A majority of football and netball fans believe it's not worth running the Ballarat and Central Highlands leagues in 2020 if spectators are unable to attend matches.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That was the result of a poll conducted by The Courier on Wednesday, which had more than 1800 people respond as of 5pm.
In excess of 1000 voted that a season should not be conducted without fans, while just over 700 believed things should still go ahead minus a crowd.
There has been widespread debate in recent days about the worth of holding seasons without crowds if community football and netball is allowed to resume during the COVID-19 crisis.
As it stands, competitions are on hold until at least May 31 due to the pandemic but could be given the green light to start after that date. Last week, AFL Victoria released a statement to stakeholders that suggested it would provide a more detailed update on the situation at the end of this month.
Melton footballer Shaun Campbell replied to the Facebook poll with a simple "big yes" and others agreed that games should go on without fans.
"...if the clubs wanna play let em play (sic). I know gate revenue will be non existent, but everyone is feeling the pinch," Nathan Mcneight wrote.
Former Carngham-Linton coach Matt Beaston stated "it's not sustainable without crowds" and others also questioned the financial implications of not having spectators at matches.
"How will the clubs financially survive without crowds, gate, canteen, bar, sponsors?," asked Georgie Reynolds.
"It would be interesting to see how many players would be loyal to their clubs if they had to play for nothing," Troy Thomson added.
The discussion has followed comments from both Ballarat and Central Highlands officials earlier this week.
The Ballarat Football Netball League will not run a season in 2020 if significant crowd restrictions are in place, according to competition manager Shane Anwyl.
Meanwhile, Central Highlands league president Doug Hobson failed to shut the door on his competition getting underway without spectator access.
