Sport
20 April, 2023
Navarre FNC investigating merger feasibility with Stawell’s CKS Swifts FNC
More merger talks have emerged from within the Mary-borough Castlemaine District Football Netball League, with Navarre FNC investigating the feasibility of a merger with the CKS Swifts FNC, based in the Horsham District Football Netball League. The...
More merger talks have emerged from within the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League, with Navarre FNC investigating the feasibility of a merger with the CKS Swifts FNC, based in the Horsham District Football Netball League.
The Hoppers and Swifts put out a joint press release on Tuesday as both clubs looked to address rumours surrounding the status of the clubs.
In the statement, both clubs confirmed that they were currently in talks, but stressed that there was no set date for a proposed merger, instead saying that the focus of the talks at the moment is where both clubs see themselves in the near future in regards to volunteer and junior participation rates, and whether the possibility of a merger is feasible.
Both the Hoppers and Swifts will set up information sessions for members to have their say before deciding whether to proceed with further talks down the track.
Situated between Maryborough and Stawell, Navarre had 99 people live in the town according to the last census in 2021, with a median age of 54.
Navarre president, Tim Bibby, said that the median age of the town and surrounds was proving a factor in opening up talks, as is the case for the current discussions between Royal Park and Maryborough Rovers.
“Our problem, looking forward, is an ageing community, which is affecting us as we don’t have the young families across the district like we used to have. It doesn’t necessarily affect us on the field, but it affects our volunteers. We have the same people for a lot of years who are doing the same job, who would step down if they had someone to take their places,” he said.
“With the points system and the salary cap, we’re seeing ourselves struggling in the future. If we bring good players in, we would be hoping they would stay for a few years. And you can’t bring too many in, as the points would be full.
“It’s a tough one. Over the years, we have had terrific born-and-bred talent. We’ve had players come out of Stawell and St Arnaud. But now, we are relying on a lot of our juniors up towards that area and there’s a lot of pressure on those kids. If they are living in Stawell, they see their mates playing in the Wimmera league for Stawell, and quite often, if they stay for the junior journey, they end up playing in Stawell or going away for work and we don’t see them again.”
According to Bibby, most of the discussions over a merger have been driven by the Stawell-based CKS Swifts, who are starting to see the effects of having to travel long distances to away games, which is affecting player and volunteer participation.
“We received a phone call from CKS in around late January or early February,” he said.
“After they contacted us, we sat down and had a meeting with CKS within a week. They were quite professional with it, they said things that made some sense and some other things that we wouldn’t entertain. But it’s all very new to a lot of us out here.
“The Swifts president, Peta Folkes, contacted me, and wondered whether we would be interested in getting a couple of sub-committees together, with representatives for the football and netball, with three from each club, meeting up now and then to discuss how the clubs are travelling and what the frame of mind for both are.
“The sub-committees from both clubs had their first meeting last Wednesday. There wasn’t a lot to come out of it.
“We know where we stand with it. There were a couple of things in the original proposal which we thought would be unreasonable, but in saying all this, it is a long way off. Neither club are necessarily on their hands and knees on the field.
“The CKS Swifts guys were saying that they have to go to Edenhope, Kaniva and up towards the South Australian border. We had a meeting with them a couple of months back and they said they have three trips which are around the two-hour mark.”
Navarre’s footballers finished fifth in 2022, going down to Trentham in the semi-final, while their netballers finished 12th. In comparison, the Swifts also made football finals in 2022, eliminated in the first week of finals, while their netballers finished 10th in the 12-team Horsham competition.
Bibby stressed that Navarre were only progressing in preliminary talks regarding the forseeable future of the club and where it is at, and did not want the club to rush into a decision regarding the future of the club going forward.
Bibby says Navarre will take steps to ensure all members, volunteers and players at both junior and senior level are clear in which direction they want to go before making a decision on whether to proceed with talks.
“There were certainly mixed feelings. But we haven’t had a members meeting yet. There were some rumours starting to go around, and that’s why we made the press release. It kept them quiet for a little while. There were only a handful of us that knew then. I’m still getting my head around the possibility that it might happen,” he said.
“If you take away the open-age side of things, we have plenty of juniors, particularly in our netball, and so do they, but there are many families that would be affected if you rushed into it. It’s pretty hard.”