Ballarat Football Netball League netballers will miss out on being part of the AFL Victoria Community Championships for the second time in three seasons this year.
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The BFNL senior and under-17 netball representative teams have been left out in the cold owing to logistical problems in finding a suitable venue which fits in with Ballarat’s football encounters with Goulburn Valley in Melbourne on Saturday, May 19.
The BFNL meets the GVFL on the MCG as a curtain-raiser to the AFL clash between Essendon and Geelong.
The leagues will also clash in under-18 football at Punt Road Oval next to the MCG earlier on the same day.
AFL Goldfields commercial and regional operations manager Aaron Nunn said regrettably the BFNL and GVFL had been unable to come with an option which suited each competition.
“We extremely disappointed. We’re gutted by the outcome.”
He said the State Netball and Hockey Club had been among Melbourne venues investigated without success.
Nunn said it had not been just as case of finding a court anywhere. It had be a venue worthy of the stature of the championships which showcased the competition’s best netballers. He said the GVFL had also expressed concerns about the dififculty of stretching resources across different venue.
Nunn said the possibility of playing in Ballarat had also been considered, but no agreement had been reached.
Ballarat netballers did not play in the community championships two years ago either when the BFNL met the metropolitan-based Western Region, which does not have a netball component.
Nunn said the BFNL’s representative focus would this year be on the Netball Victoria Association Championships.
They comprise open AA17/under, 17/under, 15/under and 13/under divisions.
Nunn said the Punt Road Oval had only just been locked in for the under-18 football game.