Tara Murray
A lack of teams has resulted in the Essendon District Football League reverting to a social netball competition for the upcoming season.
Having formed a netball competition in 2019, the league has struggled to attract a significant number of sides with that number decreasing every year.
In the lead up to this season just two clubs, the Sunbury Kangaroos and Oak Park expressed fielding sides.
The league announced last week that its competition would be a short season social competition being played across 10 weeks, rather than a proper season.
So far there are five teams from the Kangaroos and Oak Park, while the club is seeking interest from other clubs to have teams.
Last season’s premiers Rupertswood in an email to players before the announcement said that it had been left disappointed with the lack of advancement of the competition.
“Informal communication from the EDFL in recent weeks has indicated that only two teams have registered for the 2023 season,” the email said, seen by Star Weekly.
“As such we are awaiting formal communication from them that there will be no EDFL senior netball competition in 2023 which is clearly disappointing despite promises and assurances given when we agreed to move to the EDFL.
“We also note there has been no advancement of their promise to commence a junior programme.”
The email said that the club had looked at other options for 2023, including their netball sides playing in the Riddell District Netball League or joining the Western Region Football League.
“Following positive discussions with the WRFL in December and January, we lodged a formal application to join WRFL Netball prior to their application closing date at the end of January 2023,” the email said.
“We received confirmation that despite their best efforts, they could not accommodate us in their 2023 season.
“They have strongly encouraged us to re-apply for the 2024 season and are confident of such an application being successful.
“The committee shares your frustration regarding the club’s inability to find a suitable competition for netball in 2023.”
“We will continue to work with all three leagues during 2023 to determine the best result for Rupo netball in 2024.”
EDFL chief executive Andrew Johnston remained something the league wanted to have as part of their league. He said they needed a bit more support from the clubs to have a fully fledged competition.
“The clubs still wanted to do something and this is what we landed on,” he said. At the end of the day, the league is still fully supportive and is happy to put in more resources and time into it.”
Johnston said they wanted all clubs to be part of the netball program and have more females playing sport.
He said they would consult with clubs this year and see whether a fully fledged netball competition would be viable next season and see whether clubs want to support a competition.
