By DAVID NAGEL
PCN Sports Alliance’s decision to release the nine Casey Cardinia league clubs, allowing the beginning of a new competition in the south-east, has ended a process that has finally brought clarity to football in one of the fastest growth corridors in Australia.
Fair dinkum, the relationships that have soured since Peter Jackson conducted his 2011 Review into Football in Country Victoria would make Christmas at Gina Rinehart’s this year seem like a loving affair.
The fact that it took the following action from the CCFL club presidents to bring the issues to light, and begin the process of bringing a footballing community back together; well it underlines the fragile nature of the structures that exist.
On October 2, the CCFL clubs sent a letter to PCNSA, requesting a withdrawal of membership, citing poor communication and a lack of service among their list of grievances.
PCNSA originally had 21 days, October 23, to vote on whether to grant the clubs exemption from Rule 14.1, which states 12 months’ notice, must be given of a clubs’ intention to resign from the league.
AFL Victoria Country intervention saw the process drag on, the clubs coerced by AFL Vic Country into listening to a proposal from PCNSA and its plans for the future.
The clubs rejected that proposal, with the PCNSA board voting last Thursday to say goodbye to one of its three leagues.
“This is what we were aiming for, to force the PCN board to stand up and take notice about what’s best for football in our region,” spokesman for the clubs, outgoing Narre Warren president Kahl Heinze explained.
“We want football and netball in the south-east corridor to prosper, and we believe this decision will provide a more collaborative approach to making that happening. We’ve got a lot of work to do now to make sure the (proposed) South East Football Netball League (SEFNL) hits the ground running in 2015.”
Relationships between key players in the development of football in the south-east are set to improve, with the yet to be appointed SEFNL operations manager to join AFL South East region general manager Jeremy Bourke, the South East Juniors, and a resource supplied by Netball Victoria under the one roof at Casey Fields.
AFL Victoria has set aside $500,000 to develop a Regional Administration Hub (RAH) at the site.
The relationship between PCNSA and the AFL South East Commission – a body born from Jackson’s 2011 review – didn’t begin well, with the messy roll-out of the commission leaving PCNSA a little confused.
Bourke acknowledged that the roll-out wasn’t handled well, describing the commission as a “ship without a rudder” until he was appointed Region General Manager, eight months after the appointment of the seven-man commission.
Until this current process was undertaken by the clubs, PCNSA was the only league in Victoria not signed up to one of the state’s 13 Regional Commissions, and had a poor relationship with the South East Juniors … the two key stakeholders in the development of junior football simply failed to communicate! But now we have clarity.
Despite allowing the CCFL clubs to run free, PCNSA has finally engaged itself in membership of the AFL South East Commission – a good thing – as is the close working relationship that already exists between the newly-formed SEFNL and the South East Juniors.
It seems we are finally heading in the right direction and some key strategic planning can now take place.
“Participation numbers at the entry level of Auskick need to transition to junior football,” Bourke explained.
“We currently sit at 50 per cent, which is not good enough, so that’s one area of development that we need to address.
“Also the dynamics of the senior competition needs to be looked at – currently we have 27 juniors clubs funnelling into nine senior clubs so we need to explore more diverse offerings in regards to senior football.”
The newly-formed SEFNL has promised to get it right, looking for a young and dynamic, highly skilled five-man board, which will lead the league into the future.
Strap yourselves in ladies and gentlemen … we’re in for one hell of a ride.
