Goroke, Frances club presidents welcome new exemption, but say it must go further

It comes as the South Australian government has allowed cross-border residents to travel between the two states if they are participating in organised sport.

Frances Tennis Club president Kerryn Pilmore said this new exemption, announced on Wednesday, wouldn't help the club.

"If we played in Victoria, we play from Frances to Harrow and Goroke, which are out of the 40-kilometre zone," she said. "There are no competitions within the 40-kilometre bubble.

Victorians are eligible to enter South Australia as cross-border community members, if they have a permit and live within 40 kilometres of the border.

This means residents in South Australia cannot travel to Goroke, and Victorians cannot travel to Lucindale, Padthaway and Kieth, among other impacts.

Mrs Pilmore said her club had elected to field a team in the Naracoorte-based Southern Ports League competition. The new season is due to began in October.

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"We felt we wouldn't be able to get a game by playing in the Kowree Association," she said.

"Most of our players live in Naracoorte. We are able to get enough players to do that by combining Frances with Naracoorte. By doing it this way we are going to lose a couple of the Victorian players - there would be two at this stage."

Mrs Pilmore and her partner split their lives between Neuarpurr, in the Wimmera, and Naracoorte. They have changed their lifestyles due to the border restrictions.

Border Districts Football Netball Club president Linda Skinner, of Ozenkadnook, welcomed the government's move as a first step.

She said the border zone would need to be extended if the club - which plays matches in Goroke and Frances, the latter in South Australia - was to play in the 2021 Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara competition.

"It's a very positive sign for all of us, but Goroke doesn't fit in (the border zone) so we still have one clubroom outside the bubble," she said. "Making the bubble 100k's would be nice, but even 50 would be enough to bring our (locations) back together. It would be hugely detrimental to the club otherwise.

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"We wouldn't be able to go any further than Naracoorte or Bordertown to play matches. It gives us more options, but doesn't open us up to the whole league.

Mrs Skinner said the club needed players and supporters in both Goroke and Frances to be successful. She said the club would normally start training for the next season in November.

"Our footy club is quite unique because we have players on both sides of the border," she said.

"Hopefully everything is back to normal next year, that is what we are planning for. We've thought about not having interstate recruits, but we hope we don't have to go down that road. A lot of the KNTFL clubs rely on Adelaide players."

When asked by the Mail-Times about easing restrictions further, a South Australian health minister spokesman said the government was "closely monitoring the situation in Victoria".

"We will continue to act on the health advice and won't keep restrictions in place for one day longer than we have to," they said.

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