PORTLAND Football Netball Club hosted league representatives from the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) in an open meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss the proposal for Portland to join a newly-formed South Australian league in the 2024 season.
It comes during a time of significant upheaval for football and netball in the region, with another proposal from SANFL to disband the current Western Border Football League and have the clubs join either the Mid South Eastern Football League or the Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara Football League also on the table.
The upshot of Portland jumping on board, according to SANFL’s head of country football Shawn Ford, is that this proposal would see the new league be comprised of eight teams – the six current WBFL clubs (North Gambier, South Gambier, East Gambier, West Gambier, Millicent and Casterton-Sandford), along with former WBFL clubs Portland and Penola.
When the SANFL approached Portland with the proposal a couple of weeks ago they made the same pitch to Hamilton, however the Kangaroos have indicated such a move is not high on their list of priorities at the current time.
The SANFL outlined a 16-round season in the new competition, with each club to host eight home matches, while finals – including the grand final – would be hosted on a rotational basis, with Portland and Penola to host the 2024 and 2025 grand final respectively.
All six current WBFL clubs were represented by their presidents at Wednesday’s forum, while AFL Western District regional manager Jason Muldoon was also in attendance.
Ford said the goal behind the proposal is to continue to build up South Australian football to be as strong as it can possibly be.
“We want to build a strong and vibrant competition moving into the future and ensuring there’s sustainability and enough buy-in from everyone involved to make this happen,” Ford said.
“We’ve got nothing but absolute respect for the Hampden league and AFL Victoria… we’re not trying to put a hard sales pitch on anybody.
“We think we’ve got a pretty strong model in place that is sustainable, at the end of the day it’s completely up to Portland if they choose to come across, and if not, we’ll certainly wish them well and hope they have every success in the Hampden league.”
Ford emphasised that SANFL was not trying to capitalise on any perception that there may be amongst the Portland community around unfair treatment by Hampden when it comes to issues such as hosting finals but added that the proposal would see the finals shared between clubs on a rotational basis.
“It’s a no-brainer for us that finals should be shared on such a basis… but we’re not putting it out there as a carrot to say, ‘this is better for you, come over here,’ it’s just not the case,” he said.
“This is just what we believe to be the best model moving forward.”
A contingent of about 100 members from the PFNC community – including club president Troy Bannam and numerous current players, coaches, officials and life members – attended the meeting.
Netball
There were plenty of questions concerning details around the future relationship between football and netball, as well as the future of the club’s alignment with junior representative pathways.
One of the big concerns that was raised amongst the netball community was the lack of clarity around how netball would fit in to this proposal.
SANFL is not the authority in the state when it comes to governance over netball, that job is done by Netball South Australia who was not present at the meeting.
Portland netball coordinator Charley Samson said at this stage they simply didn’t have enough information to make an informed choice about whether the proposal would be beneficial for the club.
“There’s still a lot we don’t know about, and until we have that clarification around how netball fits into the equation, we can’t really comment on whether it’s a good proposal or not,” Samson said.
Ford said he understood the concerns raised by the netball community and added that the clarification that had been sought would be forthcoming at some point in the near future.
“It’s a tricky position that we’re in, we’re obviously the authority when it comes to football in South Australia, but we don’t hold the same weight in the netball side of things,” Ford said.
“At the same time, we’re still very reliant on the feedback from the netball community, and that’s no different when it comes to Portland and this proposal.
“We’re going to be listening to what we hear from Troy as well as the netball volunteers at Portland when it comes to the information they require, and we’ll be going back to collate that information and get it to them.”
Juniors
The other major concern appeared to be how Portland’s alignment with junior representative programs would change should they choose to join a South Australian competition.
Ford explained that at this stage any Portland players who are currently, or wish to be in, the Greater Western Victoria Rebels program would be able to continue to do that, while there would also be an additional pathway available to other players.
“It’s still a key conversation piece that we have to have with AFL Victoria and the Rebels, but the key takeaway is that we won’t be getting in the way of players wishing to play with a Victorian representative side,” Ford said.
“All we’re saying is there’s an opportunity there for players who maybe aren’t getting a look in with the Rebels to join our pathway with the Glenelg Football Club… it’s essentially a dual pathway opportunity on the cards for Portland.”
Muldoon clarified that further up the ranks would be when players revert back to playing within for their home state.
“The agreement that each state has with one another is the state-level side has access to players from their home state… so in this case it would mean that regardless of whether a player from Portland has played in Victoria or South Australia, at a state level they would have to represent Victoria,” he said.
What’s best
On the proposal in general, Muldoon said that he was “keen on Portland exploring what is best for Portland.”
“At the end of the day, yes, we would love them to stay in the Hampden competition in the AFL Western District region, but if it came back that (moving into this new league) was what was best for the club, then AFL Western District and AFL Victoria would support that.
“There’s no us against them scenario, we’re here to do what’s best for Portland Football Netball Club.”
Muldoon also addressed the possible perception that Portland doesn’t have the ability to compete at a high level in the Hampden competition, one of the premier leagues in all of country football.
“I don’t agree with that assessment, if you look to as recently as last season, Portland were more than competitive,” he said.
“(The club) has been a little bit of a victim of circumstances, it’s no secret that through this last off-season the club lost a lot of players.
“There’s a strong crop of juniors coming through, and let’s be honest Hampden is a really highly-rated competition… I think the club is certainly heading in a positive direction.”
Overall, Bannam said the SANFL proposal is one which remains under strong consideration by his club, and said discussions with them, along with Hampden and AFL Western District would be ongoing.
“It’s a really good offering… there’s still a lot for us to consider and a lot to line up I suppose,” he said.
“There’s still a lot of things which have to be tabled before we make any kind of decision.
“It’s probably a bit of a sign of the times for country football, it’s happening everywhere at the moment, and I would say that it will be happening down here even if we stay in Hampden… these conversations are going to become the norm.”