CLUBS have been given until near the end of this month to officially submit their concerns over the restructuring of competitions for next year, with delegates forming a united front over their opposition to changing the names of leagues.
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Conjecture over the restructuring and rebranding of the Riverina and Farrer Leagues ensured the biggest turnout in years for Sunday's annual general meeting at Narrandera.
Clubs have three weeks to submit their opinions and issues via email after AFL Riverina confirmed late last month the new leagues to begin next year would be named the AFL Riverina Premier Division, and AFL Riverina Community Division.
The names have been met with disapproval by many in football circles, in particular due to the removal of history.
Marrar president John Carroll said clubs were united in their opposition to the renaming of the leagues at Sunday's meeting, and the Bombers will also press for both leagues to be run under the same salary cap and player points system allocations.
"The clubs definitely don't want the Community League (name). We've all got to put (official) letters into the league and say we don't want this," Carroll said.
"They're going to go ahead with it (league restructure), but hopefully they go ahead with changing the names put forward.
"Even the RFL clubs, the talk was to keep the Farrer and the RFL. We understand we need to go forward with our competitions, but you don't have to change the names.
"We've got to be a bit positive and wait and see. In April everyone will get a profile to fill out to say which league we want to play in.
"We'll put in a letter about the names and the salary cap-points system.
"We understand they (Riverina League) are a better comp. There isn't the big gap there was a few years ago, but there is a gap.
Carroll's opinion was echoed by Northern Jets president Simon Gaynor.
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Gaynor also confirmed the club's eagerness to play same day football with juniors, one of the recommendations from a review conducted by independent consultant David Burgess in 2019.
"It's good they're at least listening to our suggestions," he said.
"There's a lot of history there (with names), and I think the RFL clubs would be opposed to it as well. Basically the whole room (on Sunday) was opposed to it."
Gaynor is adamant two strong competitions could be sustainable if given equal opportunities to thrive.
"We just hope they treat both leagues the same. We could have two strong comps then and we want to try and keep a high standard.
"We want to keep our options open. If the community league is splitting our club, then we'll make decisions as a committee (on whether to apply for the Premier League).
"We just want to be treated equal. It should be the same salary cap and same points conditions the premier league has.
"We have the same rules at the moment for the Riverina and Farrer Leagues, let's keep the consistency. There's no reason we can't have two good comps."
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