Eddy Comelli has revealed a new plan to drastically shift the time slot of the Central Highlands Football League's biggest day.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The league president has put forward a proposal to hold the CHFL grand final on the Friday public holiday immediately before the AFL decider.
Comelli presented his idea at a recent meeting of league presidents and told The Courier he believed the move could be a winner.
"I'm keen on playing it on the Friday before the AFL grand final," Comelli said.
"Thoughts behind that are that we'd get our games into better weather hopefully - that can't be guaranteed - (there's) no other football in our region and it's a public holiday (where) people are looking for something to do that day.
"We think there could be a real winner."
This year, the CHFL grand final was played at Mars Stadium on Saturday, September 7, two weeks before the Ballarat league decider at the same ground.
The idea is to arrange the season so that the CHFL preliminary finals are played the weekend before the BFL grand final. It is envisioned that the CHFL breaks on BFL grand final day to give that league clear air. This would result in a substantial break for successful preliminary final teams before the grand final.
"...I think everybody was taken back by it, but I've had a real lot of positive feedback since," Comelli said of his proposal.
"We would expect it would give us a real boost on the gate and everything."
Comelli said the City of Ballarat would need to approve use of Mars Stadium on the new date.
If given the green light, Central Highlands Netball League grand finals would run alongside the football deciders as usual.
Comelli said it was planned to have matches played during the day, with junior grand finals beginning in the morning.
The 2019 AFL grand final was on September 28.
The CHFL has withdrawn from the AFL Victoria Community Championships for the 2020 season.