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Winter season transition arrangements – Cricket to Football

March 12, 2021
Category: Premier Cricket,
Winter season transition arrangements – Cricket to Football

In 2020, AFL Victoria and Cricket Victoria (with support from the Victorian Government) worked together to establish a framework that addressed the transition from the 2020 winter seasons to 2020/21 summer seasons and then back to 2021 winter seasons. Cricket also established similar agreements with soccer and other sports.

As we approach the timing for a transition from cricket to football seasons, AFL Victoria and Cricket Victoria have confirmed the organisations will pursue the agreement shared publicly in May 2020.

Key aspects highlighted by both organisations are:

  • Local Government Authorities remain critical to help support a smooth transition from cricket to football seasons
  • All Community Football Leagues throughout Victoria are encouraged to commence their seasons at any time from 1 April 2021 onwards with only a small number of shared cricket/football grounds earmarked for Men’s Premier Cricket finals during April not available for football matches during the early weeks of April. Associations using any affected shared grounds are encouraged to not delay their season starts, however, structure their fixture to avoid scheduling on the affected grounds during the cricket finals
  • Women’s Premier Cricket and Women’s Community Cricket finals will be complete by mid-March and all community cricket seasons throughout the state (excluding Premier Cricket) were strongly encouraged to have completed their seasons before the end of March 2021
  • For the three weekends of the Kookaburra Premier Cricket (Men’s divisions) finals, the number of grounds required across the Easter weekend is sixteen, followed by eight Preliminary Finals games the following weekend and then four Grand Finals on the weekend of April 17/18. All matches across the three weeks are scheduled as one day matches played on Saturdays with the following day set down as reserve days subject to weather. This represents less than 1% of all cricket finals due to be played this season. The finals grounds will be selected by Cricket Victoria based on a combination of factors – including earned hosting rights, quality of grounds and facilities, travel and minimising disruption to other sports
  • For clarity, AFL Victoria and Cricket Victoria encourage all clubs throughout Victoria that use shared facilities to, as always, work collaboratively to ensure minimal disruption during handover and for football clubs to have priority access as soon as grounds are no longer required to host cricket finals
  • Cricket Victoria will work closely with AFL Victoria to keep it updated on finals planning
  • AFL Victoria and Cricket Victoria have agreed to work collaboratively on any contingency planning should the winter 2021 football seasons be impacted by COVID-19 and will commence discussions in the coming weeks

Of the 43 grounds currently used for Premier Cricket, only a minority of grounds will be used for finals. Some are sole cricket use, some shared with other sports and most are shared use grounds between cricket and football. These grounds will be prioritised for cricket finals under the existing agreement during that time:

Ground Availability for Men’s Kookaburra Premier Cricket Finals

Green = Potential useGrey = confirmed not to be used

WEEK ONE – April 3/4

WEEK TWO – April 10/11

WEEK THREE – April 17/18

Number of grounds to be used

Premier Club Venue Suburb

16

8

4

Camberwell Camberwell Sports Ground Camberwell
Watson Park Ashburton
Carlton Princes Park # 1 Nth Carlton
Princes Park # 2 Nth Carlton
Casey-South Melbourne Casey Fields # 4 Cranbourne
Casey Fields # 5 Cranbourne
Dandenong Shepley Oval Dandenong
Wilson Oval Dandenong
Essendon Windy Hill Essendon
Cross Keys Reserve Essendon
Fitzroy Doncaster Schramms Reserve # 1 Doncaster
Schramms Reserve # 2 Doncaster
Footscray Merv Hughes Oval Footscray
Tony Dodemaide Oval Footscray
Frankston Peninsula AH Butler Oval Frankston
Jubilee Park Frankston
Geelong Geelong Cricket Ground Geelong
Kardinia Park West Geelong
Greenvale Kangaroos Greenvale Reserve # 1 Greenvale
Greenvale Reserve # 2 Greenvale
Kingston Hawthorn Walter Galt Reserve Parkdale
Turner Rd Reserve # 2 Highett
Melbourne Albert Ground Melbourne
Beaumaris Sec Coll – North Beaumaris
Beaumaris Sec Coll – South Beaumaris
Melbourne University Uni Ground Carlton
Princes Park # 3 Parkville
Northcote Bill Lawry Oval Northcote
Mayer Park Thornbury
Prahran Toorak Park Armadale
Righetti Oval Kooyong
Richmond Central Res Nth Glen Waverley
Central Res Sth Glen Waverley
Ringwood Russell Lucas Oval Ringwood
Jubilee Park # 2 Ringwood
St Kilda CitiPower Centre St Kilda
Harry Trott Oval Albert Park
Ian Johnson Oval Albert Park

 

N.B.: This list of venues is accurate as at the date of publication and will be adjusted (reduced in number), the closer it gets to the commencement of the Men’s Kookaburra Premier Cricket finals

 

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