mmg.com.au

Tocumwal Football Netball Club will hold a crisis meeting at 7pm this Friday at its clubrooms.

Club president Bob Bourke said the objective of the meeting is to address the shortage of senior players.

He said it would also be used to ‘‘set the record straight in relation to all other areas of the club being as positive as they have been in many years’’.

Bourke said the club invites all Tocumwal people to the meeting, or anyone else ‘‘that can help with our plan’’.

‘‘A part of the reason the club has found itself in the position of the player shortage, is the fact we believed it would be irresponsible to go on a reckless spending spree, to hold players and attract new (players).

‘‘We simply would not have been able to afford the extra $60,000 per year to our budget of the past three years, including our 2009 grand final year, to achieve this.

‘‘Instead we have decided to put a plan in place to strengthen the club by resurrecting our local player numbers, starting with this meeting.

‘‘We have set a target of 40 local senior and reserve players, which would then give us the player base needed to recruit on top of.

‘‘These numbers would get the club back to the fundamentals and principles on why Tocumwal Football Netball Club was formed in the first place,’’ Bourke said.

Adding to the plan, the club has passed a motion for a revamped, improved incentive plan to reward local commitment to both training and the club in general.

The reward system extends to on field performance, attending award presentations and social functions.

‘‘The foundations and fundamental principles that the Tocumwal Football Netball Club was built on have been eroded over the years by the lack of employment, our youth seeking opportunities elsewhere, less kids playing due to more choices of entertainment and a shortage of the higher standard players needed to succeed, leading to bidding wars to gain their services.

‘‘The committee realises it is no good whinging or throwing our hands in the air and giving up. We have a plan and we now have to make sure we give it the best chance to work.’’

Bourke said the club has many positives to build on.

‘‘While the club would always like more players in the junior grades, through the efforts of our new coaches we have made great progress in both the footy and netball numbers, in particular the thirds football team.

‘‘They have gone from a core group of seven last year to a regular 22 so far this year.

‘‘Add to that an estimated 35 Netta girls and 20 Auskickers — that enjoyed an extremely well run program last year — and there is a renewed sense of optimism about our junior numbers.’’

There is also an air of excitement with the netball, he added.

‘‘We had approximately 40 girls at the first training night, with many new faces on board.

‘‘Again due to the hard work of the netball committee over the break our netball teams are well and truly on track for the up coming season.

‘‘As for all other areas of the club we are proud to say they are outstanding.

‘‘Financially we are up to date with all our accounts and only have a loan of around $28,000 on the building, to be paid out by the end of 2013.

‘‘We have our books audited and through our policy of transparency, it is clear to see we have continually conducted business in a creditable and responsible way.’’