Eastern Football Netball League: Bayswater Oval and Tormore Reserve will be available for finals
Two Knox grounds will continue to host finals after an unofficial deal between league officials and three Knox councillors.
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Knox will continue to host Eastern Football Netball League finals after an unofficial deal was brokered between league officials and three Knox councillors.
The fate of finals had been in limbo following Cr Darren Pearce’s move to make the EFNL pay more to use council-owned sports grounds.
The licensing saga has been brewing since 2017 when Cr Pearce said the league should be slugged a higher licensing fee to have finals at Marie Wallace Park (Bayswater Oval) in Bayswater and Tormore Reserve in Boronia, saying the games netted a substantial profit — a claim refuted by the league.
But late last year the council worked out a higher licensing rate for the use of both parks and, in December, councillors gave the EFNL the green light for the 2020 season.
However, three councillors — Pearce, Tony Holland and Peter Lockwood — wanted to put a spanner in the works by repealing the motion until the trio met with EFNL chief executive Troy Swainston prior to Christmas.
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“What we were able to do, over an hour and a cup of coffee, is work through concerns we had on the original precision motion,” Cr Pearce said.
“We asked if he was prepared to put in writing officially that the EFNL will make a substantial financial contribution to improve our infrastructure.”
Cr Pearce said, while no specific amount was agreed on, Mr Swainston made a commitment to the contribution at that meeting.
Cr Pearce said the meeting was about getting a fair deal and the best value for ratepayers.
“My reading of it is the EFNL have actually got themselves an outstanding CEO, an outstanding leader and someone I believe with the highest integrity we can work with,” he said.
Mr Swainston confirmed the finals would remain at Tormore Reserve and Marie Wallace Park, but declined to make a comment on Cr Pearce’s announcement.
The league’s showpiece decider, formerly Division 1 and now Premier Division, has long been played at Bayswater Oval while Tormore Reserve hosted last season’s second tier grand final (now called Division 1).
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