“Let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill, lest it break thy neck with following it: but the great one that goes up the hill, let him draw thee after.”
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It will be an interesting few days in Ballarat for football fans. On Monday the Bulldogs, still propelled by their trajectory of success, returned to Ballarat to consolidate their links with their chosen partner city.
If the disappointment of fans in the days after the Grand Final was acute in October when the players were too busy celebrating then there was no trace of rancour yesterday as school kids and fans lined up to catch a glimpse or an autograph from the successful AFL team. The long heralded opening of an office will give the team a presence in the CBD and a place to run their various programs and even a contact point. for fans and members.
All this bodes well for the tangible strength of the partnership with Ballarat and council. Perhaps even more significantly the well-known players got a chance to size up the playing ground where they will launch the first home and away AFL game ever played in Ballarat. Non-football fans may find it all too much but as a regional city capable of hosting significant events this is a definitive coming of age. Here too the council has been decisive in stepping in to ensure this much of the city’s football reputation can be secured.
Which brings us to Ballarat’s other big football story. It too has reached a watershed moment this week. Tonight the Roosters will hold their AGM and decide the makeup of its new board. It has been little short of a disastrous six months for one of the highest profile clubs in the city, lurching from financial crisis to internal dysfunction. But given its proud history and its significance at the Eureka ground as a state level representative team, whoever takes up the appointment has a primary obligation to fix this mess. That of course involves a lot more than simply retreating from the field and allowing the team to become a disgraceful victim of history. It has an obligation to the players and the fans to get the ailing club back on track to reach their deserved potential. And in order to do this it must mend the relationship with council .But it also has an obligation to harness the best possible business and governance talent in town, and some of this has already been offered. Technicalities should not be an excuse for self- extinction.
Ballarat wants two statewide football success stories, not one playing over the grave of another.