Mount Pleasant Football Netball Club appeals for under-17s players
By Nino Bucci - (Bendigo Advertiser)
April 12, 2010, 11:26 a.m.
THE most dominant club in Heathcote and District Football League history has made a desperate plea for more players to ensure the survival of its junior ranks.Mount Pleasant’s under 17s have only 12 permanent players and have had to fill their side with permit players and players from opposing teams in the first two rounds of the season.Coach David McNamara said he feared the team would not survive the season if he could not recruit more players.
PLEA FOR PLAYERS: Mounts players and coaches Miles English, Dylan McNamara, Jack Ryan, David McNamara, Phil Ryan and Tyler McNamara.
THE most dominant club in Heathcote and District Football League history has made a desperate plea for more players to ensure the survival of its junior ranks.Mount Pleasant’s under 17s have only 12 permanent players and have had to fill their side with permit players and players from opposing teams in the first two rounds of the season.Coach David McNamara said he feared the team would not survive the season if he could not recruit more players.“The under 17s is a vital and important ingredient of any club,’’ McNamara said.“Mounts have enjoyed a great amount of success over the years, but they’ve always had a good percentage of players in every premiership side who have played under 17s at the club. “You can’t recruit 22 players each year, the juniors are your backbone.’’McNamara said he felt for other clubs in the league who were also struggling with junior numbers.“We’ve had periods were we’ve struggled for juniors, we had one season where we played the first couple of games and then forfeited the rest of the year.“Gradually numbers have declined in the area and it’s harder to get kids and their families to come out to Toolleen.“I remember about 20 years ago we had 30 under 17s on our list and all of them lived in a 15-20km radius of Toolleen.“That just doesn’t exist anymore.’’McNamara said the under 17s would train every second week in Bendigo to attract junior players who found it difficult to travel to Toolleen.Anybody who is interested in playing for Mount Pleasant can contact David McNamara on 0409 539 527.
