By sports editor Russell Bennett
The nomads of the former South East Football Netball League finally have a home.
Last night (Tuesday October 16), the AFL Outer East commission voted to accept Cranbourne into the Outer East Football Netball league – ending months of uncertainty for the Eagles and their faithful.
AFL Outer East region general manager Aaron Bailey praised the quality of Cranbourne’s proposal as a strong one.
“We looked into the rules and regulations around a Cranbourne application, and it had become clear to the commission that should they wish to knock back an application they’d have no grounds to do so and be unsuccessful if it went to appeal,” Bailey said.
“The commission felt Cranbourne had been through enough and wasn’t comfortable in putting a club into recess.”
Bailey also spoke about the disruption that an application at such a late stage had caused.
“They (the commission) were extremely disappointed that the matter had been put to them at such a late stage in the year,” he said.
“After going through a full review, it has caused significant disruption to a process that had been exhaustive and well-researched.”
The focus has now shifted to moving forward with the new Outer East Football Netball League, with Cranbourne on board.
“We’re keen to work with Cranbourne to make this the best fit for them and the Outer East competition,” Bailey said.
“One of the biggest aspects of our football review was to grow footy in the Casey and Cardinia regions, and we’ve already done that with Berwick Springs. We’ll continue to look to develop new clubs in the Casey and Cardinia region.”
In 2019, Cranbourne will enter into a nine-team Premier competition. Division 1 will be made up of eight teams, while Division 2 from this year’s AFL Yarra Ranges competition will remain the same.
The News understands that there is then the potential for a club to be promoted out of Division 2 for 2020.
Meanwhile, the sour taste left in the mouths of the Cranbourne faithful hasn’t gone unnoticed from those at AFL Outer East.
“We share the widely-held position – outside of a select group within the MPNFL – that the MPNFL was the best fit for Cranbourne,” Bailey said.
“After extensively looking at, and investigating, the best fit for all clubs, we felt Cranbourne’s application to join the MPNFL was the best fit, and it appears to us that the best decision for football wasn’t made.
“However, we now firmly believe that an opportunity missed for the MPNFL is an opportunity gained for AFL Outer East.
“We’re really excited for what we can build through the south east region.
“We’ll look to build a really strong and vibrant three-division competition across the Yarra Ranges, Cardinia and Casey and we’ll continue to look to offer opportunities for clubs. As we’ve shown, we’re open and willing to offer opportunities to clubs looking for divisional football.”
Seven of the eight former South East Football Netball League clubs have now found a home with AFL Outer East – Beaconsfield, Berwick, Cranbourne, Doveton, Narre Warren, Officer and Pakenham. Tooradin-Dalmore, meanwhile, is headed to the West Gippsland Football Netball Competition as part of AFL Gippsland.
