which is why it’s understandable they aren’t keen to take a risk playing in a game where they could be injured and lose that earning capacity.
But it is still a shame younger players wont get the chance to experience interleague football.
The SFNL’s 2019 coach Brad Hards was involved in rep footy for two decades, as a junior and then senior player.
He’s one person who is obviously disappointed at its demise, but he’s also pragmatic about the fact that you can’t force people to do something they don’t want to.
The SFNL, through the work of people like Hards and board member Jeff Hosking, reignited some interest in representative football last season.
For the first time in years, a number of high-profile players put their hand up to play and, although SFNL lost to the Heathcote and District Football Netball League, it was a step in the right direction.
Now all that hard work looks like it was for nothing unless the SFNL can organise an alternative.
Maybe a game against North Central or the Central Murray is an option for 2020.
I just hope there is some effort put into keeping interleague footy alive, even if it is driven by the SFNL board and is not sanctioned by AFL Victoria.
