Ballarat Football League reveals plans to play finals with metro clubs

The Ballarat Football League could push its season back to October to allow locked down metropolitan clubs the chance to win a premiership.

Kyle Borg celebrates a goal for Melton. Picture: Hamish Blair

The Ballarat Football League has extended its season into October in the hope of playing finals with locked down metropolitan clubs.

Second-placed Melton and sixth-placed Sunbury qualified for finals after the home-and-away season was cut short earlier this month due to Melbourne’s current lockdown.

An August 28 finals start had been planned but with the government restrictions extended to September 2, those plans have now been scrapped.

The league instead announcing a return to play on September 11.

The league is adamant the Bloods and Lions will not be dumped from finals in contrast to the Geelong District league where rival clubs voted to remove Werribee Centrals.

Riley Walker in action for Melton. Picture: Hamish Blair

Daniel Toman in action for Sunbury. Picture Shawn Smits

BFNL operations manager Shane Anwyl said Melton and Sunbury deserved the right to play for a premiership as much as any regional club.

“We’re of the view that the metro clubs are part of the league as a whole and they’ve earnt the right to compete in the finals series,” he said.

“It’s no fault of there’s that they’re in the current situation, so we believe they have the same right as every other club in the top six to try and win that premiership.

“That’s why we’re looking to extend it to October 2, to allow ourselves as much time as possible.

A roadmap was released on Tuesday outlining the league’s plans moving forward.

Should metropolitan Melbourne be released on September 2 as planned, a top-six finals series will begin on September 11 with the grand final on October 2.

Another week of restrictions will see a top-six finals played over three weeks commence on September 18.

Any further delays will see the league jump straight to top-four semi finals or top-two grand final.

The league has access to non-cricket grounds, allowing the season to be extended further.

“Our preference has always been to finish on September 18 when we’d originally scheduled but circumstances change and we’ve had to be flexible with that,” Anwyl said.

“One of the options we’re looking at at the moment is to extent that as late as October 2.

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“We’re fortunate that we have some top class venues that don’t have cricket wickets so we’ve got that flexibility, to proceed without having an impact on cricket.”

North Ballarat, East Point, Sebastopol and Ballarat are the regional teams to have qualified for the finals series.

Melton lost just two games this season, finishing a game behind minor premier North Ballarat, while Sunbury squeezed into sixth on percentage ahead of fellow eastern block club Bacchus Marsh.

In one of the closest seasons in league history percentage separated East Point in fourth from Redan in eighth.