THE Golden Rivers Football Netball League (GRFNL) will go ahead next season – with or without Nullawil – after the remaining seven clubs all committed to the competition in a league meeting on Sunday afternoon.
The meeting of the Central Rivers Board and all eight GRFNL clubs was held following news of the Nullawil Football Netball Club’s decision to seek to transfer to the North Central Football League for the 2022 season.
The Central Rivers Board put out a press release on Monday, outlining the discussions that were held the previous day surrounding the impending transfer application – and the potential impact on the competition that would occur if Nullawil’s application was successful.
“The two main talking points that were taken away from these discussions were – that all seven remaining clubs are fully committed to the Golden Rivers League going forward, regardless of the Nullawil FNC application outcome and that all seven remaining clubs would like to see the Nullawil FNC remain in the Golden Rivers League,” the press release stated.
“The Central Rivers Board will be keeping these considerations in mind as the transfer process progresses – this is a relatively lengthy process, so it is not expected there will be an application outcome for several weeks.”
Macorna Football Netball Club President Greg Whinfield, who was present at Sunday’s meeting, told The Guardian that the feeling among the remaining seven clubs was extremely optimistic and upbeat about the future of the competition.
“It’s still a bit unknown regarding Nullawil, but all the other clubs are very positive and are just keen to get on with next season basically,” Whinfield said.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt really in my mind regarding the remaining club’s commitment and to be honest, I think everyone’s just looking forward to getting back out there.
“The general feeling right across the board was that everyone would love them to stay, but it’s their decision really – we can’t influence that much now and it probably just needs to run its course with them and the Central Rivers board.”
Moulamein President Kathy Munro agreed with Whinfield’s positive sentiments regarding the future of the Golden Rivers Football Netball League.
“It was good to get a bit of feedback from the governing body on where they see the future of the league – the consensus was that the Golden Rivers as a competition is going nowhere, regardless of the outcome with Nullawil,” Munro said.
“Basically, we’re here to stay and we are all committed, which is great.
“A couple of years ago they (Nullawil) fought hard for us not to merge – the information that came forward today was that their members were the ones that were pushing for them to change leagues.
“But whether they get the go ahead to leave the league or not, we’re not the ones that make the final decision.”
