By Marcus Uhe
Members of the Berwick Springs Football Netball Club have voted in the “overwhelming majority” to move competitions and join the Southern Football Netball League (SFNL) in 2025, leaving Outer East Football Netball (OEFN).
The decision comes in the wake of the looming relegation prospect for the Titans at the end of 2024, which would see them join Division One and travel to towns such as Alexandra, Yea and Yarra Junction.
In April it was decided that the bottom three sides in Premier Division football would be relegated to Division One, and the premiers of Division One promoted, to return to two 10-team divisions of football.
In 2024, Premier Division has 12 teams and Division One nine, however a key finding of the OEFN’s 2023 Competition Structure Review was that clubs preferred a 10-team competition structure.
The news prompted the Titans to begin considering what is best for them going forward, eventually landing on the application to move to the SFNL.
The Titans sit last in the Outer East’s Premier football division, and their A-Grade netball team, promoted as a result of the football side’s success in 2023, is also last on the Premier Division A-Grade ladder.
Berwick Springs Chairman Ashley Allison believed the club would risk an exodus of players leaving if the club decided to stay in OEFN, risking relegation.
“We haven’t had the success we wanted so far, but we recruited a range of players, in excess of 10, to come and play Premier Division footy,” Allison said.
“If we went back and said we were playing in Division One, the reality is we’d lose I would say, 100 per cent of those players.”
Allison said that there had been no “pre-discussion” between the League and clubs regarding relegation before the April decision was made, an assertion that OEFN Chief Executive Brett Connell refuted.
Allison said it was “disappointing” that the club had reached the decision to leave OEFN, but said there were a number of attractive factors about the SFNL, including the breadth of competitions.
“We weren’t even considering moving until we received that notice from (OEFN) that that was how it was going to play in the years ahead,” Allison said.
“To be fair, they had come back to us and said they were reconsidering what happens with relegation and promotion.
“The problem with that is, we still (had) a 30 June deadline in terms of advising what we wanted to do.
“That forced our hand in terms of making a decision.
“Travel is a massive issue for us if we were to be in Division One, but there is a breadth of options, having four divisions in SFNL, and having the ability for netball to spread across 14 divisions of netball.
“We can then position our teams where we think is best suited for them in competition.
“It’s a concern of ours that the netball goes with football as well, because we’ve really struggled with netball in terms of being competitive in Premier Division.
“Not everyone was happy with that decision, but we had to go with the majority rules.”
The Titans have “strongly indicated” their desire to be placed into Division 2 of the SFNL, Allison said, which currently accommodates fellow City of Casey clubs, Doveton, Hampton Park and Endeavour Hills, but that decision is yet to be confirmed.
Acceptance to the competition and the division they will be placed in will be determined by the SFNL’s board.
Having first taken the field as a club in 2019 as an Under 18s outfit, and OEFN is the only competition the Titans know in its brief history as a club.
Following a grand final appearance in Division One football in 2023, the club earned promotion to Premier Division for both football and netball in 2024, which has been tough on both programs.
The Titans lost star midfielder Hayden Stagg to injury on the eve of the season to injury and sit at the foot of the ladder with one win to show for their efforts in senior football, appearing destined for relegation, with their reserves side only managing three.
Despite a heavy recruiting effort in order to meet the standard of Premier Division, the football club also lost a host of key players in the offseason, some of whom have not been replaced on field.
Key forward Ty Ellison kicked 39 goals and gave the Titans a focal point in the forward half, but this season the Titans have struggled to put winnings cores on the board, averaging just 40 points per game.
On the netball court, the club has just two wins across its four senior netball sides in 2024, and the A-Grade netball side is yet to taste victory in Premier Division with a hefty average losing margin of 56 goals.
The netball club was forced to join the football club in Premier Division this year, as per OEFN rules, despite the A-Grade netball side finishing fifth in Division One in 2023.
Berwick Springs’ application comes on the back of Narre Warren’s request to join the SFNL last month.
Should Berwick Springs succeed with the move, the Titans would be the third OEFN team in the last 12 months to apply to move to the SFNL, with Hallam returning after one season in the OEFN in 2023.
Attention turns to the OEFN to see how the loss of potentially two clubs form Premier Division shapes relegation and promotion for 2025.
The League said it will not make comment on the matter until after its next board meeting later this month.
