GOOD Friday football is poised to happen for the first time in the south-west, with the Warrnambool and District league set to decide on the controversial match tomorrow night.
Old Collegians is spearheading the Easter game, which would see the club do battle with Merrivale on April 2.
Collegians president Ashley Porra said the club submitted a formal request to the league.
"We had to make sure it was OK with Merrivale. They OK'd it and I have handed a letter to league general manager Dianne Membrey," Porra said.
"I'm hopeful it will be decided on Wednesday night."
While WDFNL president Justin Balmer was mindful of pre-empting the executive's decision, the league has in the past allowed special requests from clubs.
The match met opposition from south-west religious leaders, particularly Catholic leaders, who said Good Friday should be kept holy.
Porra acknowledged the importance of the day to Christians, but he said there would be many people "sitting around doing nothing" on Good Friday.
"For those people there will be a football match they can go to," he said.
"To put it simply, I don't think the church will have a downturn in numbers because there is a football game on Good Friday.
"If we have players who feel they can't play on Good Friday because of their beliefs, we respect that. But the feedback we have had from players is that they are keen because they can play the game on the Friday, then they have a whole long weekend in front of them where they can spend Easter with their families."
Porra said when WDFNL had begun its season on Easter Saturday, the club had struggled to field players for its junior sides.
He said most young families preferred to go away during the Easter break.
Porra said the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal would benefit from the match, with appeal collectors rattling tins at the gate.
"And we also have a half-time raffle during the senior game. But instead of that we would send the kids around with the tins again and mop up anyone we didn't get at the gate," he said.
"It will create a bit of revenue for the club because there will be no one else playing that day.
"If you look at football clubs, we have senior, reserve, under 17 and and under 14-and-a-half teams and there is about half-a-dozen netball teams running around - we provide something for these people every week. It is a good community thing to do."
Balmer said he hoped a decision would be made on the match tomorrow night. He said if the game was to be included in the league's published draw, it needed to be finalised in "the next few weeks".
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