News
BFNL REWIND - Gisborne explore options
News
BFNL REWIND - Gisborne explore options
Published on:
14 March 2025
Gisborne has been involved over the years in a few discussions with Ballarat FNL officials about joining their league.
There's been a few and then in mid-2009 the proposition popped up again.
Towards the end of June with the Graveyard Dogs holding down third spot on the BFNL senior ladder with a 7 win-2 loss record, the then committee had agreed to meet with the Ballarat FNL.
Our major Goldfields rival league wanted Gisborne in as the 12th club for the 2010 season.
The Ballarat proposal had been received by the Bulldogs' committee with the discussion date set for June 24th as club president Graeme Love pointed out.
"We have agreed to talk to the Ballarat Football League," he told the Advertiser's Luke West.
"Our special group has got the okay from the general committee to talk to Ballarat and that's where it's at at the moment."
"We would be very silly if we didn't look at it and talk to them, but we have to work through whether or not it's advantageous for us to go -- we just don't know yet."
And then when the move motion was put to the vote in the Gardiner Reserve rooms Mr Love described the outcome as "reasonably close."
"Yes, it was close and the club has decided it will be staying in the Bendigo Football and Netball League," he said. I understand about 150 member votes were cast in that fateful 2009 ballot.
Season 2009 marked Gisborne's 10th year in the BFNL after the Dogs had joined the competition from the Riddell District Football League in 2000.
They'd really lifted the footy standard in the BFNL, winning four flags between 2002 and 2006. And then they won on the pouring wet Saturday of 2022's Big Dance belting the Strath Storm 5.20 (50) to 2.10 (22).
Yep, that was the score. The Storm managed just the two snag rolls across four quarters of footy.
But back to mid-season 2009. Dogs' boss Love emphasised his club was extremely happy in the BFNL, but also said "we would be silly if we didn't look at Ballarat's proposal."
"But that doesn't mean we have to accept it though."
Three times in the past Gisborne had rejected offers from Ballarat to join, the most recent coming in 2003.
That's the classic one where the players called for an emergency general meeting with the majority vote at the end of the speech-making, tossing out their committee's decision.
And Ballarat FNL chief executive Rod Ward waded into the 2009 discussion as he'd done in past episodes.
"We're obviously pleased we will get a forum with Gisborne, but there's still a lot of water to go under the bridge yet.
"So on that basis there's no point getting too excited.
"I would imagine Gisborne would delay any formal decision before the end of this season because they won't want to distract their on-field pursuit of another flag."
Mr Ward said he hoped his league officials would get an opportunity to host an information night with Gisborne members before the end of the 2009 season.
"But I emphasise Gisbornbe wouldn't look at having a vote on any possible move (to another league) until the end of the season."
Bendigo FNL CEO Steven Oliver said his league had made its position clear to Gisborne.
"We want the Bulldogs to remain part of our competition. The Bendigo FNL will put our case to Gisborne once the Bulldogs have received all their information from Ballarat."
Mr Oliver and then BFNL board chairman Damien Drum had been very effective in staving off earlier Ballarat FNL incursions and as it turned out, not that anyone knew in late-June 2009 what would happen, Oliver won out once more.
The Gardiner Reserve Dogs were third on the BFNL ladder when the Ballarat situation erupted with a 7-2 win-loss record and a percentage of 138.3.
Their biggest win had been a 125-point thumping of Kyneton in the opening round: 26.19 (175) to the Tigers 6.14 (50).
The Addy rated their six top players to that stage of the season as Ollie Messaoudi, Casey Summerfield, Rod Sharp, Matt McKenzie, Darren Farrugia and Callan Potter.
Potter led the Graveyard Dogs' goal kicking tally with 28, followed by Farrugia (24) and Tristan James (17).
I'd forgotten about it but Gissy was unbeaten over the opening seven rounds of the '09 season with coach Ty Elliott saying the stats were great "but we certainly hadn't played spectacular footy."
"We had a couple of games that could have gone either way, but to the guys' credit we were able to get over the line which showed great character.
"But having said that, had those games gone the other way we could potentially have been 5-4.
"Sometimes you need a bit of luck and at the moment we're 7-2, so that's encouraging," Elliott said.
The Gissy coach went on to outline some of the horrific injuries which had the Bulldogs' playing list deeply threatened.
In Rd. 7 when the Dogs went down to Castlemainhe by eight points, forward Tristan James suffered a season-ending double injury blow. He needed both a shoulder and a knee re-construction medical staff advised.
He was in the ambulance being transported to Bendigo Base Hospital when the ambulance had to be re-routed back to Camp Reserve to attend to Castlemaine forward Sean Smith.
Smith had suffered a terrible broken leg injury.
Gisborne captain Anthony Belcher looked likely to miss the rest of the 2009 season after breaking the ring finger on his right hand in three places.
Rod Sharp was facing a six-week stint on the sidelines as he battled to overcome a dislocated finger which had hampered him since he represented the BFL against the VFL Bendigo Bombers side in the Bushfire Appeal pre-season match.
And Casey Summerfield who'd been one of the premier mids in the BFNL up till mid-June was still battling to overcome a severe corked thigh which he'd suffered late in the first quarter of the Rd. 7 Camp Reserve clash.
Club officials said Summerfield could miss between one to four weeks.
Luke Saunders, the 'Rolls Royce', was going to miss the upcoming Rd. 8 clash against Kyneton because of a knee gash he suffered in the Golden Square match, while reliable backman Cameron Medica was also going to be sidelined with his AC injury.
The Dogs already had 2004 Michelsen medallist Simon Elsum out for the season with a snapped medial ligament with mid Adam Pokrovsky dislocating an ankle as well as suffering a spiral fracture to his leg.
Elsum and Pokrovsky were both injured during the Kangaroo Flat fixture. In the only good mid-season news Pokrovsky was a big chance to return late in the season.
