THIS year’s North Central Football League season will be the last to feature a “grudge match” between Nullawil and Wycheproof-Narraport.
The two clubs will merge for the 2025 season, after voting last week surpassed a two-thirds majority of members at both clubs.
The traditional rivals, separated by less than 30 kilometres, had only just reignited their battles last year when the Maroons joined the Demons in North Central.
Nullawil president Grant Kelly said the move was in response to low junior numbers and a lack of volunteers.
“It’s an exciting time, but it’s also quite sad that Nullawil is having to finish up,” he said.
“It’s purely an issue around number of junior players and the number of volunteers that are needed to make things work.
“When you lose those families, you lose the young kids, and you lose volunteers as well.
“We didn’t want to have to fold and for the club to become nothing, so this is a much-preferred option.
“Sometimes you just have to look forward into the future, beyond just today.”
Kelly said that while the two clubs had been historic rivals, the younger members of both clubs got along well.
“I’ve been here with Nullawil for seven years now,” he said.
“There’s a big feeling from the older people around the club that it’s always a bit of a grudge match against Wyche.
“But those younger players are very close between the clubs, and it’s their future that we have to think about.
“I think it will probably be a neutral jumper and a new, neutral name.
“The maroon of Nullawil has always been quite unique, and I think that a lot of people are quite passionate about it.
“It means a lot to people, but this is a fresh start.”
Wycheproof-Narraport president Ricky Allan said the two clubs would vote on the new details later this year.
“It’s a pretty different thing for most of us,” he said.
“There would only be a handful still around from when Wycheproof and Narraport merged 60 years ago.
“We will have a working group from both clubs who will then come back to members of both clubs later this year.
“There will be a number of options for the things like a name and the club’s colours that we will then vote on.
“It’s a new era, we’ve still got one season to get through, but this is really about ensuring the security of the club in short term at the very least.”
Allan hoped the two sides could cap off their season with a meeting in the finals.
“It’ll definitely be an interesting match-up this year, the clubs are the best of enemies,” he said.
“We’ll just see how we go, it’d be nice to finish it off facing them in the finals.
“Our clubs are both pretty realistic with how things are with our junior numbers.
“We need to make sure we can have a game of football with a full team.
“We’ve been looking for a merger for the last couple of years, so to us this wasn’t a new thing.
“I think the vote sort of showed that both clubs saw this as a necessary thing.”
