Maheno rugby, netball and bowls clubs are joining forces to hold a community evening next Thursday.
The aim is to attract members of the public so they can see what each club is about and and perhaps get some to join, Maheno Rugby Club president Will Fisher says.
"We just wanted to have a night where we could get together with all the sports clubs there and get the community down where we can just talk about how the clubs are going, what we’re looking for, what we’re working towards."
The bowls club is most in need for new members.
It has put its green and clubrooms up for sale and with only eight members is facing closure. .
The rugby club had mixed fortunes this year.
It has only one senior team that competes in the North Otago premier competition and had to default a match in May due to lack of available players.
Injuries had hurt them more than anything, Mr Fisher said.
"We’ve had seasons where we’ve only had 18 on paper or something, this year we’ve had 27 but then we’ve had 12 people out with injury at one point.
"That made it hard and we had to default that one week."
He hoped the club could bring in a few overseas players next year, so the community evening at the clubrooms would be an opportunity to approach locals who may have job vacancies.
However, their junior club was a real strength for the club.
"The JAB is going really good — they’re only growing each year. Marcus and Jen [Balchin] are doing an awesome job with that."
The netball club had good numbers with four senior teams and strong junior participation.
Committee member Anna Craig said they would like to move to a more structured sponsorship approach.
"Similar to how the rugby club have done and how we can adopt that for the netball club.
"Clubs like ours really rely on that community support and we’re really grateful for those businesses and individuals that have been supporting us all theses seasons, it makes a huge difference."
They train in Oamaru and use the Maheno rugby clubrooms when needed.
A big drawcard was the club culture, she said.
"I joined the club and I didn’t know a single person — I just showed up. I’ve been playing for four years now and I’ve really enjoyed it."
