ROUND one of the inaugural SANFL Wheelchair Football League season began on Friday night at Lights Community and Sports Centre, with Central District fielding one of the four teams.

Wheelchair football is played on a basketball court with five players on each team, with players separated into a netball-like thirds with two defenders and two attackers barred from entering the opposite zone, with one midfielder able to travel the length of the field.

Only forwards can attempt shots on goal, which are scored by handballing through the big sticks, and holding the ball is called if a player under physical pressure fails to dispose of the ball within three seconds.

Central District player Lloyd Banwell, who has been around the sport since its earliest days, has four national championships under his belt playing for South Australia from 2016-19.

“I had a work accident eight years ago which resulted in me becoming an amputee, so I’d gotten involved at the Hampstead (Rehabilitation) Centre, where all the wheelchair sports were played in those days,” he said.

“I was playing a bit of wheelchair basketball, until one day we got a call wondering if we could organise a football team.

“We played our first game against the Defence Force over at the RAAF base in 2015, and then in March of 2016 they organised a national tournament.

“So as well as us, there were teams from Melbourne, Tasmania, and three Defence Force teams, so six total. We took out the first one in Melbourne, and then the next two were also played in Melbourne and we took those out at as well.

“After winning three in a row we asked if we could host it, so in 2019 it was held here at the St Clair Recreation Centre – and guess what, we took out that as well.”

With the success of the South Australian side, talks began about getting a SANFL league up and running in 2020, but COVID-19 put those plans on hold temporarily.

Mr Banwell said he enjoyed playing basketball, but getting an opportunity to handle the oval ball again was something he did not take for granted.

“I played football before I lost my limb, so it’s always been in my blood,” he said.

“It was a really good feeling get out there in a Central District jumper...we didn’t play as well as we could, but I know we’re only going to get better which is exciting. Sturt looks like the team to beat – they’ve got a few of those guys who played in those national championships with me and they look really strong."

As well as Central District and Sturt, Norwood and Woodville-West Torrens make up the four-team league, which will play round two of its nine-week season when sport is allowed to continue after the current statewide seven-day COVID-19 lockdown.