UPDATE, 8.35am: Roosters chairman Jenny Bromley has confirmed to The Courier the North Ballarat Roosters will stay on in the Victorian Football League in season 2017.
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Bromley will issue a more detailed statement later this morning but has just confirmed the club is going on next year.
However, she insists there a is a lot of hard work ahead for North as it works to get the Ballarat community and corporate support on board.
UPDATE, 8am: There are unconfirmed reports North Ballarat Roosters will stay in the Victorian Football League for season 2017.
The club is set to make an official statement later in the morning, although there is early suggestion the board has decided to stay in the competition.
Club statistician Scott Davidson this morning tweeted the club would continue to play on in the VFL next year.
The Courier has endeavoured to get this confirmed via a number of sources, but has been unsuccessful.
We will bring you updates as soon as they come to hand.
EARLIER: The future of the North Ballarat Roosters in the Victorian Football League is up in the air as the heat continues to be turned up on the Roosters board.
The board met for its monthly meeting on Monday night and while the outcome of the meeting is unknown it is believed that the club’s flailing financial state and viability to survive in the VFL was high on the agenda.
If the Roosters’ board were to come to the conclusion that it was unable to financially support a VFL team, which costs upward of $1 million a year, the decision would be put to its 700 members to vote given the board itself cannot withdraw the club from the competition.
In order to deliver a conclusive outcome it would require 75% of the vote.
The Courier tried contacting several board members, but none were available.
Another alternative lurking over the Roosters’ head is a similar fate to that suffered by Frankston.
The Dolphins were expelled from the VFL by AFL Victoria in late September. AFL Victoria has previously stated that the Rooters situation and Frankston’s are not alike, but nonetheless the end result threatens to be the same.
However, AFL Victoria communications manager Anthony Stanguts said it would not be dealing in hypotheticals regarding the matter until the contents of the meeting comes to light.
“I don’t really want to go into any of that at the moment, we’re just waiting on the result of tonight’s meeting – we’re not dealing in hypotheticals,” Stanguts said.
“It could be status quo. Everyone could be talking about a non-issue, that’s why we’re not providing any further comment because nothing might come out of it.”
The 2016 VFL fixture was released in early December last year and with next year’s fixture set to be released next week, essentially there is a timeline surrounding the Roosters decision. But Stanguts made it clear AFL Victoria had handed the club no such deadlines.
“We haven’t set any deadlines for the club, we’ve just been made aware of their meeting tonight and we’ll act after we get feedback regarding their meeting tonight.”
