James Murphy
THERE has been speculation by the bucket load following last week’s press release regarding a proposed format for South East football and netball in 2024 and beyond.
The proposal, recommended by the South East Football and Netball Working Group, would leave just two leagues in the region, with the disbandment of the Western Border Football and Netball League.
The six WBFL teams would then be distributed between the existing Mid South Eastern and Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara leagues.
Casterton Sandford and East Gambier would join the nine MSE clubs, while Millicent and North, South and West Gambier would form a 14-team competition as part of the KNT.
SANFL Head of Country Football Shawn Ford spoke to The Border Watch this week to help clear the air on some of the key concerns raised over the last seven days.
The general consensus at this stage has been one of disapproval, with the main concern expressed by the public being the travel factor.
The introduction of Mount Gambier and Millicent teams into the KNTFL would create several two-hour treks between the likes of Keith, Bordertown and Mundulla.
However, Ford said this would be far less extreme than what has been speculated, stating “the travel conversation has been blown out of the water”.
“I think there are concerns about the unknown more than anything,” he said.
“We have heard it many times before – how is it sustainable travelling from Mount Gambier to Keith?
“I think once people realise what a fixture could look like, they might change their minds.
“You will go to Keith once in two years – that is the reality we are talking about here.
“There are so many things you can work around in a fixture.”
He said it goes both ways, with every club kept in mind as a proposed fixture is pieced together.
“There is not an expectation for Keith, nor Mount Gambier clubs or Millicent for that matter, to be travelling to the likes of Keith, Bordertown and areas like that regularly,” Ford said.
“They will play them once a year, if that.
“Then the local derbies and the real traditional rivals, they will play each other a couple of times to maximise gate takings.
“That is what is being thrown around at working group level.”
Another major point is the removal of a Mount Gambier-central football and netball competition.
Being the largest city in the state outside of Adelaide, the decision to remove it as a main hub for the two sports seems odd.
Ford said this had also been considered with concerns raised on the toll it would have on the MSEFL in particular.
“There are so many people filling 16 of the teams across the Limestone Coast coming out of Mount Gambier,” he said.
“If you decided to go and relaunch a couple of clubs in Mount Gambier – which a lot of people have suggested – and keep that centralised competition in Mount Gambier, particularly at junior level there is every chance the kids currently playing in the Mid South East would stick around in Mount Gambier.”
Junior format has been another hot topic and it comes back to travel again.
Ford said this was currently a key focus for the working group with the proposed junior structures far from finished.
There are several factors to consider, including the discrepancies around the age groups of the current WBFL compared to the Senior and Junior Colts format of MSE and KNT.
Ford said there had also been talk of steering away from the traditional Saturday-only games, expressing the increased gate taking of several SA leagues which have adopted a more flexible weekly fixture.
“The juniors need a complete overhaul,” Ford said.
“If the working group decide they can come up with a better model in that junior space to avoid that long travel for kids in the younger age groups, then they will do that.”
The finer details of what this may look like are expected in the next couple of months, which Ford hoped would change a few opinions.
As it stands, there is a plethora of minds to be swayed.
KNTFL president Peter McLellan contacted The Border Watch this week in regards to a meeting with all 10 clubs, with a unanimous vote against the recommendation.
“We had a meeting Monday night with the 10 clubs of football and netball and voted no to the working party’s recommendations,” he said.
“We will be staying as we are from last year and this year.”
Ford said he was aware of this meeting and the information would be fed back to the working group.
Many stand by the case there is no need for change in the South East, but Ford said the data suggests otherwise.
“Participation is dropping off,” he said.
“There would be clubs out there who will say they don’t understand why, there is nothing wrong with our current competitions and everything is strong.
“But all you have to do is go back over the last five years and have a look at the participation numbers from say 2017 through to 2023.
“There is a significant drop in all levels and we are still seeing forfeits in certain grades and all those sorts of things happening.
“Change does need to happen and leagues do need to get on the same page here sooner rather than later.”
That was the reasoning behind last year’s independent investigation, from which the initial proposal of a 15-team competition consisting of a merged MSEFL and WBFL was raised.
With that option shut down after a vote, what followed was an application from Casterton Sandford to leave the WBFL and join the MSEFL, which would have left the former as an unfeasible five-team competition.
While the initial application was denied, it was made clear any further endeavours would be accepted as of 2023, which sprung the creation of the working group.
“The people in every one of these sub committees and the working group, are South East people who are based in the South East,” Ford said.
“There is not a single person who are on one of these sub committees who are based in Adelaide.
“There is this pre-conceived idea of people sitting in the head office at Adelaide Oval making decisions which impact people at local level, which is just not the case.”
Ford said the working group was established to ensure the longevity of football and netball in the region, for all 25 Limestone Coast clubs.
“The general feeling of the public is this is going to kill local football and things like that,” he said.
“The travel proposal which will be put forward aren’t going to be excessively longer than what the KNT are already doing.
“There will still be additional travel for the Mount Gambier clubs compared to their current format, but it won’t look too much different to what it looked like back in the Western Border days with your Hamiltons and Portland involved.
“There are so many options on the table right now and we will explore every one of them to minimise travel as much as we can.”
While there has been plenty of focus on the negative sides of the proposal, Ford said the response was not so cut and dry.
“There are clubs who are already whiteboarding these ideas at club level,” he said.
“They are showing their playing group what this could look like.
“This is not something SANFL has asked for, they are doing it off their own bat, sending us messages and giving thoughts on options to minimise travel.
“It is really proactive and progressive thinking.”
Amidst the current backlash, Ford hoped the tune would change as more information is made available.
“The general public I think need to go and have a chat with their footy clubs and see what their opinions are, because from what we are hearing there are numerous different opinions within clubs,” Ford said.
“The public, at times, doesn’t echo that – and that is probably because they may not receive the same information as the clubs.”
One thing is for sure, the coming months will be a busy time for the South East football and netball scene.
“The working group has a lot of work to do,” Ford said.
“Time is certainly against us and from here we certainly need the clubs to be working together.
“I am hopeful for the three leagues to speak to each other.”
At this stage the finer details are hopeful to be released by July, which should shed further light on the situation as it stands.
“There will be numerous meetings moving forward,” Ford said.
“There will be meetings with clubs, meetings with the leagues and all sorts of things happening.
“There is still a lot of information to be deciphered and a lot of that will come from clubs and leagues as well.
“Nothing is final until the SA football commission signs off on it.
“Until that happens, there is room for other things to be put forward.”
