By Marcus Uhe and Jonty Ralphsmith
Over the Christmas period, the Star News’ sports team will be re-sharing some of the most popular stories from over the course of 2023.
Thank you for supporting our newspapers over the course of the year. We hope you enjoy the selection and have a wonderful holiday period, however you choose to celebrate.
The presidents of three powerhouse rival football clubs that had applications to join the Mornington Peninsula Football Netball League (MPFNL) rejected are united in their disappointed with the outcome, with Pakenham Football Club President Derrick Brown describing the result as leaving “a sour taste.“
The MPFNL advertised for expressions of interest to join the competition in 2024 in June, with ambitions of creating a third division in the football and netball competitions.
Chair of the MPFNL Board Graham Sherry said at the time that the expansion to three divisions was an “integral step in the long-term sustainability of the competition”.
Pakenham, Narre Warren and Cranbourne all leapt at the opportunity, alongside South Mornington, Carrum Patterson Lakes and Frankston Dolphins, but had their applications rejected this week, unable to secure the approval vote of 75 per cent of existing MPFNL clubs.
The outcome means Narre Warren and Pakenham will remain in Outer East Football Netball, while Cranbourne stays in the Southern Football Netball League.
The decision was communicated to the applying club’s presidents on Thursday morning, 24 August.
Brown told Star News that Pakenham applied to move competitions with the long-term future of the club in mind.
“Whether it be MPFNL, Outer East or West Gippsland, we’re on the fringe of everything,“ Brown said.
“From a club’s point of view, we’ve got to look at long-term sustainability.“
He hit-out at the approval process, saying he felt he and the club was “led down the path“ and the chance to join the MPFNL provided “light at the end of the tunnel.“
“We’re a little bit bemused that you would put an expression of interest out, trying to get a third division, and then you go through all the presentation, you spend time and effort as volunteers to try and move in that direction, and then the MPFNL Presidents aren’t aligned with the Board,“ Brown said.
“It’s extremely disappointing.
“To think that you’d waste volunteers time when you’re not prepared to do it, maybe the issue is that the presidents have to vote in favour of having a third division, and then you go from there.
“People will be a little bit reticent to apply (in the future) on the basis that you’re effectively wasting your own time.“
Narre Warren Football Netball Club President Stuart Stephenson called on AFL Victoria to have more input on decisions regarding club movement and competitions.
Stephenson said he was “very disappointed“ with the outcome, and called for the state’s governing body to show leadership on the matter.
“There’s a lot of clubs in that same situation that could be in a better competition if AFL Victoria took some leadership,“ Stephenson said.
“If we separate it from the MPFNL clubs, I think AFL Victoria should have a greater say in where clubs play and make those decisions for the better good.
“That’s nothing against the MPFNL clubs, they’re just sticking to what the process is.
“I think the flaw, if there’s any in the system, is that AFL Victoria are not involved.“
It’s a sentiment shared by Brown, concerned about the future of football in the area.
“They (AFL Victoria) want to have some sort of control over the competitions and talk about how great things are, and all the rest of it,” Brown said.
“But what do they do to enhance community football? Have blokes roaming around as regional managers who have got no authority, and they effectively don’t do anything.
“If there was able to be divisional football and more teams involved, I think that’s a long-term benefit to everyone.
“Whether you’re a strong club, weak club, or somewhere in between, you’re always going to have the chance of being able to compete at your own level.
“…you’ve only got to look at results week-in week-out to see that there’s serious issues with country and community football.”
Divisional football, according to Brown, would see a more geographical approach to the structure of the sport in the region, as was the case with the defunct South East Football Netball League.
“Whether it’s MPFNL, Outer East, West Gippsland or Ellinbank, and I appreciate that everyone wants to maintain their history, but I think you could retain history in these leagues,” he said.
“You could call one division ‘Ellinbank’, one division ‘West Gippsland’, one ‘Billy Blogs’ for that matter.
“The biggest issue is that there’s too much self-interest, rather than having an overall perspective of what can be good for community sport, in the end.”
Narre Warren will now “thoroughly“ assess what is best for the club moving forward.
“I think our application was very strong as we felt like we had a good case,” Stephenson said.
“We had hoped that we could become part of the MPFNL and thought we could bring some benefits to the wider competition.
“I hope we got a fair hearing, however not being there it was hard to tell.
“We understood the process from the beginning and tried to give it our best shot, but ultimately we were unsuccessful.“
Having previously applied to join the MPFNL, Cranbourne had more hope that their 2024 application would be successful.
“It’s baffling how they had the opportunity for six clubs to come in and strengthen the competition but they didn’t,“ said president Terry Gleeson.
“Whatever issues arise can be worked through.
“We were a little bit more optimistic because of the way things were handled this time around, but we’re not surprised this is the outcome.
“The odds were that this was going to happen, but I thought they might take two clubs at least.“
Gleeson remained noncommittal about whether Cranbourne would reapply next year.
Sherry said the result did not close the door on the potential for these clubs to be accepted into the competition in years to come.
“At their meeting last night, the MPFNL Presidents voted against the admission of any additional clubs into the competition for season 2024,” Sherry said on Thursday.
“Whilst the outcome of the vote is obviously disappointing for the applicants and those clubs promoting expansion, there was general consensus at the meeting for the applications, particularly from those clubs in the immediate geographical area of the existing league, to be reconsidered for season 2025 after all concerned have had the opportunity of determining how best an expanded competition could best work.”
South Mornington, Carrum Patterson Lakes and Frankston Dolphins also had their applications rejected.
A spokesperson for AFL Victoria clarified its stance.
“As per agreements in place with independently-run community football leagues across the state, AFL Victoria would get involved in situations where disputes arise between leagues, to help find resolutions,” the spokesperson said.
“As there is no dispute in this instance, AFL Victoria is not involved.”
