SFNL: Chelsea Heights and St Kilda City speak on the prospect of double relegation

Two Southern League clubs facing relegation after a recent restructure have had their say on the impact it could have.

Chelsea Heights and St Kilda City are unsure of what the future holds after the Southern league’s restructure has forced them into the relegation zone.

Both the Saints and Demons are staring at a divisional drop despite being above last on their respective ladders.

The restructure was put in place to allow Narre Warren into Division 1 and Berwick Springs into Division 3.

Southern league clubs were pitched seven options to vote on and the results came back comprehensively in favour of option three which included double relegation in Division 1 and 2.

St Kilda City president Mel Starr was disappointed with the timing of the restructure.

“We’re very disappointed,” she said.

“We went into this season rebuilding a club and we knew what we had to do to survive Division 2.

“We knew all of our players were going away at the middle of the year but it was all about a two, three-year plan for us.

“To have the goalposts moved so close to the end of the season, when it’s too late to review that plan, is disappointing.

“I know it’s in the bylaws that they (the league) have the right to do it, but we’re a club that’s been in Division 1 for the last 20 years.

“We’ve dropped a bit in the last couple but it’s just sad, really.”

Chelsea Heights is facing relegation. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Chelsea Heights football operations manager Lee Thwaites didn’t know how his players would react.

“We don’t really know where we’re at now,” he said.

“It’s going to impact us, where we are positioned in the community, and we’d just locked in pretty much every player (for next year) … yeah, I don’t know.

“We’re going to have some pretty disappointed players.”

The Demons are closer to relegation than the Saints are but the loss of a position in Division 1 is the biggest defeat they’ve felt all year.

“Obviously we’re not far off being last, it’s just they weren’t the rules at the start of the season,” Thwaites said.

“It does feel a little bit unfair but at the end of the day we’re not far off being the bottom side.

“We’ve had a lot of things not go our way, injuries whacked us hard early and it’s hard to bounce back.

“We knew the season was done but we thought we’d just knuckle down, see how everyone plays and stuff like that.”

St Kilda City has a chance at two more wins but has won four matches this year and lost after the siren in another.

The Saints felt they had stopped their spiral from a disastrous 2023 with a refreshing new culture.

When asked if she was deemed the year a success, Starr was assured in her response.

“Hugely (successful),” she confirmed.

“We had six players at the beginning of the year (pre-season) and we’ve now got 79 registered.

“The story we’ve told and everything we’ve done with the players has been built around that two or three-year plan.”

St Kilda City players run out.

Starr and her Saints haven’t given up yet.

If they win the final two games of the year and Keysborough lose heavily, it could come down to percentage.

“It’s not all over, it could come down to percentage – we’d have to put in a few strong weeks but we’re not just throwing in the towel here,” she said.

“We’re hoping this doesn’t impact our ability to retain all the players we’ve worked so hard to get.”