Kyneton women’s footy split threatening to tear country town apart

A volatile break-up between a women’s footy team and their century-old club is threatening to split a country town and looks headed for a costly battle in the courts.

Kyneton women’s players celebrate after winning the 2022 RDFNL premiership. Picture: Josh Chadwick

The fallout from Kyneton’s women’s footy team split is threatening to tear the small town apart.

Kyneton and Kyneton Women’s football clubs have both threatened legal action over the women’s team’s secession earlier this year.

The Tigers say the Riddell District club has been unfairly maligned after being accused of providing a “horrible, volatile environment” by its former women’s team.

Public statements from the women’s team that the club was “unsafe” have been described as “deeply offensive and insulting” with legal action being considered if the comments persist.

“This is deeply offensive and insulting to our club, all our players, volunteers, members and sponsors and is without grounds,” Kyneton said in a statement provided to this masthead.

Kyneton celebrates its 2022 RDFNL Women’s premiership. Picture: Josh Chadwick

“It is a smear and we will take action if it continues.

Kyneton said there had been no “safety issues” regarding women’s football reported to the club’s committee in the 10 years it had had a female team.

Also, no netballers had expressed safety concerns, the club saying it had “three times” more netballers than women’s footballers.

However, Kyneton Women’s president Nat Korinfsky said there were several incidents, most recently after the women’s grand final.

She said she was reprimanded for giving the women’s team a can of beer each after the match, the team’s second straight Riddell District decider.

The club held its annual raffle at Kyneton Showgrounds on the same night the women’s team was playing the grand final in Woodend.

“The inequity is staggering, that would never happen to a men’s team – the boys get a slab every week without question.”

Angst between the two parties could also be escalated to the AFL Integrity Unit.

It follows the registration with ASIC of the name “Kyneton Tigers” last November by the women’s football team without Kyneton’s knowledge.

“The KFNC has been known as the Kyneton Tigers for generations,” the statement said.

Kyneton coach Phil Hawkes talks to his players. Picture: Josh Chadwick

“We were shocked and don’t understand the motivation for registering this business name.

“Our requests for transferring this name have not been answered.

“We will now be referring this matter to the AFL Integrity Unit.”

This masthead has seen a copy of the ASIC documentation registered on November 22 last year.

However, Korinfsky said the name would be handed over to protect all users of the Tigers’ name.

“Towards the end of last year when we were still negotiating with the club we were looking for a way to remain independent but still retain our Tigers identity,” she said.

“It wasn’t done maliciously … we completely respect Kyneton does not want us to use that name and we’re not using that name moving forward.

“Our concern is, with the treatment towards us, we would be afraid that if we gave up that name to them they might hold that against all the other associations in the town that also use the Tigers name; Kyneton Basketball Association, Kyneton Cricket Club and Kyneton Netball Association.

“Our worry is if we hand that over they might stop those clubs from using that name, so we are 100 per cent prepared to hand the name over to a neutral entity that would ensure that every association can use the Kyneton Tigers name freely.”

The club also claims the women’s team is using indigenous KFNC logo without permission and some jumpers used last season had not been returned.

“The logos are not the same, we had that logo drawn from scratch by our graphic designer,” Korinfsky said.

Kyneton entered the Riddell District league in 2024. Picture: Josh Chadwick

Kyneton was awarded AFL Victoria’s Inclusive Club of the Year in 2021 following its work in promoting a Pride Cup and developing a FIDA team.

“We genuinely do not understand why the club is being subjected to this barrage of attack after supporting the women’s program for 10 years,” the club said.

“This is a major distraction and has been very taxing on the entire committee, causing significant emotional strain and stress. Consequently, several committee members have resigned.

“We support the (women’s) program each and every year and have grown it to include junior girls, youth girls and senior women.

“Each year we continue to invest in these programs. On any measure we are strong supporters of women’s football.”

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Korinfsky said the decision to leave the club wasn’t a rushed decision and the club’s award was built on the back of the women’s team’s work.

“It was years of poor treatment that we put up with, for a lot of our players we were so grateful to play football that we put up with sub-par treatment and continue to look for solutions,” she said.

“When we won that inclusive club of the year it was based on the work around the Pride Cup, which our team championed, and for the work to bring the FIDA team together and a lot of people could attest to the work that myself and Elle Dow did.

“I was the person who accepted that award from AFL Victoria.”