Ballarat Football Netball League chairman Adrian Bettio has expressed his disappointment at the competition's desired representative not being allowed on the new AFL Goldfields Advisory Committee.
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The committee has been established following the major overhaul of the Goldfields Commission earlier in the year, which saw a new group from the AFL take charge.
The BFNL had put forward Shane Anwyl, the league's operations officer, but was told he could not fill a role on the committee due to his employment with AFL Goldfields. The same situation has occurred with the Riddell District league's position on the committee with Anwyl's equivalent Jordan Doyle knocked back.
Bettio says the reasoning given by Goldfields general manager Gerard Ryan was never mentioned in the terms of reference and is essentially concerned about the motives behind not allowing Anwyl, and also Doyle, on the committee.
The committee will provide feedback to the Commission about football in the region.
Bettio says Anwyl will soon be appointed as a direct employee of the BFNL, which has decided to split from its service agreement with Goldfields and carry out its own operations and administration.
"There is no question that Shane will be our representative on the advisory committee in the near future," Bettio said.
BFNL board member Richard Carroll has since taken over the committee position.
"Our long term preference is to have Shane on the advisory panel as our representative because he is across everything and his understanding of the football landscape and personalities involved makes it a logical choice," Bettio said. "But we can't allow the advisory panel to move forward without having any representation. It's as simple as that."
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Justin Davey (Ballarat umpires), David Hilli (Riddell umpires), Stephen Broad (MCDFNL), Eddy Comelli (CHFL), Brenton Knott (RDFNL), Paul Fisher (independent), Kelli Tait (independent) and Howard Clark (independent) are also on the committee.
Ryan told The Courier that the AFL Goldfields Advisory Committee was not a delegate-based structure, but each member joined the committee with a charter.
"Adrian understands that presently Shane Anwyl is currently an AFL Goldfields employee who is being supported through COVID employee benefits," he said.
"An employee is not accepted by AFL Goldfields as a member on the advisory committee.
"He also is aware that AFL Goldfields is able make changes to the committee's membership (if) a person's situation changes."