Black Diamond Reps 2006

[Pekay]

This was lifted from bdafl.com.au, a great site,always updated, forever informative.But this is good for footy in our great state. The Board tonight accepted an invitation from the Southern Riverina NSW AFL to compete in an inter-league series in Wagga on 20 May.

Other leauges competing at this stage involve the RFL, Farrer, Hume, Coreen and Northern Riverina with matches to be played on Maher Oval and the adjacent Anderson Oval for the Cougar Sportswear Cup.

In the provisional draw, the BDAFL will face the strong Farrer League then the Northern Riverina League in the preliminary matches before the finals.

Depending where the league finishes they will then play off for a final position in a 4 x 15 minute quarter game on one of the two grounds.

The league had three representative options from which to chose this year and selected this because of the constant and solid competitive opposition.

In the 2005 season the BDAFL defeated the Hume Football League in an interleague game at Culcairn so they feel that they should be competitive in the company they will play in Wagga.

At the May Carnival, NSW selectors will be on hand to chose a representative NSW Country Team to compete in the National Country Championships in Perth later in the year.

The Board will begin to put together their representative programme early in 2006 and anticipate a positive reaction to the plans for a tough but enjoyable representative roster.
Encouraging.Gives the BD boys a great opportunity to ply their trade against some of the states finest.I know for a fact that the SFA reps has died,pretty much never to be represented in the near future anyway.Any thoughts?NorthernSwan,do you think this will attract more BD players to have a dip at reps?It was an issue last year,am i right?

[Northern_Swan]

The Boys did well against Hume last year, so that was the catalyst i guess for the invite to this comp in 06.

Last year we did miss a few (about 6, Including Brad Percy, Clint Austerberry, Angus Darling, and Mick Ryan IIRC) through whatever reason, and I guess at the end of the day its going to depend on peoples ability to get time off work. That has always been the issue when we play away from home unfortunately.

Personally i'd love for us to get our best side together and give it a crack, I think we would acquit ourselves pretty well. With the date being locked in nice and early, the league will get the chance to select a side nice and early and get these top players keen

[BeeEmmAre]

If this gets off the ground it will be good for a start to reintroduce interleague footy in the south.
Obviously Hume has started to come back with matches against Farrer and the Black Diamond in recent years, while Riverina (this year Southern Riverina combined) has played the Sydney AFL each year.
As for the others, and especially Coreen, no interleague footy has been played since the similarly formatted Barooga Border District Leagues competition crashed five or six years ago.
A lightning format is not ideal for interleague footy long term, but it can hopefully be used to get the concept up and running again and in turn, resurrect club football in these leagues.
Go the Coreen and District Swans.