DANIEL Saville will oversee the Ovens and King Football Netball League for the 2025 season as league operations manager. Saville takes over the position from Shankar Menon, who took on the role ahead of the 2024 season. Coming with a background in sports administration and teaching, Saville has been involved in the O&K for almost a decade as part of United Bright FNC. “I’ve been involved with the league for nine years as a player and club umpire as well,” he said. “I’ve got a background in sports admin at a school level, it’s something I’m really interested in and passionate about, so I thought I’d give it a go while the position was available. “From player to umpire to administrator is not the most logical pathway and might not be that common, but my playing days are well done. “I’m really looking forward to the challenge and the role, continuing to build relationships and meet new people. “I already know some of how the landscape works with the football and netball sides of the league, and I’m looking forward to continuing the good work that’s been done. before me, and hopefully adding to that, and seeing how else we can improve the league.” Saville said the goal was to have a competitive competition across all grades of football and netball. “Everybody wants the best for their club, which is great, and that’s only going to make the league stronger, we hope,” he said. “The gap between top and bottom is quite wide at the moment in football and netball grades, so with a couple of initiatives brought in by AFLNEB and AFL Victoria with player points, it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. “For my role, first year in, I’m not looking to overhaul the league and do things my way and make it about myself. “I think it’s working with the clubs who have done so much work in the past and the people who have come before me in my role, along with the board who have been really helpful so far. “Getting more of a social media presence is something I’m looking to do, more of a presence in the community and online, which should hopefully get more eyeballs on screen and people through the gates.” The league announced the 2025 season will commence on Saturday, March 29 with round one, with the fixture to be finalised in coming weeks. “We’ve got a meeting coming up where we’ll be looking at a draft version of the fixture,” Saville confirmed. “We want to try and give clubs as much notice as possible with regards to booking plans in advance, social calendars and things like that. “The fixture should have a bit of a different look to it this year. “Making a fixture with 18 games in 20 weeks with 11 teams is a difficult task - trying to find a fixture which benefits everybody is the key, and we’ll aim to do that as best as possible.”
