Lions miffed at GF snub

By Peter Sweeney
PAKENHAM Football Club is “spitting chips” it has been overlooked to host the 2011 grand final in the Casey Cardinia Football League.
And the Lions are peeved it has been granted three successive Sundays for semi-finals and a preliminary final in the lead-up to the biggest day in the footy year.
Berwick, who hosted the grand final last year, has again been chosen as the venue for this year’s grand final.
Grand final hosting is seen as the “icing on the cake” for a football club – headed by the financial windfall of canteen and alcohol sales.
Pakenham officials not only believe Toomuc Valley Reserve is a better surface than Edwin Flack Reserve – but feel it was “promised” the grand final on a rotation basis.
“I believe that (rotation basis) may have been mentioned last year … but things change,” Ian Benson, operations manager for the Mornington Peninsula Football League, said.
And he also had a warning for the Lions.
“If Pakenham wants to host finals, then it has to accept the (board) decision. They must accept it,” Benson said.
Berwick will host finals on Saturdays 3, 10 and 24 September (grand final), while Pakenham will host finals on (Sundays) 4, 11 and 18 September.