Taking the next step

 

December 26 2007

Shepparton News

From the moment Football Federation Victoria announced its plans for a new constitution, new ways of electing leadership and a new way of engaging the state's football players and community, Frank Trimboli had one thing on his mind.

A clear pathway to the next level of competition for players in North Eastern Soccer League.

As president of the league, Trimboli is often seen as the buck's last stop when things go wrong.

But away from the tribunals and the bitter aftertaste of this season's men's grand final, Trimboli is confident a wave of positive developments can have everyone involved in the league looking forward.

When the federation makes its mid-January announcement of plans to overhaul the way elite level soccer in Victoria is run, Trimboli's lobbying could be the difference-maker in giving Goulburn Valley players that clear pathway.

What Trimboli sees as the best pathway for players in league ranks is a representative side for the Goulburn North-East zone in the state's top league.

In men's, women's and junior grades, a team competing against the three other rural zones and metropolitan Melbourne is what Trimboli hopes the federation will announce as its new direction for soccer.

A team in the top level would not just bring the players aspiring for A-League contracts to the area in opposition teams on a regular basis, but would force improvement in the standard of Goulburn Valley-grown players.

Trimboli sees a well-run Goulburn North-East zone representative team as one capable of rivalling metropolitan Melbourne's standard of juniors and coaches, given everyone in the program would have what is required to progress to state league laid out clearly.

The lure of a Goulburn Valley team in state league was dangled by all four candidates for this year's federation presidential election, the first in which the Goulburn North-East had a vote.

The winner, Tony Dunkerley, said in his victory speech that engaging rural Victoria was high on his agenda and the days of soccer stopping at Epping were over.

Those involved in Goulburn Valley soccer could have been forgiven for thinking the new leadership was the same product in a different box after a terse three hours at the federation's North-East zone fact finding meeting in October failed to invigorate those present.

But Trimboli has remained confident his country-minded ally on the federation's board, Nick Monteleone, was keeping his promise of a fair footing for rural Victoria.

Monteleone, of Beveridge, has been ever-present in the Goulburn Valley since his ascension to the board, even presenting medals to Shepparton's victorious men's team on grand final day.

Being zoned with AlburyWodonga in Goulburn North-East puts a lot of pressure on the league and its Shepparton headquarters to fly the Victorian flag.

Football New South Wales, seen by some within the corridors of Victorian soccer as a beast more powerful than the national federation, has a significant stake in Albury-Wodonga.

Victorian-based clubs such as Benalla and Wangaratta have repeatedly said Albury-Wodonga is a better host for its burgeoning junior numbers.

North-East zone's other representative to the state federation, Frank Bonacci, did not mince words when describing the superiority of Football NSW's youth programs in AlburyWodonga compared to those offered by Victoria.

The league's NSW-based teams are not ambiguous, Griffith sides Yoogali and Hanwood are more than two hours from the border.

Unlike Benalla, Wangaratta and the three other Victorian teams in the Albury-Wodonga league, the Griffith sides cannot claim to be a part of Victoria given how far away they are.

Trimboli is confident a North-East zone representative side can end a number of ongoing debates about cross-border policy for country leagues.

While earlier this year the agenda was moving the Griffith sides out of the league, now it appears embracing the two teams from NSW is the answer to keeping the standard high.

"If you have that Goulburn North-East zone team to aim for it doesn't matter if you're playing in AlburyWodonga with Wangaratta or Benalla or playing in North Eastern with Shepparton," Trimboli said.

"Because at the end of the day what you're aiming for is the zone side which is clearly a part of the Victorian set-up.

"If we have the zone representative side above the North Eastern league then we will do everything we can to keep Hanwood and Yoogali."

Trimboli said in an ideal world, winter leagues would continue uninterrupted with the Goulburn North-East zone teams competition running concurrent with the A-League through summer.

"At the end of the North Eastern league season the representative coaches would pick the zone men's, women's and junior sides for the state league," Trimboli said.

"This is the pathway I'm hoping for because it's what I see as the best option for players in the North Eastern league to reach the next level."