Jackson traveled to Bendigo this morning to attend the meeting and expand on the reasons Essendon wished to become aligned with the Diggers. He also re-emphasised that an Essendon presence in the region would greatly enhance football development and a number of community programs. BFL chairman Jock Clark will now return to the table with the BFL constituent clubs to further consider the matter.
Jackson made the following comments to ABC Radio following the meeting. “There is no particular outcome at this time, but we did have very constructive talks with the council, the Bendigo Diggers and the BFL,” Jackson said. “My reason for coming up here today was that I feel from the reports in the media that perhaps Essendon hadn’t spelled out its motives and its reasons for being here well enough to the Bendigo Football League and the clubs. I just wanted to make sure we did that and I think we have done that and I think it was a very productive session.”
“The chairman of the Bendigo Football, Jock Clark, has undertaken to go back to the board to spell out the positions that Essendon have stated and we’ll see what happens,” Jackson said. “I reaffirmed, more than anything, that Essendon is up here to have a positive influence on football in Bendigo. We are not up here for any particular personal gain in the short-term financially. We believe that as an AFL club we have responsibilities to promote football. We think it would be more efficient for use to align with a VFL club than try and do it ourselves as we have in the past. But really I think the things that we had to try and satisfy the BFL about are fixturing issues and junior development.”
“Look I hope the alignment can go ahead. I think it would be great for the region, great for the Essendon Football Club. We would get a kick out of coming up here, excuse the pun, and helping develop football. Because I think we can make a positive contribution there is no doubt about that. We can also get involved in some of the community programs that we are talking about down in Melbourne. We are talking to VicHealth, La Trobe University and the Drug Prevention Council and I spelled all this out today to John. We have a La Trobe campus up here and we could work with those organisations up here to help junior development and put some effort into the community programs outside of football for kids and teenage kids that might need some help in those areas. That’s what we are on about, that’s what we want to do and I look forward to being able to do it.
Jackson was aksed if the amalgamation could go ahead without BFL support. “I can’t answer that categorically at the moment. When we first decided to come up here we absolutely wanted the support of all football stakeholders in Bendigo. The BFL are a key stakeholder and we want their support. If they maintain the position that they made the other day we would have to review it. I think it would probably make it a bit hard because we’re just not sure the Essendon Football Club could come to a region where it doesn’t have the full support of everybody.”
“We want to be recognised as the most successful, professional and respected sporting club in Australia and certainly within the AFL clubs. To do that we have to put back into the communities, we can’t just stay down in Melbourne playing football at the MCG, Colonial Stadium. We have to give into communities and give something positive and we see Bendigo as a major region that we can do that in, and we want to do it in for the sake of our football club over the next 20 years.”
