By Tara Murray
Rupertswood w
ill further investigate the possibility of moving leagues for the 2021 season, after its members voted in favour of making a move.
With some interest within the club for it to move to the Essendon District Football League in 2021, the committee decided to hold a vote on whether members were in favour of leaving the Riddell District Football Netball League.
At the vote held at their annual general meeting on Wednesday night, 80 per cent of those who voted supported making the move to the EDFL.
Of the 92 people in the room, only three per cent voted against the move. Several of the no votes by proxy were from netballers who weren’t expected to be at the club next season.
Sharks president Brad Pietromonaco said no final decision had been made.
“We got through stage one, which was the vote,” he said.
“We wanted to get a feel what the members wanted to do, we’re still a long way off making a decision.
“With 80 per cent in favour, the next step is to get more information from both the EDFL and RDFNL. We are investigating all avenues.”
Pietromonaco said they were concerned about the direction of the RDFNL and wanted to make sure they had a say in their future.
The most recent AFL Goldfields senior competition review had mentioned the possibility of Rupertswood joining the Ballarat Football Netball League in the short to medium term, something the Sharks don’t want to do.
Pietromonaco said the sticking point about the move was netball. Unlike in the RDFNL, the EDFL netball competition isn’t compulsory nor at the same standard.
“It’s all in or nothing,” he said.
“If the juniors or netballers don’t want to go, then we won’t go.”
Pietromonaco said with the members in favour of the move, they would start to look more in depth to the possibility of making the move.
The club will look at having another vote down the track before making a final decision.
“We are looking at the future of the club,” he said.
“We’re not going at the moment, we will know more early next year.”
The vote comes just weeks after Broadford officially left the RDFNL and joined the AFL Outer East. Sunbury Kangaroos and Kilmore have both left the competition in recent years.
