Sport
9 May, 2024
Joint ticket: clubs launch association rescue bid
By CHRIS EARL TWO clubs have agreed to pool playing stocks and stave off the demise of Upper Loddon Cricket Association. The dormant Bridgewater and Inglewood teams have been in talks for the past fortnight after association officials left the...
By CHRIS EARL
TWO clubs have agreed to pool playing stocks and stave off the demise of Upper Loddon Cricket Association.
The dormant Bridgewater and Inglewood teams have been in talks for the past fortnight after association officials left the competition’s future up to clubs at a crisis meeting last month.
Bridgewater stood out of senior cricket last season and Inglewood has been in recess since 2020, the same year Serpentine folded.
Talks between the cross-river rivals saw a commitment emerge on Tuesday for Bridgewater and Inglewood to field a combined side in season 2024-2025.
Bridgewater president John Daldy said both clubs were optimistic they could each muster five or six players.
“We started with informal chats about 10 days ago and this morning (Tuesday) decided to make it work,” Daldy said.
“We are looking at playing some games at Bridgewater, some at Inglewood and holding social events to keep growing numbers and then have both teams back in the Upper Loddon competition in their own right.
“We’re keen to make this happen and there’s a fair bit of optimism.”
A combined Bridgewater-Inglewood would return Upper Loddon to a five-team competition, a minimum requirement set by reigning premiers Arnold for that club to remain in the association where it has been for 125 years. The Redbacks had talks with Emu Valley and Maryborough associations after Bridgewater withdrew its senior side.
They finished fourth after the Upper Loddon home and away season before storming through the finals series.
Arnold has said a four-team competition had the risk of suddenly becoming three and leaving clubs without an association at the last minute.
Bridgewater and Inglewood are expected to take their rescue plan to an Upper Loddon meeting on Monday night.
Last month’s crisis talks also saw the association executive tell clubs they had to determine what changes they wanted presented by by-laws at the annual general meeting.
Clubs succeeded in bringing the annual meeting forward from September to July to give clarity for the association’s future and game formats next season.
In an email to clubs last week, they were told the agenda for Monday’s meeting:
Is Bridgewater any closer to guaranteeing a senior team in our senior competition?
If Bridgewater cannot guarantee a senior side, is Arnold committed to be part of a four team Upper Loddon competition?
If a minimum of four senior clubs cannot be met and the senior competition folds, are the clubs still interested in the Upper Loddon running a stand alone junior competition?
If hopefully, the fate of the association is assured, then all the ideas and suggestions that clubs have provided can be discussed. Following discussions, appropriate notices of motions can then be drawn up, to be voted on at the annual meeting on July 1.
It is not known whether the association executive has been in talks with other dormant or defunct clubs in the region.
The last Loddon club to disband was Dingee after finishing runners-up in the Emu Valley association in 2020-2021.