Griffith District Football Association secretary Angelo Cirillo.
GRIFFITH District Football Association clubs should have their voting rights taken away to ensure the sport can move forward, secretary Angelo Cirillo believes.
A member of the five-man GDFA executive committee, Cirillo said the individual agendas of clubs too often impede tangible progress in Griffith football.
He aired his view to The Area News after a controversial week in local football, which saw the Yoogali Wanderers back down on a threat to move to Wagga after the new club was given permission to join the association with only first-grade and reserves squads.
The nine first-grade clubs wield an incredible amount of power at GDFA meetings, with their votes far outweighing the five allocated to committee members.
“It does seem like we run around in circles,” Cirillo said.
“The clubs really run what goes on so I don’t know why there’s always angst against the association itself because at the end of the day, the clubs are the ones that make the decisions.
“They have a huge amount of input into the direction of football in Griffith and the way the competitions are run.
“Clubs are there representing themselves but they also represent the game. If they can change something in favour of their club, why wouldn’t they? That’s politics.
“My personal opinion is that their agendas sometimes get in the way of appropriate decision-making.
“The focus is there to move in a positive direction but the way that things ultimately transpire, sometimes you wonder if agendas are taking precedence before the game.
“Perhaps a consideration should be given to the committee (alone) running the competition and taking the voting powers away from the clubs.”
Cirillo stressed he did not want to turn the GDFA into a “dictatorship”, adding the clubs’ views should always be taken on board.
“But it’s not about a dictatorship,” he said.
“It’s about a body controlling what’s actually meant to be happening.”
“The reason why committees don’t want that to happen on a local basis in amateur competitions because they don’t want to cop the heat from a hard decision.
“This way here, the onus goes back on the clubs because they’ve got the majority vote. It’s nine versus five. If they want something, it happens.
“You sit in the room and there’s rules one day and then they’re different another day.
“Things are assessed on a case-by-case and sometimes common sense needs to prevail. But other times, (you ask yourself) do we want rules or don’t we?”
Meanwhile, the release of the 2013 GDFA season draw is believed to be imminent following the resolution of the Wanderers saga on Friday.
