BFLW to return to interleague arena for the first time in six years

A MAINSTAY of Ballarat women’s football, Jess Bokma says she expects the BFLW’s return to the interleague arena next season to strike a huge chord with players.

Bokma, one of five Redan players picked in this season’s BFLW Senior Team of the Year, expects players across the expanded seven-team competition, including newcomers Ballarat, to be falling over themselves to represent the league against a strong Central Victoria.

The interleague clash will be the first involving Ballarat’s best female footballers in six years.

It went without saying, Bokma would love to don the BFNL black and white herself.

“The last time I did interleague was when I was a teenager … junior interleague,” the 27-year-old former GWV Rebels representative said.

“We’ve been wondering why the women haven’t had interleague, but it’s exciting.

“Hopefully, it gets a few more girls interested in the game.

“It’s been a long time coming.

“Nothing is a definite, but I’d love to get a crack at it.”

Bokma, the Lions’ best and fairest winner this season, predictably backed Ballarat to not only field a formidable combination, but to give Central Victoria a good run for its money.

“I’m sure everyone playing BFLW will want a game,” she said.

“I remember playing interleague as a junior as being a great experience.

“You get to know the girls from other clubs; there’s a great camaraderie representing your league against other teams; and it’s a higher standard and cleaner game.”

 

While the full details of when and where the games against Central Victoria will be played have yet to be locked in, BFNL board chair Rob Simmonds said the league could not be more excited to be back in the interleague mix, also committing to under-18 and under-15 matches.

“We will be hosting, and our preference would be Mars Stadium,” he said.

“City Oval will likely be out of action, with the new changerooms not due to be completed until sometime around when we plan to have the game, so that makes it (City Oval) a bit of an unknown.

“Mars would be great, but we are pretty lucky down here in Ballarat, we have six sand-based ovals, so we’ll be presenting the interleague showcase on a good surface.”

Simmonds said negotiations were continuing on the possibility of a second senior interleague game.

Perhaps in a pointer to what to expect, the BFLW’s Senior Team of the Year included a mix of four players from premier Darley, led by dual league best and fairest Lilli Condon and joint best on ground in this year’s grand final Charli Parsons-Jones, five apiece from runners-up Redan and Bacchus Marsh, four from East Point, three from Lake Wendouree, and one from Carisbrook.

Simmonds confirmed Ballarat’s under-18 team will play a second game against the Hampden league, centred on Warrnambool.

With the senior competition strengthening year on year, Simmonds was confident Ballarat would give a good account of itself in its senior interleague return.

“Hopefully it’s the start of something major,” he said.

“We’ve already got the Goldfields Challenge against Bendigo with our junior boys and junior girls, so it’s the senior women’s footy equivalent.

“Logistically, it’s nothing too new, just adding the women in. It’s really exciting for our senior women.”

Regular interleague performers in recent seasons, Central Victoria defeated Millewa in Mildura this season. It previously participated in an annual senior and under-18 interleague carnival, also involving Central Murray and North East Border.