Pirates’ reserves on the rocks

By Glen Atwell
PARKMORE Pirates have been stripped of the right to field a reserves side and forced to pay Southern Football League (SFL) a bond to guarantee the club’s debts should it be unable to field a senior side.
The SFL board convened on Sunday morning to impose a set of conditions on the Division Two club to ensure it would continue to operate.
But Pirates president Paul Dowling believes this is the first step towards rebuilding the troubled club.
Parkmore had to provide the SFL with a list of names of committed and available players to guarantee it could field a full senior side every Saturday afternoon.
SFL chief executive Phil Stevens said the other condition was the payment of a monetary bond, which was paid on Tuesday night.
“It was a show of good faith from Parkmore, because the club has a significant debt to the league,” he said.
But the Pirates did not escape unscathed.
Its reserves side was forced to walk the plank and forfeit the remainder of the season after it was unable to field a side against Hampton in round three.
The loss of the Parkmore reserves side means a bye will be introduced to the Division Two reserves competition.
But Mr Stevens said that was an unacceptable situation that would be immediately addressed.
“It disadvantages teams with full a reserves team,” he said.
“Clubs budget for two games, not one.
“On Saturday, Oakleigh’s reserves missed out on an entire game. We don’t want players looking to go to other leagues to get a game.”
Parkmore was scheduled to play Oakleigh Districts on Saturday in the reserves but was forced to forfeit for the second week in a row as it couldn’t field a team.
The SFL is planning to introduce an ‘SFL Challenge’ competition in the coming weeks, which will ensure all teams in the competition get a game.
“The Division Three senior side that has a bye would play the Division Two side that has the bye now that Parkmore has withdrawn from the fixture,” he said.
Mr Dowling said Parkmore was down, but not out.
“We’ve had a terrible string of bad luck,” he said.
“Players who committed to playing at the start of the season haven’t kept their word, but we now have a group that has signed on to play each and every week.
“The league has a total commitment from Parkmore to continue playing.”
The SFL board will review the Pirates’ situation in three weeks.
Parkmore was promoted to Division Two after winning last year’s Division Three premiership under former coach Richard Houston, who is now coaching Division One side St Kilda City.
But a mass exodus of players and officials, including the recent resignation of coach Neil Collett, has shipwrecked the Pirates as the whipping boy of the competition.
Parkmore has lost its first four games of the season by an average of 175 points, including a 246-point annihilation by division heavyweight Dingley in round two.