By ADEM SARICAOGLU
CLUB presidents from across the west have wide-ranging concerns about the immediate future of local baseball, as the makeup of this summer’s league competition remains in limbo.
All 32 clubs were due to vote on a new 16-team premier league earlier this month but largely rejected Baseball Victoria’s proposal.
The proposal stipulated a three-year period of no relegation or promotion in or out of the premier league, prompting many lower and middle class clubs to vote against it.
“If this proposal goes through, it’s going to be the end of a lot of the minor clubs,” Werribee president Steve Knight said.
“A lot of them are against this scenario. It could almost spell the doom of the clubs who don’t make the premier league.”
The proposal’s rejection means it will be another two months before clubs meet again to resolve the issue, pushing the final outcome too close to the start of the season for many of the clubs’ liking.
“We’d prefer that decision to be made sooner rather than later,” Newport president Roland Stott said.
“If they add a few things to the season we’ll deal with those as they come, but knowing where you’re first playing or where the club sits within that structure is probably the first bit to sort out.”
The other main point of difference between Baseball Victoria and the clubs is the contentious points system for qualification into the premier league.
To qualify for the top tier, clubs had to score 100 points, calculated by the number of senior and junior teams they fielded last summer.
It is understood only three of the 32 clubs would have qualified under that system, but Baseball Victoria could not be reached for comment when contacted by Star.
Baseball Victoria’s search for a new CEO is also believed to be holding things up.
Williamstown’s Ryan Camov said the points system put too much pressure on clubs in small geographical growth areas.
“If we’re going to focus on growth then all the structural changes need to reflect that and aid the clubs to achieve growth, and not just give them all the work to do,” Camov said.
Meanwhile, Williamstown remains at a standstill with Sunshine over who will take the final place in Division One should, as now expected, the current league structure stay intact this summer.
While Sunshine president Robert Blackmore can sympathise with Williamstown, he told Star he doesn’t want the Wolves taking his club’s place.
“We’ve got no problem with them coming up, just as long as we don’t go down,” Blackmore said.
Those discussions also remain on hold.
