Clubs head to court As if things couldn't get any worse for Victoria's beleaguered soccer chiefs, Football Federation Victoria now has to look forward to a further legal battle with its disgruntled clubs over controversial plans to axe the Victorian Premier League and set up a new competition. A mediation session held earlier in the week failed to break the impasse between the state controlling body and its dissident clubs. Now the clubs, in a statement released following the breakdown of talks, say they are hopeful that the matter will now move to the Supreme Court for resolution. The clubs believe that the FFV proposals, to establish what effectively amounts to several new clubs in zones of the state, are a thinly veiled bid to rid the game of its ethnic roots and deny traditional clubs a place in the state's top league. FFV argues that it is acting in line with a Football Federation Australia directive to broaden the game's base, make it more inclusive and appeal beyond its largely metropolitan borders. Earlier this week it was revealed that the Victorian Premier League was a hotbed of betting corruption with one club, Southern Stars, implicated in a series of match-fixing allegations involving offshore gambling syndicates. Six players have been charged.