Salary caps part of new conditions

All South West Football League Clubs will be able to pay travel expenses to their paid players under conditions passed by delegates on Thursday night.

Last month the West Australian Country Football League implemented a salary cap on all its affiliated leagues in the State, which would only allow teams to pay $3000 per team a game and a maximum of $500 per player a game unless they met certain criteria.

Travel expenses of $150 were also included in the by-laws, but that player must be forced to travel 500km on a return trip to be eligible for the allowance.

The league’s delegates halved the trip distance, allowing clubs to pay a player the allowance if they were forced to travel 250km in a return trip to play for their respective team.

Donnybrook Football Club president and executive member David Wedderburn said his club would struggle to field a competitive team if the by-laws were kept as is and would be better off with the travel expenses.

WACFL general manager Joe Georgiades will attend a delegates meeting next month to answer questions and concerns regarding the cap.

Numerous club delegates were in favour of the by-laws, but expressed concerns regarding the process in which they were implemented, saying that they were not consulted during the process.

Wedderburn also expressed his concern about handing the WACFL the power to fine clubs and strip them of premiership points, warning the delegates of the ramifications they could incur.

Numerous delegates were critical of the WACFL, calling them “intrusive” and “dictatorial” after they forced the changes on the country football community.

The delegates asked the SWFL’s representative for next year’s WACFL Annual General Meeting to question the process.

Carey Park delegate and former league president Kevin Lynn asked that the representative also propose that AFL clubs begin paying country clubs for draftees and that WAFL clubs increase their payments for draftees from $1000 to $2000.