Ovens and Murray clubs and board to meet to discuss options to restart season

Victoria will be released from lockdown at midnight on Tuesday and community sport has the green light to return, but under strict measures.

Matches played in Victoria are limited to the minimum number of people required to facilitate the activity, which means no spectators.

Corowa-Rutherglen president Stuart Lingham admitted his club is in a tough situation as it will be without its Melbourne players for home games due to the red zone permit being removed by the Victorian government for travel into Victoria from NSW for non Border Bubble residents.

"Of course we want it both ways because we want to have our (Melbourne) players and we want to play in front of a crowd," he said.

"The league will no doubt give us some direction as to what's likely to happen with games. There's two games in Victoria and three in NSW this weekend, so I don't know what the outcome might be.

"Our priority is to get football and netball happening in one way, shape or form. If we have to compromise on some things, we may have to.

"We've got to get a few more games in before finals to make the finals series meaningful.

"Some of the Victorian clubs have said in the past if they can't have crowds, they don't want to play, but maybe that changes now with finals approaching."

The club presidents have a Zoom meeting with the Ovens and Murray at 5pm before the league conducts a board meeting at 6pm.

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However, Wodonga co-president Mauro Stefani was clear it won't be viable for his club to host Myrtleford on Saturday without a crowd.

"If the crowds aren't big enough, we're not going to be able to pay for the cost of putting a club on the field," he said.

"All the clubs have included we are a community-based competition and if the community can't share the game with us, what's the point of playing?

"If the league do go forward with a final eight, which would allow for more games to be played in the finals and more revenue to come back to the clubs, the answer may be different.

"If they go to a final eight and the league distributes those extra funds back to the clubs, we would definitely consider that."

Clubs agreed prior to the season a crowd of 750 would be the minimum required to make a fixture viable for the host.

"When you've got two clubs there, there's probably 250 people who are players, plus the netballers and everyone supporting," Stefani said.

"It means 350 could be players and officials and the actual crowd is even less, so 750 is a realistic number. Why would you bother with anything less than 750?

"It's such a frustrating scenario because there's less options than we've previously had. I feel for the league because they're continually making changes and it would be hard for them."

The Ovens and Murray proved it isn't impossible to manipulate the draw to have all games played in NSW with less crowd restrictions when the season resumed from Victoria's fourth lockdown in June, which included a double-header at Lavington Sports Ground.

However, if it went that way, it would again rule out everyone who lives outside the Border Bubble in Victoria, with Myrtleford, Wangaratta and Wangaratta Rovers hugely impacted due to a large contingent of Melbourne-based players at those three clubs.

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