Latest News

Add My News • Search Old News

Gippsland › Latest news › Gippsland Sports

Gippsland Rugby League

Gippsland Rugby League Coach calls for a "Crisis" meeting to discuss the Wildcats inclusion to the Melbourne Rugby League competition.

By Kiri Hiriaki - 23rd April 2003 - Back to News

With one week before the start of the season, Gippsland Rugby League Coach Jeff Hiriaki has expressed grave concern to the future of Wildcats and their inclusion to the Melbourne Rugby League competition.

Hiriaki and Manager, Steve Kilpatrick having assessed attendance to training since November last year has appealed to the League to consider withdrawing Wildcats from the Melbourne Rugby League competition due to lack of numbers.

"Having trained since November last year, players attendance had been sliding up and down weekly with the highest attendance recorded during the week of the lead up to the annual Country Championships in Corowa early last month" Hiriaki explained. "Having lost nine prominent players from last year has reduced our numbers dramatically".

It was hoped that the Melbourne Storm trial match held in March would help to promote rugby league in the local area and to increase the number of senior rugby players in Latrobe City however, this has not been the case.

The League views the lack of numbers partly due to the late release of the draw for this season. The first encounter was expected to kick off last weekend but at the request of all clubs, a revised draw was released delaying the competition another two weeks.

"It’s been almost a month since the Country Championships offering Wildcats their first match of the season that has impacted the reduction of numbers to training. With players training since November, it’s natural that a dropout is encountered as it’s a long time between the first game of the year to the start of the season" a league spokesman stated. Changing venues from Traralgon to Morwell may have contributed but league officials deny this holds any relevance.

Whilst the withdrawal may be evident on a senior level, Gippsland Rugby League will continue as governing body sustaining juniors. A Crisis meeting is to be held on Wednesday, 23rd April, Maryvale Recreation Reserve (East) Morwell at 7:00PM.


Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com



Edit this news article




Related Articles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baw Baw Bass Coast Cardinia East Gippsland Latrobe City South Gippsland Wellington
© 2001-2025 gippsland.com Print this page | Subscribe to Newsletter | Feedback / Inquiries | Login
Care has been taken in compiling the component parts of this website. However, Gippsland.com does not warrant or represent that the website is free from errors or omissions, that the qualifications claimed by an advertiser are valid or that the published details of any advertiser are as stated on the website. Please review the full statement of our Terms and Conditions of Service and disclaimer.