THE trigger has been pulled on a major shake-up of country footy and netball in South-East South Australia, after Casterton Sandford members voted – almost unanimously – to apply for a shift to the Mid Southern Eastern league in 2023.

More than 150 supporters – around half of the club’s financial membership – lodged their votes at a special meeting on Sunday, with 97 per cent of respondents giving the nod to the executive to apply for the move.

SANFL Country Football Manager, Shawn Ford and Football Operations Co-Ordinator SE, Michael Mourbey, attended Sunday’s vote and meeting, Ford addressing the gathering after the votes were counted, advising members of the process to follow.

Speaking to the Casterton News, Ford said while “what (a Casterton Sandford move) looks like for the rest of the region” was yet to be seen, “there will absolutely be change, moving forward”.

“It’s fantastic, good to see so many people turn out for this important vote today,” Ford said.

“We’ve got an investigation committee who will now come on board and start to look at the pros and cons and how this all fits in the bigger picture … so yes, it’s a done deal for Casterton to want to move, but what that move looks like for the rest of the region, we don’t know yet, so we can’t give anything away, until that investigation kicks in.”

The investigation committee has 60 days to gather material and develop a recommendation which will be put to SANFL’s community football division, before going before the South Australian Football Commission and a decision made, from there.

Ford said a motion passed early last year regarding the future of the Western Border Football League, could be the nail in the coffin for the Cats’ home for more than half a century.

“There’s an enormous amount to be done in the next 60 days, let alone between now and (next season),” he said.

“Casterton have been really transparent with us, the SANFL and with the Western Border Footy League, which has been great.

“Our biggest concern right now is while it’s great to see so many people turn up for this and get that motion passed at 97 per cent, we’ve got five other clubs right now effectively, without a home.

“They’ve had a motion carry in January 2021 to say if Casterton were to be successful in a vote like this, that their league would actually dissolve.

“Where that leaves them, we don’t actually know, but there’s a hell of a lot of work to do with those five clubs, particularly, but with the Limestone Coast, overall.”

Ford said in his opinion, Sunday’s vote was the catalyst for necessary change in community football and he was looking forward to seeing where the investigation committee’s findings led.

“I believe change was required, whether it was this trigger or whether it was another trigger is probably debatable, I guess, but change was certainly required for numerous reasons,” he said.

“There’s a number of teams right across the board from the Kowree Naracoorte, right through to the Western Border who are struggling to fill juniors, struggling to fill reserves.

“We’ve seen across the border that Port Fairy have forfeited their seniors in recent weeks.

“It’s not getting any easier, so something does have to give and people in the region are quite smart, they’ve been saying for some time, there just hasn’t been s trigger and this has certainly sparked that, so it will be interesting to see what the investigation committee turns up in 60 days’ time.”

Cats’ president, Dylan Ayton, thanked the members who took time out of their weekend to attend the meeting and lodge their vote.

“It was outstanding numbers and overwhelming support for the motion … it makes us really confident in what we’ve been doing and that the information we’ve provided to the members … they’re happy with,” he said.

“”Obviously we, as an executive, hoped it would go this way, because we believe it’s the best thing for the players, the club and the community, with everything we’ve talked about.

“We hope now that the process can be as smooth as possible … there’s already been a lot of investigation done and (SANFL) knows there needs to be change … we’ve spoken to them the whole way and they understand why we’re doing this.”

He said while processes like recruiting for both netball and football and gathering of sponsorship for 2023 would be “extremely difficult” during the investigation period, the future was looking “super exciting” for the club.

“We know this is the best thing, going forward, for the future of Casterton Sandford, our ability to keep our juniors as a really integral part of the club and keep those pathways going through to seniors … and give our senior netballers and footballers a really competitive competition to play in,” Ayton said.