Football’s governing body has signalled it is prepared to forcibly fracture two neighbouring leagues in order to bolster a re-badged Western Border competition.
SANFL officialdom has stated that it is willing to compulsorily strip the Mid South Eastern and Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara of one club each for the 2025 season in order to create an eight-club competition centred around Mount Gambier.
SANFL head of community football Shawn Ford has stated that this action was not the preferred option as he hoped the Mid SE and KNTFL clubs would voluntarily switch leagues due to such incentives as additional player transfer points.
A media release issued by the SANFL last week mapped out the blueprint for a restructure of football in this region.
The SA Football Commission has endorsed final recommendations from the SANFL-appointed South East Working Group, with the immediate creation of a new Limestone Coast Football Netball League to replace the Western Border Football League by next year and a competition restructure flagged for 2025.
The new name for the Western Border is similar to the region’s soccer competition which is called the Limestone Coast Football Association.
While the approved recommendations will see the region continue with a three-league model in 2024 and beyond, structural changes to each competition as proposed by the SANFL-appointed Working Group are expected to be implemented ahead of season 2025.
Mr Ford said the SANFL-appointed Working Group had listened and taken onboard local stakeholder feedback following the first round of recommendations which, balanced with population and participation data, resulted in the latest recommendations being endorsed.
“The Working Group is committed to achieving a sustainable outcome for football and netball in the South East region and these recommendations provide the necessary change while minimising club disruption,” Ford said.
“All aspects of the region’s football structure and feedback provided had been well considered by the Working Group, which was tasked with finding a viable solution to the challenges facing club sustainability, including junior participation and pathways.
“While there will be no real immediate change to league compositions in the region in 2024, we believe some structural changes, including a new-look football and netball league with refined age groups at junior level, will assist with the development and sustainability of three strong and viable leagues in the region by 2025.”
The latest SANFL stance is at complete odds with the views of the nine Mid SE football and netball clubs who all want the status quo.
Earlier this year, SANFL and Western Border officials made overtures to Penola, Hamilton Kangaroos and Portland to have them return to the fold in 2024 but these approaches were rejected.
An earlier recommendation from the SE Working Group to divide the Western Border between the KNT and the Mid SE was also discarded.
A year ago, the SA Football Commission stated it would consider forcing a merger of the Western Border and Mid SE leagues but this also lacked support from many quarters.
