2008 may turn out to be quite an important year in the history of the Central Midland Coastal Football League following some mixed seasons from the clubs.
As predicted early in the season, Jurien Bay and Cervantes were the powerhouses in the league competition again, Dandaragan and Moora Rovers the unknown factors early and Warriors and Leeman forecast to struggle.
Things went pretty much to script, the results in the end causing some clubs to have a review their plans of attack and pose some questions as to their future direction.
Much of the discussion centres around the paying of players and their effect on individual clubs and competitions as well as the amounts being spent by clubs to secure these players and, despite the protests and denials from some, you can rest assured that at least five out of the six league teams paid league players in the 2008 season and each had their varied reasons for doing so.
This writer will not pass judgement on what is right or wrong about that issue.
Old issues of this newspaper from the 1950s and 1960s contain letters to the editors complaining about the paying of players by various clubs so it is not a recent phenomenon. Where paying players becomes an issue is when the raising of those funds begins to have a detrimental effect on the moral and running of a club and in these times, (especially in rural WA) of less and less people available to fill committee and fundraising positions or provide sponsorship that drives out of town each Sunday night.
Many small towns need the social benefits that go with having a strong and successful sporting club and in some cases this is becoming the main factor influencing their approach to the future of their clubs.
What does the future hold for the CMCFL?
Warriors and Leeman are struggling to fill teams and although they have dedicated and committed committee people, will need some concessions to enable them to survive if the league wants them to.
Moora Rovers had a season that was neither one thing or the other with some success but mainly only over the two struggling clubs.
Given the amount of resources used to secure players they probably were hoping for a better result than fourth spot on the ladder and some may be questioning all the work and effort put in for such a result.
It will be interesting to see which way they choose to go, either get a couple more players or head down the local path.
Dandaragan are the club who probably have the balance right and after weathering some lean years have reaped the benefits of getting young locals back and supplementing these with some well chosen imports.
Dandaragan’s strength is the off field performance and success of their club over the past few years that has seen the footy club become one of the main social outlets for the community, something that looks set to continue and improve with their current structure. Jurien Bay has enjoyed quite successful years in all grades without actually picking up a league flag, success coming with the reserves and little league in the last five years. With a strong and increasing population base, they should become the power club of this league, continuing to import players may help to speed the process up, but a solid committee and strong club structure should see them achieve this without the expense of paying players in due course.
Cervantes have taken another flag in both league and reserves, and many will cry that it was bought at a price, the club having to import players because of a small local population to draw on.
Many might be surprised at what Cervantes spend on players, but what they must realise is there are plenty of benefits for their community that go hand in hand with having a football club, from having a netball team for the girls to participate in, an outlet for junior footballers to play the game all the way through to the money spent by visiting players and teams at the local club and fish and chip shop after games.
Congratulations to all the winners this season, to the CMCFL directors and anybody that has contributed to our football league this season.
We will need all of you and more to work towards ensuring that football grows in our area.
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