Poowong’s seniors will not play football for the rest of the year after the Ellinbank and District Football League opted to go straight into finals and abandon the last two games of the home and away season.
By Jack Morgan
Poowong’s seniors will not play football for the rest of the year after the Ellinbank and District Football League opted to go straight into finals and abandon the last two games of the home and away season.
The board of management agreed the top five teams will proceed to finals on the scheduled dates later this month, if restrictions allow.
Poowong seniors sit at the number six spot on the EDFL ladder and have the same number of wins as Lang Lang and Longwarry, who are in spots four and five. All three clubs have won six games and lost four, but Poowong will miss out on finals due to percentage. They have won their games on the smallest margins at 119 per cent, compared to Lang Lang 147 per cent and Longwarry 169 per cent.
Poowong coach Mick Hawken said club members just wanted to play football, whether it was finals or a regular game.
“I’m pretty confident we would have made finals going off the draw,” Hawken said. Although, he added it would have been difficult to put forward the strongest team because about half of their players reside across Melbourne’s borders.
Melbourne’s restrictions are the main cause of Round 19 and 20’s abandonment. Across most clubs, many players live in Melbourne which means the metro lockdown still applies. For those players, there is only five reasons to leave home and community sport is prohibited. Some clubs such as Catani and Lang Lang fall within the Cardinia Shire, which is classed as part of Melbourne.
EDFL’s finals are contingent on the Victorian Government’s restrictions and won’t go ahead if spectators are barred. This is because the league would miss out on gate income, which is essential to keep operation costs low.
The EDFL are in the process of registering the finals with the Department of Health and Human Services in hopes to allow more than 1000 spectators at each final.
Hawken said he’s optimistic many players will return next year, but he has noticed fatigue when it comes to dealing with lockdowns. He fears some people will stop playing if there’s another year of COVID affecting the football season.
