THE Bendigo Bank Bendigo Football-Netball League will introduce a “floating’’ finals schedule over the first two weekends this year.
Under the new finals scheduling system announced yesterday, while the actual games will remain as previously set with Saturday night and Sunday matches for the first two weeks, the marquee senior game of the weekend will now take priority as the Saturday night final.
Effectively what the change means is the door is now open for the senior qualifying final and elimination final in the first week to swap days if it’s deemed by the board that the elimination final would be a bigger-drawing game, therefore taking the Saturday night slot, as opposed to its traditional Sunday afternoon.
The same would apply the following week with the first and second semi-finals, before the last two weeks of the finals remain as is, with the preliminary final at night and grand final during the day.
If the ladder is to remain the same as it presently is over the last three rounds, in the first week of finals it’s expected an Eaglehawk-Kangaroo Flat elimination final would be played on the Saturday night, and a Golden Square-Gisborne qualifying final the day after on the Sunday afternoon.
“The opportunity to schedule the marquee game of the two senior football finals on the Saturday night will give the central Victorian public greater opportunity to see the quality of Bendigo football,’’ BFNL chief executive officer Steven Oliver said.
“All of this year’s finals are expected to be very competitive, but without doubt, the night game draws the bigger crowd and scheduling the teams which will draw that crowd makes greater sense.’’
Also adding to the new finals system - which has been overwhelmingly supported by the majority of club presidents - the league will do its best to ensure clubs with multiple teams competing can all play on the same day.
What that means is in the first week of the finals, a mixture of qualifying and elimination finals in football and netball will be played over the Saturday night and Sunday, while the following weekend, there will be a mix of first and second semi-finals on each day.
“Part of the process will also involve aligning clubs with multiple teams, where possible, on the same day,’’ Oliver said.
“This means that we will see a mixture of elimination and qualifying finals on both Saturday night and Sunday in the first week.
“Netball is also a big part of this scheduling, with netball games also merged over the weekend.
“Clubs also realise the travel commitments involved with last year’s schedule, with a club that may have senior football or an A grade netball on the Saturday night, and then an under-18 or 17-under netball first thing Sunday, makes it very hard on the clubs involved, particularly the country clubs.
“By scheduling clubs on the one day, it also assists with the off-field staff, who more often than not look after all facets of the club.
“There will still be clubs that will have teams playing on both Saturday and Sunday, this will be unavoidable, but the schedule will be set for the best outcomes possible for the league and the clubs.’’
The board will closely monitor the ladders of all grades in football and netball in the lead-up to the finals, with the finals schedules to be released as soon as all games are set.
This will also apply to the second week of finals, with the week two draw likely to be announced straight after the completion of the first weekend of finals.
When scheduling the second week of the finals, the league will consider the impact of the six or seven day break.
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