By Marcus Uhe
Netball clubs in the South East will have the opportunity to field junior teams in the Outer East Football Netball’s (OEFN) junior netball competition in 2024.
It comes after a breakdown last week between OEFN and the new South East Premier Netball League (SEPNL) competition, where a proposed junior competition that combined the two organisations was abandoned for 2024, after OEFN sighted issues with SEPNL’s governance structure and a lack of affiliation from Netball Victoria.
On Monday 12 February, SEPNL announced that Netball Victoria will manage their competition, and that their proposed junior competition will run “under the guidance” of OEFN.
“For us, it was paramount that the junior clubs in the area had access to the most vibrant and competitive league to showcase their skills,” the SEPNL statement said.
“In order for this to happen in 2024 we had to play in an existing competition to ensure no clubs missed the opportunity for their Junior clubs to play.
“We agreed there was no one benefiting if we divided our juniors between two competitions as there were three strong clubs playing in the Outer East competition that could have been sitting the season out if we did so.
“We appreciate the patience we have received from all clubs that have expressed interest in the new concept for both seniors and juniors and we look forward to seeing you all out on the court in the coming weeks.”
OEFN Chief Executive Brett Connell said this is an “outstanding result” for the region’s junior netballers.
“We’ll be administering a competition for the juniors in the South East and those clubs that wish to put them in… they’ll have a junior home with us,” Connell said.
“We’ll run our junior competition and they’ll become participants in that.
“We said back in August when we said Berwick and Beaconsfield can’t be part of the competition at senior level, we always said we’d accommodate anyone in juniors, because we’re not about trying to kill junior sport.”
Netball Victoria confirmed they will manage the SEPNL home and away competition to meet participation demand in South East Melbourne.
“The South East is one of Victoria’s fastest growing areas, and Netball Victoria is committed to providing opportunities for people to play netball across the state,” Netball Victoria said.
“Our focus in 2024 will be working together with all relevant stakeholders to create and deliver a model that will maximise the growth of our game in the South East corridor.”
