BENDIGO Gold captain Steve Stroobants believes state league footy is unlikely ever to return to the central Victorian town after the club announced it will not seek to renew its playing licence for 2015.
Players and staff met with the club’s board and representatives of AFL Central Victoria prior to training on Wednesday night. They were told the club would not seek to renew its playing licence for next season due to the rising costs of producing a competitive stand-alone team in the VFL.
“It was a bit of a shock for the players, we were pretty disappointed. But we had training after being told and it was as upbeat as it’s been all year,” Stroobants said.
Stroobants said the loss of a VFL team would be a big blow to football in Bendigo and the region.
“You look at the top 50 players in central Victoria; 90 per cent of them would have played VFL for Bendigo,” he said.
“It’s a big loss for the area and it will be interesting to see what sort of quality footy is around Bendigo in the next five or so years.”
Gold became a stand-alone club after the relationship between the former Bendigo Bombers and Essendon ended following the 2012 season.
Stroobants said a VFL club in Bendigo had helped create a pathway from the elite underage TAC Cup to the BFL.
“They’ve gone from TAC Cup on to VFL and then on to play Bendigo footy. The quality of players has been ridiculously good,” he said.
