|
Australian Football League (AFL) on eBay
|
|
|
|
|
Articles
|
| Mid Murray FA Dead |
|
AFTER almost 100 years in operation the Mid Murray Football Association (MMFA) is disbanding.
|
The decision came after a meeting on October 26 where it was decided that if the Robertstown Football Club amalgamated with Eudunda in the Barossa Light and Goolwa Football Association the league would close down.
This was followed by the acceptance of the Sedan Cambrai Football Club into the Hills Football League (HFL) early in November, giving the MMFA no option but to disband.
MMFA secretary Deb Tanner said with clubs leaving the league it became too hard to keep running.
“We were still financially okay to keep going and we actually had increased takings at the gate throughout the year,” Mrs Tanner said.
“But with Ramco withdrawing in 2008 that only left us with four clubs for 2009 but Morgan Cadell couldn’t field all four grades each week so that really left us with three-and-a-half clubs”.
Mrs Tanner said attracting other clubs to the league proved difficult because of its geographical location.
“We’ve spent the last few years trying to attract other less successful clubs from other leagues to the MMFA but the big issue with that was that no one wanted to travel so far,” she said.
“We’re an association that’s based on the river and with everyone at the moment moving away from the river it’s hard to get new people to the area.”
It was a sad end for a football association that formed in 1910 and over the years has had a total of 23 clubs join, leave and rejoin.
One of the first clubs to join the association was Morgan, which merged with Cadell in 1994, and football club president Les Marr said he was concerned for the junior footballers in the area.
“Our options (for other clubs to play at) are very limited,” Mr Marr said.
“The closest town is Waikerie in the Riverland Football League but that’s still 40 or 50 kilometres away,” he said. Mr Marr described the decision for the MMFA to disband as “extremely disappointing.”
“It’s just a sad fact of life that this is what happens in country footy in South Australia,” he said.
South Australian National Football League (SANFL) regional football manager David Bradley said it was a credit to the MMFA for sticking it out as long as they did.
“It’s disappointing that it had to go this way and just a sign of the times with some parts of country South Australia,” Mr Bradley said.
“The SANFL’s job now is to support those clubs and help them find somewhere else to play footy.”
The remaining clubs will aim to join surrounding leagues with Blanchetown - Swan Reach aiming to join the Riverland Independent League after being refused entry into the HFL.
Morgan Cadell will look for somewhere for their junior teams to play football but will not continue with the senior grades.
Story by ALISTAIR LAWSON
The Murray Valley Standard
|
Posted on Jan 02, 2010 22:54pm by admin
(Return to Articles)
|
|
|
|
|
Article Categories
|
|
|
Date and Time
|
|
|
Search Our Site
|
|
|
