Bayside Council ‘very sorry’ after again leaving women’s football team in the dark

VAFA president George Voyage has joined a chorus of criticism of Bayside Council, after it shut off the lights on Old Brighton women footballers for the third time this season.

It was lights out for the third time this season for Old Brighton players (L-R) Sophie Ambrose, Siena Visentini, Morgan McGregor and Layne Davies.

Bayside Council says it is “very sorry’’ for the blunder that led to the lights going out on the Old Brighton women’s football team for the third team this season.

The council gave a written assurance to the club that the lights would go off at 7.30pm at the Brighton Beach Oval last Saturday.

Instead they cut out at 5.50pm.

The Tonners’ match against Ivanhoe was abandoned early in the third quarter, leaving coach Peter Grant and his players fuming.

“We are very sorry that the sportsground lighting did not match the game times,’’ the council said in a statement to Leader this morning.

“Following advice about the match times, arrangements were made for the lighting timers to be changed. Unfortunately there seems to have been a problem with the change and the lights turned off prematurely.’’

The council controls the lighting at all its sports grounds by timers.

Earlier in the season two other Old Brighton twilight games had to be called off when the lights shut off before 6pm.

Playing conditions were impossible during the Old Brighton blackout last Saturday.

The club has repeatedly told the council of its game times this season, and after the two earlier matches were abandoned it demanded a written guarantee there would be no more problems.

“The lights were set a few weeks ago as requested,’’ a council officer responded last Thursday.

“For Saturdays they are set to 4pm-7.30pm, which is in accordance with the club’s allocations and fixtures.’’

Yet after last Saturday’s blunder the council released another statement saying it would have to review if it was notified of the scheduled finishing time.

VAFA president George Voyage said this morning the situation wasn’t good enough.

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He said women’s football was growing rapidly in the association “and things like this turn people off it’’.

“It’s disappointing for the Old Brighton team for this to happen right on the cusp of finals,’’ Voyage said.

“They train all week, they train hard, the games mean a lot to them. Then the lights switch off and they can’t finish. It’s unacceptable.’’

Voyage said the abandoned games compromised the women’s competition, affecting premiership points and percentages, best and fairests and goalkicking awards.

He said he was unsure why the council didn’t trust its sporting tenants to control ground lights.

Voyage said the VAFA would contact Bayside Council about the issue.

The council has now turned off the timers at Brighton Beach Oval, allowing the club to turn on the lights manually.

It told the Tonners yesterday it was investigating why a contractor hadn’t made changes to the timer.