Smythesdale will meet with Central Highlands Football League hierarchy on Wednesday night as it fights to survive.
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While Wednesday is officially the cut-off for a decision by the Bulldogs as to whether it plays in the CHFL this season, league president Eddie Comelli told a “crisis” meeting of the club on Monday night that the deadline would be extended.
“We’re not going to chop anyone on Wednesday.
“We’re prepared to give more time. We want to work with the club.”
CHFL secretary Diane Ryan, who was also among about 100 people at the meeting, said the league board had the discretion to extend the deadline.
Smythesdale is struggling for players at all senior and junior football and netball levels.
Although a player leakage and subsequent numbers crisis in junior football ranks took up a major part of the 90-minute meeting, fielding a senior football team remains the key to the Bulldogs’ participation in the upcoming season
Club president Dave Tuohy, who chaired the emotion-charged gathering, said Smythesdale had only 22 open age footballers committed to playing this year.
Senior coach Stephen Frys said this included a handful of players who had come on board in response to the predicament Smythesdale found itself in.
Tuohy said as it stood this was not enough.
Frys remains optimistic though that sufficient players can be found. He said it would only take three or four who were sitting on the fence to commit to turn things around.
Tuohy said he had been encouraged by the turnout at the special meeting – an event many in attendance believed should have been called earlier rather than a month before the start of the CHFL season on April 1.
While the meeting broke up open ended and the immediate future of Smythesdale remaining uncertain, Tuohy is hopeful that energy generated in a wide-ranging discussion would see a turn around in the club’s fortunes.
He said there was a lot of work to be done, but he believed there was a determination to fight on.