Win-win for Bendigo netball as associations agree to play under one banner

The associations issued a joint statement late last week to announce their commitment to a trial season, in which primary, junior and secondary netball competitions will be governed and administered under the new umbrella of the Central Victorian Netball Association (CVNA).

As part of the new arrangement, three days of competition will be played at the Golden City courts in West Bendigo next season.

Subject to change, they include 18-and-under female divisions one to four and mixed divisions one and two on Fridays; 11-and-under, 13-and-under and all-abilities teams on Saturdays; and open 18-and-over divisions one and two, 18-and-under divisions one and two, and mixed divisions one and two on Wednesday nights.

The groundbreaking arrangement will bring together the two long-running associations for the first time.

Founded in 1961, the GCNA has been running competitions since 1962, while the BSNA was formed in 1969.

GCNA president Rachel Thomsen and BSNA president Nikki Boulter declared the trial as a 'win-win' for both associations and the sport.

An excited Thomsen said she was looking forward seeing how the relationship between the two associations evolved and viewed the move as an extension of the arrangement that saw the BSNA using the Golden City's courts in 2023.

"We have basically been letting the BSNA use our courts on Friday nights and that has been ongoing," she said.

"We've needed to increase our participation levels, but that wasn't going to happen when you have the majority of another association at the same venue.

"There's been different discussions between us over the years, but we felt it was time for us to have some serious conversations about the future.

"There was a plan that was put to us and both executives thought why not just trial governing and administering a competition together.

"It's long overdue, but we are really excited to give this a go.

"A lot of the clubs will probably have questions to start off with, but we are committed to making this work and we are going in with a really positive attitude.

"At the very worst, at the end of 12 months, we'll see what worked and what didn't, but I just feel we will be stronger together, particularly around trying to secure funding for lights and those kinds of things."

BSNA president Boulter

"Both the BSNA and Golden City have both had their struggles over the past couple of years, so this is a way for both associations to grow together and to increase participation in the sport," she said.

"The BSNA has grown a lot over the last few years, to the point we were one of the biggest junior associations in central Victoria.

"However, our struggles largely have been about having a permanent home and having the amount of courts we've needed to accommodate our players."

Boulter said a new era of co-operation between the associations was off to a positive start.

"It's definitely taken two like-minded executive committees to get to the point where we are at now," she said.

"There were times in our history when this wouldn't have happened, but Rachel and I are very like-minded presidents and feel we have come together to deliver a very positive outcome."

It's not the first time BSNA teams have shared the court with Golden City-affiliated teams.

Some BSNA teams were represented in the Golden City competition run during COVID in 2020.

Thomsen said the associations would continue to work with Netball Victoria on the future structure of competitions.

"It's not a merger at this stage, but it's a trial to see how we can work together and how we can bring our respective strengths to the competition," she said.

"We probably run our competitions much differently, but I am sure we can find that common ground and get a really positive outcome for netball."

The new CVNA season is scheduled to start in early April.