The league announced on Wednesday night that the two Murray league clubs would be re-admitted into the league after departing at the beginning of 2018.
It follows extensive consultation between the two clubs, existing Picola clubs, AFL Victoria, Netball Victoria and AFL Goulburn Murray.
The league will remain as a single, 15-team competition, as opposed to the two-conference system which was operating before 2018.
League operations manager Shane Railton said the league splitting again was a concern raised by the majority of the clubs.
He confirmed that initially seven of the league’s 13 clubs had voted against letting Tungamah and Katandra back into the PDFNL.
‘‘The main thing that was taken into consideration was the clubs’ reasons for not wanting Tungamah and Katandra back in,’’ he said.
‘‘The overwhelming concern was that a league split would result from these teams coming back in. When the league confirmed that it would not split, the majority of clubs were quite happy to have them back.
‘‘Some clubs still voted no following this, with the concern that the league could still split again in the future, but we don’t have any intentions of doing so.’’
The Pastoral Times contacted club presidents from its readership area to comment on the decision. Their responses are as follows:
John Glowrey (Deni Rovers):
‘‘Rovers have enjoyed the league structure over the last few years and being one (league) has given us the opportunity to play clubs like Waaia, Katamatite and Katunga again which has been fantastic. Although it wasn’t a unanimous decision the majority of our committee were happy for the two clubs to rejoin the league on the basis we stay as one and we therefore voted in favour of that.’’
Andrew Pridham (Mathoura):
‘‘We voted against it, we didn’t want them to come back in. We thought 13 teams in the comp was a good size. Tungamah are a powerhouse club and will be another tough side to contend with. They have good drawing power that smaller clubs like ours don’t. These clubs left the league on their own terms but it obviously got too hard for them so they came back. It is what it is and we’ll just have to get on with it.’’
Michael Norman (Blighty):
‘‘We voted in favour of re-joining. Both clubs have a lot of history in the league and we understand why they want to come back. They both put forward cases that were professionally put together. The draw is our biggest concern, in regards to who plays who twice, but the league will work that all out. We are all for sticking to one league and adding two clubs shouldn’t affect that.’’
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