ACT Gridiron "want to lead the way" for the sport in Australia as they rebuild their competition with the long-term goal of sending players overseas on football scholarships.
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President George Stosic says ACT Gridiron is set to field a three-team league boasting the Centurions, University of Canberra Firebirds and Gladiators.
Officials have set their sights on a season opener in the first week of September with juniors and women's teams to follow should they be cleared in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stosic concedes ACT Gridion will have "a huge issue with ground allocation with all of the other major codes" as organisations scramble to fit a season in.
But signs are promising in the capital after just two teams - the Centurions and Firebirds - contested a five-game series for last year's championship.
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Stosic says adding a third team is the only way to make the competition viable and it looms as the first step in ACT Gridiron's master plan.
Officials are looking at ways to develop its coaching accreditation scheme, improving referee standards - in Stosic's eyes already "the best if not one of the best in the country", and player pathways.
"I want to make our own pathways, sending statistics and footage, so these kids of our own can get scholarships over the next four or five years," Stosic said.
"We've gone on a different path where we've had to make some tough calls and say 'listen, we need to focus on having a three-team competition'.
"If we don't have a three-team competition, then we're not going to have one. We're not going to run around with this two-team series rubbish because it just doesn't work and there is no point spending money on something that doesn't work.
"We're on track, we envision having a three-team competition this year and that's what we're focusing on.
"We're not looking at more than three teams, if there is a fourth then we're going to encourage that team to spread the love to the other three teams, just to make sure we have a viable competition. That's our intention."