Recruiting junior players for older football and netball teams is becoming more difficult for the Mininera and District Football Netball League with clubs searching for more players as round one approaches.
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Mininera and District Football Netball League president John Box said Caramut have confirmed they will be fielding an under-16.5s side in 2021, giving the league eight teams in the age group.
"We have picked up an extra side with Caramut putting in a side this year, which is excellent and that leaves us with four clubs without an under 16.5s," he said.
"In 2019 we were going quite well and there was just two clubs without an under-16.5 side, but we have dropped back to four now.
"Before that there was five clubs, so we have picked up an extra club, but numbers are still short in our under 16.5s."
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Mr Box said junior player numbers are often an issue in the older age groups due to work or school commitments.
"They (junior player numbers) have been short for a long time, but it is good to see another club back," he said.
"With the other teams their numbers seem to be reasonably strong and in our under 12s we are very strong, there is no issues there.
"The older age group numbers problems have a lot to do with education, as lots of the boys and girls move away to schools out of our area and some might also find interest in other sports.
"The population out in the Mininera league has dropped off immensely, with farms out here getting bigger and less different farming families involved."
Mr Box said the league are now in the process of creating an eight team fixture for the under-16.5s, but emphasised there are still spots available for new players at each club.
"We have picked up an extra side with Caramut putting in a side this year, which is excellent and that leaves us with four clubs without an under 16.5s"
- MDFNL president John Box
"We are doing a draw at the moment and we are trying to cut the travelling down, and to a certain extent they can't follow their senior side, but we are trying to stop the travel as best we can and keep them with their home clubs as much as we can," he said.
"We are looking forward to getting up and running and putting country football back out there again."
The shortage of junior players in the Mininera comes after the Horsham and District Football Netball League also put the call out for more players.
League chairman Fred Mellington said many clubs have been searching for junior players with the season just weeks away and called on parents to recruit their kids into junior sport.
"At the moment some clubs are struggling more than others, but we only have two clubs out of twelve that have a full eighteen on their roster for what would be a normal game," he said.
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"We have been struggling with junior numbers for 20 years, but this year is maybe just a little worse.
"But there is nothing more cyclical than junior sport; footy and netball. You can be premiers one year and last the next.
"They (the kids) are working, they are riding motorbikes or they are just not playing at all."
Mr Mellington called on parents to help spread the message of the benefits of junior sport and the importance of these these teams to rural communities.
"Junior participation in football and netball is an absolute concern and that comes back to parents making sure that they understand what value their kids can get from playing the game," he said.
"Our clubs are all community clubs and our football and netball clubs are the hub of the community.
"And the reality is if we lose these clubs, we lose these communities and they will be gone forever.
"We have to maintain them and to do that we need junior numbers and we needs kids to come on board and be apart of it.
"We are appealing to parents to make sure they are aware of the life skills their child can learn by playing a team sport. Responsibility, team work, working with others and learning how to win and lose are all life skills that are applicable to everyone's daily life and things that kids can learn through a game of football."
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