THE Nullawil Football Netball Club will be allowed to leave the Golden Rivers Football Netball League (GRFNL) – provided it gets the green light from the AFL Central Victoria commission.
The Central Rivers Board confirmed late on Friday that a meeting of the eight club presidents and board decided to allow Nullawil to move to the North Central Football League in the light of the imminent closure of the Quambatook Football and Netball Club.
The Central Rivers Board, along with the GRFNL club presidents, put out a press release announcing the six remaining Golden Rivers clubs would support both the Nullawil and Quambatook football and netball clubs in whatever decisions they made going forward.
“This meeting was instigated jointly by the departure of the Quambatook Football Club, as well as recent media reports from the Nullawil Football Club (NFC) that they are continuing to investigate opportunities to transfer to the North Central Football League,” the press release stated.
“It was unanimous amongst the six remaining, committed GRFNL clubs, that whilst we have enjoyed a rich playing history against the NFC, it will be beneficial to the remaining clubs and the NFC if they are granted their wish to transfer leagues.”
The six remaining clubs, Hay, Macorna, Moulamein, Murrabit, Ultima and Wandella, also outlined their commitment to the future of the GRFNL, with a six-team competition from 2023 now a possibility.
“The six remaining clubs are fully committed to continue as a league and are focused on a long-term future,” the press release stated.
“Our six clubs are dedicated to providing the full complement of junior and senior football and netball teams, while offering a competitive, inclusive, community competition.”
“We endeavour to strengthen our position over time, by attracting clubs in the greater region with similar values to join our league.”
Central Rivers board chairman Ross Stanton told The Guardian at the weekend while the Golden Rivers clubs may be ready for Nullawil to move on, the region’s governing body would still need to do what it felt was best for football in the region.
“We’ve heard the club presidents’ thoughts – but at this stage, unless something changes, then Nullawil’s locked into the Golden Rivers until 2024,” Stanton said.
“If something changes then we’ll review it, while taking on board the information that the presidents have given us. But I think we will also be talking to (the AFL Central Victoria commission) because there’s implications for the North Central as well as the Golden Rivers that we want to make sure are ticked off.”
“We need to look at what’s the right thing for the Golden Rivers.
“If we sat down and talked about it today it wouldn’t be a unanimous decision to let them move on.
“There’s some on the board that say it erodes the strength of the Golden Rivers to drop to a six-team competition and then if one more club happens to fall over, then it leaves you with a five-team competition and that’s probably too close to the border line and most likely not viable long term.
“So we have to weigh all those things up before we make our decision.”
Stanton also outlined the board’s thoughts on the possibility of a six-team Golden Rivers competition, which were seemingly in agreement with the presidents’.
“They are all strong, viable clubs and while some of them are going through some tough times on the field, off the field they are all very viable clubs with good support around them.
“They could all stand on their own two feet into the future as a six-team competition and it might be that that’s the way to go forward.”
