The tentative start of the 2024 Mid South East Football League on April 13 will avoid a direct clash with the AFL’s second Gather Round.
AFL matches will be played earlier in the month at Adelaide Oval, suburban venue Norwood Oval and at Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills.
When the inaugural Gather Round was announced last year, SANFL chief executive Darren Chandler said his organisation would encourage and work with all affiliated leagues across the state to consider having byes.
However, the MSEFL chose not to do so as it would have been a significant disruption to its schedule.
The inaugural edition of Gather Round in SA was a roaring success, with all nine matches sold out.
After the success of last season, the AFL signed a deal with the South Australian Government to host the event again until at least 2026.
Meanwhile, the MSEFL has released the unconfirmed 2024 program online and stated it could still be subject to change.
There are the customary competition-wide byes on the King’s Birthday holiday long weekend on June 8 for the annual SE Zone football championships along with July 13 for the 2023 SA Country Championships at Victor Harbor.
There is no need for a bye on the Easter holiday long weekend as this date falls at the very beginning of April.
The MSEFL season will come to a close on September 23 when the grand final is played.
This is exactly one-week before the AFL season decider is played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Ahead of this month’s MSEFL annual general meeting in Millicent, the Glencoe Football Club had suggested the first semi and second semi be played on the same weekend.
However, this bid by the Murphies was not accepted by the other MSEFL clubs.
The 2024 tentative schedule throws up some interesting encounters.
Hatherleigh suffered a narrow defeat to reigning premiers Kalangadoo at the Port MacDonnell Oval in the 2023 premiership play-off.
The Eagles under new playing coach Tom Hutchesson only have to wait until round three on April 27 for an opportunity for revenge as they meet Kalangadoo on their home ground.
Just after Anzac Day, Kongorong is scheduled to host Robe on April 27.
If past practice is followed, the John Rogers Memorial Medal will be awarded to the best on ground.
Private John Rogers was a local National Serviceman who was killed on active service in Vietnam in 1968.
In recent years, the annual seaside meeting of Hatherleigh and Robe had an Anzac Day theme and was timed around April 25.
There has been no such scheduling made in 2023 or this year.
The coming season could be a watershed for the MSEFL.
The MSEFL has had just one change in its composition in almost 60 years but the SANFL is looking to fracture it by possibly forcing one club to join a re-badged Western Border Football League in 2025.
The SA Country Football Championships will be returning to the South Coast after an absence of only three years.
The two-day carnival will be played at the Victor Harbor and Encounter Bay ovals, in a repeat of the 2021 championships.
Upgrades to the two ovals were seen as fundamental parts to the bid to host the carnival.
An estimated economic impact of $1.25m came from the last hosting, with Great Southern Football League president Grant Levy reportedly saying the announcement was huge for the entire region.
“To host the SA Country Championships in conjunction with the Southern League and Kangaroo Island Leagues, which make up the Southern Districts Zone, will not only benefit our three leagues but will have huge economic benefits for our whole region,” Mr Levy said.
