Country football and netball hang in the balance amid Covid-19 outbreak and border restrictions

One border football netball league will not line up on Saturday while another will forge ahead with or without its Victorian players as lockdown threatens another season.

The Covid-19 pandemic is once again threatening to sideline country sport on the South Australia-Victoria border.

No Western Border football league and netball association matches will be played on Saturday while Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara football league and netball association will forge ahead with or without its Victorian players.

When Victoria plunged into its fourth lockdown last week, KNT postponed all weekend matches but is determined to return on Saturday.

The Western Border Football Netball League has postponed round nine to ensure a level playing field for the Victorian based Casterton Sandford Football Netball Club. Picture: Courtesy CASTERTON NEWS

All clubs are located in SA but president Peter McLellan estimated 10 per cent of players live on the other side of the border with Frances-based Border Districts unable to field a side.

The league will hold a special meeting on Wednesday night and McLellan said it remained unclear if those living in the 70km border corridor could cross for their 2 hours of exercise.

“We are planning to play football this weekend, if Border District can’t play that game will be postponed and caught up,” McLellan said.

“Everyone else is keen and Border Districts wants all the other clubs to get up and going.

“They’re just hopeful the country people can get out of lockdown this week.”

The cancellation of the 2020 season lead Victoria’s Kaniva Leeor United Football Club to leave the league and McLellan said it had allowed for delays in 2021 fixture.

Last weekend’s postponement will push the grand final from September 11 to 18 and the likely postponed Border District and Padthaway matches would be rescheduled for July 10.

After a year with no KNT competition, McLellan said it was vital country sport returned but with only 2 per cent separating fourth and seventh it had to be a fair competition.

“There’s 3000 to 4000 people on any given Saturday in our league and moving around, meeting, socialising, eating, drinking, just seeing family and friends,” he said.

“It’s just vital that country sport gets played for the mental health of everyone in the country.

“You can’t have a team suddenly lose four or five players from Victoria because they couldn’t come across the border to play but then miss the finals at the end of the year because they lost by an extra goal or two.

“We were mindful of that we want to keep the integrity of the comp.”

Western Border president Michael Summers said the league made a last minute decision to postpone Saturday’s Casterton Sandford and East Gambier clash on Friday.

The call to postpone this weekend’s round to September was made on Monday night to ensure a level playing field.

The Western Border Football Netball League has postponed round nine to ensure a level playing field for the Victorian based Casterton Sandford Football Netball Club. Picture: Courtesy CASTERTON NEWS

“We made that decision because we were thinking it was going to be a week but with the cases rising again yesterday we just wanted to be transparent to everyone and get in front of the door a bit earlier this week,” Summers said.

“It is disappointing because it’s been a great season so far, everyone has jump back on board and Western Border is stronger than ever.

“We can’t be prouder of what we’ve worked on together this year and to get football and netball back on is just what the community wants.”

Last year the league was three weeks out when the pandemic derailed its start date with the decision eventually made to abandon the entire season.

Summers said it designed a flexible fixture for 2021 with space to fit in matches that fell victim to lockdowns or border restrictions.

That contingency plan has been actioned with the September 4 premiership match rescheduled a week later.

With 22 on the injury list, Casterton Sandford senior football coach and vice president, Kane Forbes was looking at the positives.

“We’ve had a pretty tough run with injuries and we’re definitely not where we’d like to be on field at this point so having last week off was actually a blessing in disguise,” Forbes said.

“I’m really hoping that my playing group can mentally refresh as well as physically refresh but mainly the mental just to help try and keep our morale up in the back half of the year.”

The Western Border Football Netball League has postponed round nine to ensure a level playing field for the Victorian based Casterton Sandford Football Netball Club. Picture: Courtesy CASTERTON NEWS

Forbes was confident the reintroduction of the metropolitan Melbourne ring of steel would see them back training Friday.

“I’ve got full confidence that we’ll get a full session and not miss any games,” he said.

“The one negative that I am concerned about is the mental well-being of our players not playing and being in lockdown.

“It is very important that we keep all of our lines of communication open during the difficult time.”

The club did not pick up a football or netball for 12 months before voting in January to remain in the league rather that join the South West District football league and netball association to avoid the impact of border closures.

Forbes was an advocate for staying put and the current situation had not changed his mind.

“It is inevitable that we will end up down there but I think now’s not the right time,” he said.

“One of the reasons was we wouldn’t be able to get across the border because of Covid and we wouldn’t be playing footy and this is just another reason why changing wouldn’t have made a difference because obviously there’s no leagues in Victoria playing at all. ”