LOCAL FOOTY TENSION RISES
ANGST AS AFL BARWON’S PLANS FOR MEN’S AND WOMEN’S LEAGUES SPARK DIVISION:
AFL Barwon says stemming the bleeding and keeping players in the game was at the heart of a decision to cut its top senior women’s division to just four clubs, effective this weekend.
Drysdale and St Joseph’s were yesterday moved into the league’s expanded second division amid reports players were walking away after copping weekly thumpings in the top grade.
But some remaining Division 1 clubs were yesterday fuming at being forced to play out the remaining eight rounds in a four-team competition.
AFL Barwon region manager Lee Hartman said the governing body had to step in after Joeys were outscored 419-7 across their first three matches in Division 1.
Drysdale’s plight was similar, with Hartman saying the Hawks were scrambling to find players for this weekend after being beaten 289-15 across their first three games.
“There were too many thrashings in the competition,” Hartman said.
“We had games of about 30-goal margins and in year one of the competition we always said we wanted to get the competition established.
“With the margins, there was already drop-off with participants and there was a real question mark over the sustainability of some of those teams with those margins.
“We felt it was better to go this way than have 30goal results for the rest of the season and the chance of participants dropping off.
“Being year one we wanted to make sure the competition was sustainable going forward.”
The disparity in the sixteam divisions came despite four weeks of grading matches at the start of the season involving the 12 teams. New fixtures for the four-team Division 1 and eight-team Division 2 were released yesterday.
Clubs were called to a meeting on Wednesday night to discuss potential changes to the structure in light of the lopsided Division 1 results.
The following afternoon the league relegated Drysdale and St Joseph’s — and some clubs felt they were not given enough time to provide feedback.
Concerns raised privately by some Division 1 clubs were the toll weekly matches against the best teams would have on their players. To “ensure greater recovery periods for players”, AFL Barwon has added an extra bye.
Hartman said the backlash about the change was mainly from clubs that “made it clear they were out there to win”.
St Mary’s, one of four remaining Division 1 clubs, was yesterday against the mid-season change.
“Though we understand the reasoning behind creating greater competitive balance, we do not see value for any competition where teams play three clubs only, three times over, when there are 12 teams in the league,” St Mary’s female football co-ordinator Amanda Flynn said.
“This format does not represent healthy ‘competition’ and if we thought we were signing up to play three teams, we might not have joined the league until such a time as there was a range of teams to play.
“We all went into the season knowing that some clubs would be much more dominant than others and that there would be disparity between the teams.
“We believe it is counterproductive to rework a season we are already in, to shuffle games that have already been scheduled with volunteers and clubs and to create upheaval in players’, coaches’ and families’ lives that have already been mapped out for the next couple of months.”
There will be three weeks of finals in both grades, made up of a final four, therefore all clubs in Division 1 will make finals.
Hartman pointed to a four-team competition in the first year of the Youth Girls league as an example of how small competitions could work in a league’s infancy.
SENIOR WOMEN’S FOOTBALL DIVISIONS
DIVISION 1: North Geelong, St Mary’s, Geelong Amateur, Geelong West Giants
DIVISION 2: Colac Imperials, Grovedale, Ocean Grove, Barwon Heads, Lara, Bell Post Hill and former Division 1 clubs St Joseph’s and Drysdale