Central Highlands Football League president Eddy Comelli has defended his league’s stance on the Smythesdale situation, believing the real problem stems back to when the Lexton Plains Football League folded in 2010.
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Smythesdale Football Netball Club, which did not field a senior football team the past two seasons, is expected to go into recess after being denied entry into the Maryborough Castlemaine District, Mininera District and its most recent competition the Central Highlands Football League.
The CHFL has come under some criticism for its decision to not allow Smythesdale back into its league. Comelli told The Courier the club would have to apply like any other, but felt it would receive a similar reception to that of the MCDFNL and MDFL, which did not return a 75% club vote in favour of the move.
Comelli said while the CHFL has been painted as the bad guy in recent weeks, the roots of the problem stem back to when the Lexton Plains Football League folded – which saw Smythesdale, Skipton, Carngham-Linton and Rokewood-Corindhap join the CHFL – and now the chickens were coming home to roost.
“It goes back seven years now...they should have never abandoned the Lexton Plains Football League,” Comelli said.
“We were good enough to take on part of the Lexton Plains Football League and since we took them on all we’ve copped is grief from a lot of people.
“It was probably a mistake to have folded the Lexton Plains Football League, there was seven sides there...if anything, they should’ve gone out and picked another side or two from surrounding competitions.
“I think they thought they could break it (LPFL) up and then split the Central Highlands into division one and division two...nobody asked the Central Highlands if that’s what they wanted to do.
“It’s alright for the commission and AFL Goldfields to say that they manage things for the betterment of football in the region – well that’s fine – but we’re not going to get thrown under a bus because of their decisions.”
AFL Goldfields general manager Rod Ward was unavailable for comment.