IT’S full steam ahead in 2022, according to incoming Central Rivers Chairman Ross Stanton, as the Central Murray Football Netball League hits the ground running with the new season kicking off this weekend.
After two seasons of government restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stanton was quick to assure the local football and netball community that this year would be different.
“I can’t stress this enough – we will be pushing on as hard as we can in order to see the season run as normal as possible, which will include finals,” Stanton said.
“That could well mean some clubs might have four, five or even more players out of their team on any given week – but the instruction will still be just field the best team you can and play on because while it’s unfortunate, it could be another team the following week.”
“We’ve put a couple of extra byes in the fixtures, just to give us a bit of breathing space, really. Hopefully we won’t need to use them, but if we do, then it’s an option that will be available to us down the track.”
“The main thing is we just need to complete the season and we are absolutely determined that we will.”
In a wide-ranging interview with The Guardian on the eve of the new season, Stanton stressed that the ongoing pandemic wasn’t his main concern – but rather the stress and fatigue that was already beginning to show, particularly on club volunteers, before the whistle is even blown to begin the season.
“It’s a bit of a battle getting people motivated at the moment and we’re seeing that at a lot of clubs – not all, but some – but volunteer fatigue is going to be one of our biggest challenges our clubs face this season without question,” Stanton said.
“As a board, we’re trying to work out how we keep our communities together, our clubs engaged and teams on the park, but a lack of numbers around both players and volunteers is starting to impact on clubs and become hard to manage.”
“The future in ten years will be a totally different landscape, but right here and now, it’s a significant challenge to keep clubs functioning and operational.”
“It’s been a problem for a while, but it’s now becoming a bit more evident with people’s lack of willingness to commit.”
While a lack of volunteers may be an issue at club level, a lack of umpires, particularly within the footballing ranks, is another cause for concern.
A mass exodus from the umpiring fraternity over the off-season has seen their resources stretched, with colts and junior games needing to be officiated by club umpires for the time being, according to Stanton.
“The Central Rivers Umpires have worked hard to be able to provide, as a minimum, two umpires at each venue – there’s some games and some grounds where they can be officiated with just two umpires, but that won’t be the case all the time and there’ll be some games where they will need three, so that’s when we will be asking clubs to provide an umpire to go out and help them and take a bit of pressure off,” Stanton said.
“Much like what the AFL have been saying recently, I think we need to treat our umpires with respect – they’re an integral part of the game and are as important as your team’s centre half forward.”
“We will be fairly strong on any abuse towards umpires and our tribunal has been instructed to show no leniency if people are brought before them for dissent towards umpires.”
Among other topics, the new Central Rivers chairman was also quick to acknowledge Nullawil’s importance to the Golden Rivers Football Netball League ahead of their opening round next weekend – while also stressing the need to find a naming rights sponsor for the Golden Rivers competition.
