Picola District Football Netball League votes on geographical split

Jun 4, 2024

Picola District League was embroiled in debate about whether to return to a geographical split. Photo by Megan Fisher

Picola District Football Netball League has issued its decision on the matter of geographical partitions following a vote between clubs this week.

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The league had been mulling over the proposal of returning to its previous model of dividing the competition into north-west and south-east districts, a format last seen before the pandemic forced the cancellation of two seasons.

However, a statement released by the league Wednesday has confirmed that the league, which runs independently of AFL Goulburn Murray and AFL Victoria, will remain in its current existing state for now.

In the statement, the league explained some of the benefits of the debate that led to this decision, with a surprising revelation about external interest in the competition.

“The process has included feedback from clubs, as well as extensive consideration of the potential positive impact which could be enjoyed by such change for the broader PDFNL,” the league said.

“It has also provided the board a great opportunity to review and evaluate recent player points and fixture structure changes.

“As there are many cons for not splitting, there are many pros; 10 clubs, currently from five different leagues, have expressed interest in further discussing joining the PDFNL.”

While this set of clubs, as well as the competitions they currently belong to, were unnamed in the statement, the league stated that discussions with said teams required splitting to accommodate everyone.

“This was not unforeseen by the PDFNL board and, as such, in discussion with current member clubs, prior to receiving feedback, the league provided potential scenarios,” the league said.

“The board was aware and expressed to current clubs that, as a first step, the league would need to make a commitment to splitting the competition in its current state.

“The PDFNL board met (Tuesday evening) and, by majority, resolved to not commit to splitting the PDFNL into two divisions.”

Following the verdict, the league changed its focus to further reviewing the aforementioned player points system and matters of fixturing.

Curiously, the door has been left open for any of the unnamed 10 outside clubs to apply for the league even in the current model.