SATURDAY'S preliminary final will be held outside Warrnambool for the first time in eight years, with Koroit's Victoria Park yesterday selected as the best available ground.
Hampden league officials opted to end six consecutive years of preliminary finals at Warrnambool's Reid Oval because of the state of the venue's surrounds.
Cars had to be towed from the mud after the Warrnambool and District league grand final on Saturday and organisers had to restrict vehicle access over safety concerns.
The preliminary final, with no competition from the WDFNL for crowds, has traditionally been played in Warrnambool. Only three times in the past 15 years has it been held out of Warrnambool (Camperdown 1996, Port Fairy 1998 and 2002), with Reid Oval used nine times and the Friendly Societies' Park three times.
HFNL chief executive officer Stephen Soulsby said the decision to take the game to Koroit for the first time in the league's 80-year history had been made with a view to ensuring Reid Oval was in the best possible condition for Saturday week's grand final.
He revealed the league had opted to play the grand final at Reid Oval, regardless of which teams advanced on Saturday.
"The (Reid Oval) ground itself is not too bad but we have to take into account the surrounds of the ground. It's had five weeks of non-stop footy," Soulsby said.
"Warrnambool played there in round 17, district league finals have been there every week since and you have had three teams from Warrnambool continually training on it as well, until this week.
"For us to have the best playing surface available for a grand final, we felt it was a necessity to give it a week's rest. We have to plan a bit ahead.
"It's not the ideal situation to take it out of town."
Soulsby said he doubted crowd numbers would be adversely hit because of the venue choice. He said both the senior footy, a rematch of the 2008 grand finalists Warrnambool and Terang Mortlake, and the A grade netball, a rematch of last year's grand finalists Warrnambool and Koroit, would attract a lot of interest.
"We don't see it being an issue," he said.
"Koroit is only about a 10-minute drive out of Warrnambool. It's not far for spectators to go to see a good game of footy or netball. I don't think it will compromise it too much. Certainly there is a lot to play for."
Warrnambool coach Adam Dowie said Victoria Park would suit his side. "We have a pretty good record out there," he said.
But he questioned the thinking behind not using Reid Oval.
"Why, when you have no game of footy in Warrnambool on a Saturday afternoon, would they hold it out of Warrnambool," he asked.
"I think it should be played at the best ground and the best venue. Are they going to move a Collingwood final from the MCG?"
Dowie said Reid Oval was quick to recover from use.
"Reid Oval is a very good draining ground. It's got to be better than at Koroit."
He said Reid Oval tended to bounce back quickly after a wet weekend.
His view is supported by the fact that when the covers on the centre square were lifted last Saturday morning for the WDFNL grand finals, the centre of the ground was rock hard.
Terang Mortlake coach Damian O'Connor said: "It doesn't worry us where we are playing. We are just happy to be there."
Warrnambool City Council, which is in charge of Reid Oval, said it had not restricted the ground's availability and that the Hampden league had made the call to go elsewhere. Spokeswoman Kim Sweetnam said the council could understand the decision because the surrounds were in bad shape.
Email a friend