EDFL 2021: Ian Kyte explains call to protect home-and-away fixture

Despite a three-week break, one metropolitan competition will play all regular-season matches in 2021 after making a call to push back its grand finals.

Aberfeldie’s James Peters and Pascoe Vale’s Corey Le Favi battle for possession this season. Picture: Andy Brownbill

The Essendon District Football League has kept its home-and-away fixture intact across all three senior divisions despite an enforced layoff as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Suburban leagues have sat out the past three Saturdays and missed two scheduled rounds of action, with Strathmore and Aberfeldie the only clash which was to be staged on the Queen’s Birthday weekend.

But unlike rival competitions, the EDFL has opted to stage a full regular season, with the Premier Division (September 19) and Division 1 (September 18) grand finals pushed back.

Division 2 will have a two-week finals series concluding on September 11.

The top-two clubs will not have a double chance this year, with the finalists in the bottom tier to contest knockout semi-finals.

Finals in all three divisions will kick off on September 4.

A traditional three-week slot for women’s finals has also been retained, with the deciders to be held on the weekend of August 27.

“We’ve tried to keep to keep the integrity of the competition by playing all the home-and-away games and we thought that was important for all divisions,” EDFL boss Ian Kyte said.

“We were fortunate to have obviously the Queen’s Birthday weekend off, where theoretically we’ve only missed one game.

“With Division 2 being able to get a full set of games in, we think that’s important to us.”

Kyte said staging all three senior grand finals on the same weekend was not a realistic option and would present logistical challenges.

“We looked at all the possibilities and logistically it borders on impossible with staffing them, venues being available and the media being able to cover it et cetera,” he said.

“We feel this is the best scenario we could come up with, and the best two teams should get through to the grand final.”

Kyte said the truncated Division 2 finals series had received “no negative feedback” from clubs.

Moonee Valley and Oak Park have been dominant in the third tier, losing just one match between them, but the duo face the prospect of a first-week finals exit.

Local football will resume on Saturday – without spectators – after the state government gave the green light for community sport to return in Melbourne.

Kyte said his clubs had not made a call to scrap player payments this weekend.

“That isn’t something clubs are pursuing at the moment,” he said.

“What the EDFL has done … is cover the costs for umpires for all of the games and filming for senior football. That’s a substantial saving the EDFL is covering for the clubs this weekend.”

Leagues are hopeful crowds will return on June 26.