West Coast Rugby League may struggle to recover from the shock cancellation of the premier club competition this season, for the first time in the league’s proud 103-year tradition.
The season is officially over before kicking off, after the withdrawal of all teams due to a numbers crisis.
League president Peter Kerridge, who previously played it down as rumour, confirmed last week there would no premier rugby league played this season after he was contacted by the Runanga Club — "and that’s it for the season".
The struggles began earlier this year when clubs were unable to scratch up enough players to fill teams.
Grey Valley side Waro-rakau was first to pull the pin, followed by Cobden-Kohinoor, and that left just Suburbs and the combined Runanga-Brunner sides.
After a meeting between those two clubs and the league, a shortened competition was devised, with the two club sides to play each other fortnightly. However, when the first game rolled round, just four people turned up to O’Brien Park.
The next game had been scheduled for Wingham Park last Friday, but the pin was pulled on that too.
"That’s it for the season," a bitterly disappointed Kerridge said.
It was something the league had seen coming for the past five to 10 years.
"Really it’s no surprise. We’ve been getting through the seasons until now and we were always going to have issues."
The trouble was there was not the employment to keep people on the West Coast, he said.
However, he said schoolboy league was still strong and West Coast would be hosting the South Island 17s and 15s tournaments this year.
Kerridge said the question now was whether Coast could field a senior representative team this season.
Players should not expect to pull on the West Coast jersey to play representative league for the Coast Chargers when there was no club competition.
"It costs a lot to have a representative team. We send them away for games, so it’s something we do have to address going forward."
West Coast’s most capped Kiwi and former captain Tony Coll was also disappointed with the demise of the premier competition.
"It’s huge for the West Coast. West Coast Rugby League has been massive here over the years," Coll said.
He was also not surprised, but was most concerned there may be "no coming back from this".
Another former Kiwi and West Coast Rugby League president Colin McMaster said it was a population-based problem.
"I’m very disappointed, but there’s not much that can be done when there are not enough players around to play the game," McMaster said.
"In 1995 we did a survey and there were 3000 males in the district aged between 16-30, and about five or six years later we did another survey and there were only 1400. That was a dramatic decrease, but it’s also a sign of the times. Our young fellows leave the district because there is nothing for them here, workwise."
— Viv Logie
