Bizarre rule leaves Campbells Creek Football Netball Club in the lurch

A tiny town’s netball and junior footy players have been told they can’t play, with this bizarre men’s footy reason to blame.

Susie O'Brien

@susieob

2 min read

March 25, 2021 - 6:00AM

The Campbells Creek Football Netball League has been told they can’t compete as a club this season. Picture: Mark Stewart

Campbells Creek Football Netball Club has more than 40 female netballers ready to start the season.

But they’ve been told no one in their club can play because they don’t have a senior men’s football team.

This would mean about 40 reserves players and junior footballers would also miss out on the season.

Netball coach and senior player May Pratt said it would be “a huge blow to the town of 2000 with just a general store and a pub”.

“As a player it doesn’t seem fair — I don’t understand how we could (be able to) go on without a senior netball team but not having a senior football (team) stops everything.”

AFL regional manager Gerard Ryan said the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League wasn’t stopping the club from playing without a senior men’s football team. But he said the 13 other clubs in the league would have to agree, the club would be docked premiership points and would have to pay a fine of $2500.

The netball teams are ready to play. Picture: Mark Stewart

However, the Herald Sun has heard audio of a meeting between the club and league in which a league official said: “it’s not expected that clubs don’t have seniors” and it “would have to be a senior side”.

Campbells Creek treasurer and netball coach Darren Baker said the club had been struggling to get numbers for men’s football teams after Covid.

“We’ve got a reserves side but the idea of them playing seniors isn’t realistic — they’d get to Round 5 and be struggling,” he said. “They’re local guys who want to come down and have a kick and train once a week, socialise and watch the seniors.”

Ms Pratt, 35, a mother of four, said it “was not about winning — which is lucky because we never win”.

“It’s about getting out there and being social and playing a sport we love.

“We’ve got a senior group aged 16 to 57 — there are women who are child-free and working and schoolgirls who excel at playing, and grandmothers,” she said.

Ms Pratt said sport “was a huge part of the community and everyone really missed out having a season last year.

“We start in three weeks so it’s too late for somewhere else,” she said.

League rules mandate that struggling clubs unable to field a team in a division must pay thousands of dollars.

Mr Baker said the club already has to pay $6000 in fines to the league for missing teams for 2021 because of its lack of a senior netball team and some junior teams.

susie.obrien@news.com.au