‘A lot of our clubs feel blindsided’: Picola District league reacts to Tocumwal’s Murray league defection

By Zac Standish

Feb 28, 2023

Blindsided: Picola District Football Netball League was shocked by Tocumwal’s decision to defect to Murray Football Netball League. Photo by Rodney Braithwaite

A number of Picola District League clubs have been left blindsided by Tocumwal’s defection to Murray Football Netball League according to league operations manager Shane Railton.

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The Bloods’ move to the MFNL was made official at a special meeting between its clubs on Monday night and was prompted by their desire to compete in an AFL Victoria affiliated league after the PDFNL cut ties with the governing body late last year.

Following the news of the Bloods’ acceptance into the neighbouring competition on Monday, Railton said the overwhelming feeling of the league and a faction of its clubs was “disappointment”.

“Disappointed and frustrated that it’s happened now, that has been the initial reaction I have gotten from our clubs,” Railton said.

“The conversations I had with Tocumwal in the lead-up to this were all very amicable and they had committed to us that they would be in our league this season.

“So for this to happen a lot of our clubs feel blindsided and for it to happen so close to the start of the season it has not been well accepted by some clubs.”

Tocumwal spent the majority of the off-season provisionally suspended by the league as a result of a number of issues Railton said dated back to the beginning of the 2022 season.

That suspension was lifted on Thursday, February 16 and according to Railton the club had given the league every indication it would be staying put, prompting it to be included in the 2023 fixture.

As a result, the league and its clubs were left bemused after it became public knowledge on Friday that Tocumwal had applied to join the MFNL for the upcoming season.

However, the PDFNL does still have the option to block Tocumwal’s transfer.

Article 6.14 in the league’s bylaws state that, “a club, upon being admitted membership into the league, may not resign or move to another league without first obtaining written approval from the league”.

As it stands, Tocumwal does not have that written approval from the PDFNL board, and a decision on whether it would be granted will not come until it meets to discuss its options next week.

“We were officially notified today (Tuesday) of Tocumwal’s wish, so the board will meet sometime next week to discuss the situation and we’ll go from there,” Railton said.

“We will not be making a decision on our next course of action until next week.”

If the league is to revert from 15 clubs to 14, a new draw would have to be created to cater for Tocumwal’s departure.

Railton said the league would listen to the advice of its clubs when it came to a new fixture and was confident not much would change.

“Our draw is as good as ready to go and the clubs have given us their feedback in regards to how they would like that to look,” he said.

“We are probably more fortunate than the Murray league in the sense that we won’t have to restructure our draw, so the plan is just to put this behind us and forge ahead into the new season.”