North Ballarat Football Club board’s decision to end legendary Roosters coach Gerard FitzGerald's reign this week has been immensely unpopular and drawn widespread criticism from across the league, the city and the region’s broader football community.

Ultimately, directors do not have to make popular decisions but they need to make the right decisions.

This is bigger than Fitzy. As beloved as FitzGerald is by his players, as revered as he is by his peers and as highly-respected as he is as gentleman, the board has failed to answer the most pressing question of all. Its vision.

The board came out to media, via chairman Jenny Bromley, to detail it wants a change in coach for when its Roosters go standalone in the Victorian Football League at the season’s end. Structure for change is yet to be defined in an ongoing review process.

How can a board say a coach is not right for the club’s new direction when that vision is still unclear? Key directors met with AFL Victoria earlier this week to further understand league demands.

Internal board politics – if any – need not be aired but you cannot make a sweeping statement without some reasoning to back it up. Give us straight answers. 

This is bigger than Fitzy because the Roosters’ future affects the pathway and development of football in this region. How can we be confident in the board and their vision when they make such a bold decision and struggle to explain it.

This is bigger than Fitzy because every major decision this board makes has the potential to affect the hard work and campaigning for funds to develop Eureka Stadium and bring AFL to Ballarat. AFL might be the headline seller, but Eureka Stadium’s development is also to draw major events, boost tourism and facilities to reinforce this city’s stellar reputation in sports science.

We need a healthy VFL team, strong leadership and tight community ties from Eureka Stadium. This depends on confidence and trust in a vision.

Going standalone in the VFL is tough, real tough, and you only need ask the club’s that have been traditionally steady without an AFL partner. The Roosters are set to go solo as the only team in country Victoria.

We need Ballarat and western Victoria to be completely behind our VFL team. Just ask Bendigo what happens when the city struggles to embrace a VFL team, even though its now-defunct Gold had a whole different set of governance problems.

This is about our city. Most importantly, this is about our players.