Old Brighton women’s footy team abandon games as oval lights turn off

A bewildered women’s football team has been forced off the field mid-match and had to forfeit potential premiership points after the lights were turned off by the council in the middle of the game not once, but twice. And it could happen again.

Old Brighton players Layne Davies, Morgan McGregor, Siena Visentini and Sophie Ambrose. Picture: Josie Hayden

The Old Brighton women’s football team has met its toughest opponent.

It’s been blindsided by the lights.

The Tonners’ past two matches were abandoned when the lights went out, first at Banksia Reserve in Beaumaris and then last Saturday at Brighton Beach Oval.

Both were twilight games kicking off at 4.45pm.

The City of Bayside controls the lights and the club suspects the timer was changed to turn them off earlier than the requested time of 7.45pm.

The match at Beaumaris finished when the lights shut down just after halftime.

Beauie were leading 3.3 (21) to 0.1 (0) and because the first half was completed the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) gave the Sharks the four points.

Last Saturday at Brighton the lights went out just before quarter time.

Kicking into a howling wind the Tonners were trailing Old Scotch 3.1 (19) to 0.0 (0).

The VAFA ruled the game a draw, awarding Old Brighton and Old Scotch two points each.

Tonners coach Peter Grant said the club had been unable to find out why the lights had gone out.

“We don’t know. We can’t really speculate until we know the facts,’’ Grant said.

He said his players were “extremely frustrated’’.

“It’s annoying for both teams. They want to play football, and in some cases they’ve got work commitments that they’ve postponed or foregone to play a twilight game,’’ Grant said.

“You want to play a full game. You really can’t determine the outcome of a match until the whole match is completed.

“Not knowing the cause makes it more frustrating. That’s the main issue at this stage.’’

Grant said the two abandoned games had denied his third-placed team the opportunity to earn premiership points in Division 1 and had ramifications for team percentages, best and fairests and goalkicking awards.

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Before the season the Tonners asked Bayside Council for the lights to shut off at 7.45pm, and they did in the first three twilight games at Brighton Beach Oval.

But the club suspects the timer was changed in the past week.

In a statement, the council said it was unaware games were scheduled after 6pm.

It had no record of Old Brighton asking for the lights to go off at 7.45pm, even though they did in the first three twilight games.

“Following these unfortunate events, we have contacted the league and clubs to establish the upcoming game times so that the lighting timers can be set to match the scheduled game times,’’ the council said.

It said it controlled the lighting system at sports grounds to prevent lights being left on overnight, “a historical issue that has a negative impact on residential amenity’’.

Grant said he was happy for the team to keep playing twilight games.

“It helps integrate the women’s team into the club. We play after the men and everyone is there and supporting the girls,’’ he said.