Competition officials have announced the under 17 division will become an under 18 competition for 2021.
Although some clubs don’t believe it will just be a temporary switch.
“It will be good if it does only stay in place for next year,” LBU president Colin Bacon said.
“But if it the league elects to stay with an under 18s competition it won’t be doing our club any favours.
“No parent is going to want their kids stepping up from the under 14s to the 18s and playing against fully grown teenagers – it just doesn’t make any sense.
“A permanent change would mean we lose players and that wouldn’t be sustainable for us.
“Hopefully under 17s football does come back in 2022.”
Leitchy-Gunny president Gary Kevin held a similar view to his Cats counterpart.
“I’m not very happy about it and I’ll be voicing my displeasure when we have a meeting with the league on Thursday,” Kervin said.
“The club doesn’t have the numbers to form an under 16s team to field in the Goulburn Campaspe League to close the gap between the 14s and 18s.
“It’s a big ask for kids to play against players who are four years older.
“The change is going to leave us in a very difficult position.”
Speaking on the decision, HDFNL chairman Peter Cole told the Bendigo Advertiser the temporary move was to help clubs avoid an exodus of players who may have missed out on their final year of junior football due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“From the figures we've already been given by some of our clubs, it's in excess of 80 players who would have been ineligible to play under 17s next year,” Cole said on Saturday.
“While some of those players would have played reserves and seniors, the majority most likely would have gone elsewhere or simply not played and that's unacceptable in the current climate.
“By moving to under 18s for next year - and at this stage the move is only for 2021 - what we're giving the clubs is the opportunity to be able to retain those players.
“What it essentially means is the existing teams that clubs had ready to go for this year can still be retained for next season.
“We acknowledge the under 17 vs under 18s subject has been regularly debated within our competition over the years, but in this instance it's purely about giving our clubs the maximum opportunity to field sides.
“We'll see how next year goes with the under 18s and then review it at the end of the season.”
Earlier this year, Leitchville-Gunbower and LBU merged to field under 16s and 18s teams in the Bendigo Junior Football League before it was cancelled.
Both clubs fielded their youngest junior teams in the Goulburn Campaspe competition.
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