Eastern Football Netball League: Lions president says club is left shattered by league decision
One EFNL club left shattered by today’s cancellation of the season has said ‘if there’s any other comp that wants us in it, go ahead, we’ll certainly look at that’.
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Doncaster East president Peter Sowersby has expressed his club’s bitter disappointment at the Eastern Football Netball League’s cancelling of the 2020 season.
The league scrapped its season, in conjunction with the Northern Football Netball League, via an email to club presidents at noon today followed by a press release half an hour later.
Sowersby recently implored the league to exhaust all options before making the call, and said his club now needed to explore its options for 2020.
“If there’s any other comp that want Donny East in it, go ahead, we’ll certainly look at that,” Sowersby said.
“You have to think of everything. I’ve had blokes ringing me, extremely upset, I feel terrible for them.
“As a club, we’re extremely, extremely, disappointed, to be honest.”
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The league had sanctioned training to return from Monday night this week, with a number of clubs resuming on the track.
The Lions’ boss said he didn’t understand why the call to train had been made if the season was to be canned shortly after.
“We had everyone in order to train tomorrow night,” Sowersby said.
“The boys were absolutely pumped, I don’t even know why the EFL would have said to go out and train, give guys false hope.”
Doncaster East was set to take on the league’s Premier Division this season for the first time in club history after earning a long-awaited promotion following back-to-back premiership wins.
“If you ask me, they’ve taken the absolutely easy option … I don’t know what’s going to change next year, (COVID-19 is) still going to be around,” Sowersby said.
“How are clubs going to be financially different this time next year? I just don’t get it.
“People were saying it put a strain on volunteers, I don’t know what strain it is – people are volunteers because they want to help, they’ve put their hand up to help.”
EFNL chief executive Troy Swainston said in the league statement: “The EFNL has maintained a view throughout this process that we do not want one club to come back next year worse off than they are now”.
Swainston also said the decision had been made in the best interests of the short and long-term and that “the health and safety of the community and club and league sustainability have always been our top priorities”.
Sowersby, who has been in contact with Swainston today, expressed his concern about the mental health aspect for his club and players with football not going ahead.
“It’s going to take a mental strain on a lot of people, that’s for sure. I’m devastated for our club, our community,” he said.
“It’s bigger than the EFL, it’s about the community and mental health, that’s the big one.
“It’s absolutely kicked the wind out of us, I can assure you.”
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