AFL Outer East boss Aaron Bailey says season start is possible but not at the expense of clubs’ futures
The AFL Outer East season is still a possibility but the league is adamant that clubs’ longterm viability comes first.
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AFL Outer East region general manager Aaron Bailey is confident there will be a resumption of footy and netball this season but said the league remained steadfast that there could be no such return at the expense of clubs’ long-term viability.
Speaking on a Game Face interview on the league’s Facebook page yesterday, Bailey said from conversations he’d had with various stakeholders he still believed an 8 to10-round season was possible. With the league having three or four grounds that don’t have cricket pitches and won’t be required for summer sport, play could continue into late October if needed to complete a reduced season.
He said the latest start possible would be the first week in August with a start in mid-July allowing a season to be finished by the end of October.
“That’s certainly our intention at the moment,” he said. “What we are trying to do is understand the position of all our clubs and make sure that we’re ready, when that opportunity comes we’re in a great position to return to it.”
To that end, the league has been extremely active in engaging its members, both clubs and players, through a series of surveys aimed at gauging the mood of the community.
A survey of playing participants released on May 3 and closing on Monday received some 2000 responses, a staggering 1200 in the first 12 hours alone.
Bailey said 80 per cent of respondents said they wanted to return to the field this season while just five per cent said they didn’t. He said that closely matched the data coming out of an earlier survey of clubs and he was delighted that both player and club seemed to be on the same page.
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The task now is to ensure that, if suburban sport receives a green light, the league is able to present a model that guarantees clubs’ long-term viability.
Bailey said, depending what restrictions remain in place, the league will only resume if it’s financially feasible for clubs. If it puts clubs at risk, the league will not resume and will start looking at 2021.
The financial pressure on clubs will present a challenge.
While encouraged that the survey showed most players were willing to play for reduced renumeration, Bailey said the biggest hurdle remains the crowd numbers set by the state government.
Should that number be 100, it will be challenging because that would basically be the match day participants. A number like 500 would be more workable.
Bailey also said the league was working through a number of modelling scenarios — staggered start times, games spread across the weekend rather than just Saturday, a possible split between football and netball — to better deal with any limits on crowd gathering.
AFL Victoria and eight metropolitan leagues met on Tuesday and failed to produce anything like a starting date for the season.
Protocols are being established around training following Monday’s state government announcement about the easing of stage three COVID-19 restrictions and how it applies to community sport.
In a statement, the eight leagues — Eastern FNL, Essendon District FL, Northern FNL, Southern FNL, Western Region FL, VAFA, South Metro and Yarra Juniors — said no sanctioned training should take place until “return to training” protocols were established, put in place and accepted by leagues, clubs and local councils alike.
No time frame has been given for finalising the protocols.
AFL Victoria meets with country football leagues, of which AFL Outer East is one, twice a week and Bailey said he was confident that, though the conversation was ongoing, a framework for a return to footy would be available “sooner rather than later”.
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