Division Two Update

Message from OEFN CEO Aaron Bailey:

Outer East FN confirms that the Broadford and Yea football teams will combine for the remainder of season 2022.

The two sides will be known as Broadford-Yea in the seniors and Yea-Broadford in the reserves. Both jumpers will be used across the season, as each club host home games across the year.

The structure of the netball divisions are not affected by this decision, with Yea netball remaining as graded. The football will be aligned to Broadford’s netball team, with clubs to play Yea netball in bye rounds. A key outcome for all Division Two clubs was for football and netball to remain together both home and away, which has been achieved.

Every possible step has been taken to assist both clubs to take the field at full capacity in 2022. The league has met regularly with Broadford and Yea since February. The option to combine was investigated pre-season, however the desire from both clubs was to exhaust every avenue to field full squads, a position supported by the league. With both clubs playing in Round 1 and Yea with the bye following the Easter break, Round 4 was the targeted period to make a decision for 2022.

In the short term, Broadford-Yea will begin as a combined outfit from Round five. Once combined, this will see the outfit have a list of approximately 60 players to choose from each week, which means seniors and reserves football will occur across every fixture (covid dependent) all season.

I would like to thank all Division Two clubs for their cooperation through this process. We have been in constant dialogue with all presidents over the past three months, and everyone has been strong in their support of the process that has been taken. The impact of COVID-19 for many clubs has been significant and it has been extremely pleasing to see the manner in which our clubs have supported each other through the process. Significant support will be put in place to ensure both clubs return in full capacity in 2023.

Division Two clubs were provided full details of the restructure and a new fixture last week. Following club feedback and requests, a second draft of the new fixture has gone out to clubs today for review. Importantly, all fixture requests provided by clubs have been met, in particular marquee fixtures and byes.

The season has now been condensed from 21 rounds to 18, with finals to occur on the corresponding weeks of Rounds 19, 20 and 21 as originally fixtured. Division Two Grand Finals will now be played on Saturday 3rd September. All clubs will now play 15 home and away fixtures (seniors and reserves) with three byes, with each to meet three times. Yarra Junction’s Round Two fixture vs Yea will be seen as the first of three fixtures against Broadford/Yea and will be recorded as a win and goals and votes will stand.

The new finals dates for Division Two are as follows:

Sunday 21st August – Semi Finals

Sunday 28th August – Preliminary Final

Sunday 4th September – Grand Final

Salary Caps will remain at $65,000, with clubs to manage at their discretion, however reporting and remaining inside/under the cap will be strictly managed by Outer East FN.

The updated ATC Division Two fixtures for football and netball will be released to clubs on Tuesday afternoon.