Sport
10 March, 2026
New MCDFNL coordinator excited for 2026
In a major landmark moment for the league’s administration and management, the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League (MCDFNL) has appointed Ben Connell as the new standalone competition coordinator.
In September 2025, the MCDFNL announced to its affiliated clubs that the league had decided not to renew its administrative services agreement with the Ballarat Football Netball League (BFNL), ending a three-year partnership between the two leagues.
Without a BFNL affiliated competition coordinator, the MCDFNL extensively searched for a new, full-time coordinator to be the figurehead of their transition to a standalone operational model.
With previous experience in sports administration, the league appointed Connell to oversee day-to-day operations as they undergo noticeable change on and off the field.
With the start of the 2026 season less than a month away, The Advertiser sat down with Connell to discuss his new role ahead of his inaugural season.
Congratulations on your new role. What made you want to apply for this standalone competition coordinator role?
For the last five or six years, I’ve been working in basketball administration, and I just wanted to come across a league that wanted to grow and wanted to be better.
It also gave me the ability to use my skills to my advantage. In basketball, you really roll from one season to the next.
There’s no sort of in-between time to work on making the league better with sponsorships and relationships with clubs, whereas with football and netball, because there’s one season a year, it allows me that time in the off-season to grow.
How was the role sold to you from the MCDFNL’s stand-point?
When I met with them in the interview process, it was more about putting the league first, obviously, coming off an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) where they had other res-ponsibilities and leagues to look after.
It was more about making sure the clubs are supported, they get answers quickly and so forth.
I’m currently a club president for a basketball club in Ballarat, so I understand from a volunteer’s standpoint how clubs operate.
If you need to deal with a club, talk to a club, or whatever, you need to be able to do it on their timeframe rather than your own. So it was more about supporting the clubs and club development that attracted me to the role.
Now that you are in the role, what do you hope to bring to the MCDFNL?
At the moment, it’s getting through this first season, seeing where the league’s at and where the league can improve.
We have made a couple of changes, netball has moved across to PlayHQ, which will make it easier for parents and spectators to find fixtures, ladders and results.
We have moved across to a sports vote-counting platform that we can run online, which will help with presentations, so it’s just seeing where the league lacks technology wise and making changes there.
Once we are through this season, I can get a gauge of where changes can occur.
In your early stages of the role, how have you found the new role, how have you found the league and how are you feeling with the season ahead?
So far, I’ve found it really good. The clubs have been accommodating. They understand that things are taking time and I’ve got to find my feet, which I think I have.
Once the season gets underway, it’s just supporting the clubs through the season and making sure that the rules are abided by. I think as long as you are on top of things, that’s pretty much what will happen.
I’m looking forward to getting the season underway. Hopefully, the season runs smoothly and kids are out there enjoying their football and netball because at the end of the day, that’s what we are here for, to support the communities and support kids in grassroots sports.
As you have been finding your feet, have you had many discussions with the clubs in terms of the league’s direction or what they want to see implemented?
At the moment, it’s more the administrative side of things. I would eventually like to see the league possibly go down the path of women’s football.
Obviously, some clubs are struggling with junior numbers on the football side, so that’s a priority to try and see if we can assist in any way to help those field all their teams.
We have changed 17 and under netball into 18 and under. We have changed the age groups of football to under 12s, 15s and 18s to try to match with other neighbouring leagues, just to try and assist holding numbers.
We were getting a lot of clubs coming back to us, saying kids that age out at 17.5 (in football) are jumping across because they can play another (junior) season in another league.
So we looked at it and thought that if we go under 12s, 15s and 18s, it matches the other leagues and it would help clubs assist in the retention of those players.
You mentioned potentially bringing in women’s football. Do you have any other long-term visions or plans that you would hope to implement?
Not right at the moment, the main thing I think for the league is consistency. Over the last few years, there have been quite a few people in my role, from what I’ve been told.
For me, at the moment, its just creating consistency for clubs knowing that the person in charge is going to hang around for a while.