BY STEPHEN BAKER

Western Bulldogs president, David Smorgon has welcomed a League review of the Annual Special Distribution fund.

He said that while the Bulldogs had drawn heavily on the fund in the past, he wasn’t alarmed that a number of wealthier AFL clubs have successfully lobbied the AFL to bring forward its review of the Annual Special Distribution scheme.

“It’s not alarming news at all because we knew back in 2005 when the deal was put in for the next four years that it was always going to have a time where it was going to be reviewed - as it should be reviewed,” he said on SEN radio today.

Smorgon said that he didn’t view the ASD scheme as a handout.

“The reason for the ASD fund is to try and equalise what is a very unequal competition,” he said.

“We don’t regard it as a handout, the AFL don’t regard it as a handout, we regard it as an entitlement to offset a lot of the inequalities of the competition and the two basic reasons why the ASD is there is to balance up stadium returns and low membership from a historical perspective.”

“They’re the two major factors that account for the dollars that are given to the special distribution fund every year and we support the fact that there’s going to be a review on it,” he said.

Smorgon said that receiving ASD funds had forced his club to be more disciplined with its finances and was delivering returns on the field as well.

“We have to sit with the AFL and go through our finances, we have to go through our business plan we are under a very strict criteria,” he said.

“Frankly, its led to a much better Western Bulldogs footy club, having to comply with these policies and these requirements - and we’re better off for it and we think its been a very helpful and essential part of the resurrection of the Western Bulldogs footy club.

FOOTYHEADS: Should the Annual Special Distribution fund stay in place or should the AFL stop propping up financially stricken clubs?

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