Local footy 2020: WRFL president reveals plan for night series as clubs wait out coronavirus crisis
As community clubs wait for their leagues’ decisions on the 2020 season, a western suburbs club boss has unveiled a radical plan for a metro-wide night tournament. Here’s how it would work.
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A Western Region Football League club boss has unveiled a radical proposal for a night series involving teams from across Melbourne if the season is cancelled amid the coronavirus crisis.
St Albans president James Perkin plans to have WRFL and Essendon District league outfits involved and will invite clubs from other community competitions if the “COVID Cup” gets off the ground.
The tournament would run over six weeks through September and October, with matches played at Kings Park in St Albans and Town Centre Oval in Caroline Springs.
Perkin is hoping 32 teams will contest the series to form three divisions, with games comprising four 15-minute quarters to be fixtured six nights a week.
The Northern and Eastern leagues have ruled a line through the 2020 campaign, while the EDFL, VAFA, SFL and WRFL are prepared to wait until June 22 before making a final decision.
“People just want footy,” Perkin said.
“If I could show you the amount of players that have rung in the past few days looking to train with us just because there’s still a hope the WRFL season will get off the ground … they don’t want to miss out.
“I’ve had players contact me who were ex-St Albans players who just want to come back and play.
“This tournament would give the Eastern and Northern teams who aren’t playing this year a chance.”
Perkin’s plan has support from Caroline Springs president Terry Azzopardi and several other clubs.
Perkin said he would commence discussions with leagues later this month if the season was cancelled.
“I’ve been in conversation with Terry from day one about my idea, and he’s desperate to get footy at his club,” he said.
“Caroline Springs are the new club coming through in the area, have a new facility getting built, new lights, so it would be really good to get them involved.
“A lot of clubs are waiting to find out if there is a possibility of playing.
“If the decision is made to pull the pin, that’s when I think we can start looking into it a little bit more.”
A security company is prepared to tip in up to $100,000 to finance the tournament and will receive gate takings in return.
The company would also provide temporary fencing around both venues to ensure crowds could be controlled.
The Division 1 winner would receive $7500, Division 2 $5000 and Division 3 $3500.
Perkin said teams taking part could share the proceeds to ease the financial burden of the pandemic, while clubs could also set up food trucks or their own bar on a rotational basis to generate funds.
He said the prospect of taking on EDFL powerhouse Keilor would be “huge” for WRFL top-flight outfits like Deer Park and St Albans.
“People would look forward to seeing that and they’d come down and watch it,” Perkin said.
“If it’s successful, it might be the way of the future for practice games instead of organising them pre-season. If we got this series up and running, clubs wouldn’t have to worry about all that.
“Hopefully by September restrictions have been lifted to where it’s nearly back to capacity and we can get this off the ground.”
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