The Eastern Football Netball League welcomes today’s announcement from the Victorian State Government that community sport can return as of 11:59pm tonight.
This means all EFNL sides can begin training in preparation for the restart of the 2021 season.
Discussions are ongoing with all Senior football clubs about returning to the field this weekend, with some raising concerns about the players having only one training session before a resumption.
Netball competitions are in a similar limbo, with the EFNL awaiting further guidance from Netball Victoria as to whether it can proceed, due to different guidelines around Indoor sport.
An update on Senior Men’s, Women’s and Netball will be made tomorrow.
Junior competition will return this Sunday though, with a limit on attendance.
Only those required to facilitate the event – Players, Coaches, Trainers, Parents + Guardians – are allowed to attend, much like the last return from lockdown earlier in the season.
Our boys and girls will get to play a minimum of three more games this season, before a standalone grand final weekend.
Rounds 16 (previously Round 9) and Round 14 will be played on the 1st and 8th of August, before a playoff weekend on the 15th of August.
During the playoff weekend, the top four sides will play each other in a knockout finals series – 1st plays 4th, 2nd plays 3rd – whilst all sides below them will play an extra game – 5th plays 6th, 7th plays 8th and so on – to make up for rounds missed throughout the interrupted 2021 campaign.
All games across the playoff weekend will be fixtured like Home and Away games.
The winners from the top four clashes (1st v 4th, 2nd v 3rd) will play the following weekend (August 22) in a standalone Grand Final at a neutral venue.
These Grand Final venues are yet to be announced.
Due to the uneven fixtures across the Junior competitions, Match Ratio will be used to finalise ladder positions.
Match Ratio is a system where teams are separated by the percentage of games won rather than total wins.
For example, if Team A has played 10 games and won five, their win percentage would be 50%, and if Team B has played five games and won three, they would have a win percentage of 60% and be ranked higher on the ladder than Team A, despite winning less games.
Clubs and members should also note that the EFNL office will not be opened until this Friday, June 30.