St Arnaud meeting to determine club's future

The club called for all members to attend the meeting at McDonald Hall, St Arnaud, on January 29 from 7.30pm.

St Arnaud president Brett Douglas said the club would elect new office bearers for 2015 and host a discussion with members about where they wanted the club to go.

He said it was important for members to have input into the running of St Arnaud.

‘‘We’ve had a lot of questions asked about what’s going to happen in the next few years, and we wanted some direction from the members,’’ he said.

‘‘We wanted to discuss with our members where they would like our football club to be in five years’ time.

‘‘They can have some input on where they want St Arnaud to go as a club because I can’t make that decision as an individual – it has to be a town decision.’’

The meeting is unrelated to the circumstances that forced the St Arnaud Netball Club into recess after it failed to find a president and secretary in 2015.

A review into football in northwest Victoria is being run jointly by the AFL Wimmera Mallee, AFL Central Victoria and AFL Central Murray commissions, and will make recommendations to be implemented in 2016.

Mr Douglas said it was still important for members to have their own vision for the future of the club.

‘‘Who knows what the review will recommend,’’ he said.

‘‘Ultimately, it will be the decision of AFL Country Victoria, but clubs need to have some direction of where they want to go.

‘‘There’s a push for some of the southern Mallee teams to come into our league, so do we want to do that or do we want to push towards Maryborough and Bendigo?

‘‘Loddon Valley is something we could look at, so we’re just trying to get some idea of where our members want to be.’’

Mr Douglas said it was something all clubs should consider.

‘‘I reckon it is pretty important for all footy clubs in the country to have a bit of forward thinking about where they want to be in five years’ time,’’ he said.