By Tara Murray
Rockbank is putting out a call for players for this year’s Riddell District Football League season.
Celebrating their 100th season, the Rams are struggling for numbers and are on the hunt for players.
Rams president Mark Smith admitted things did not look great at this point.
He said they definitely won’t field an under-19s team, while he’s unsure whether they will have the numbers to field two open-age sides.
“We only had 14 at training the other night,” he said.
“Gav [Sporle, footy operations manager] reckons there’s 30-odd players on the list, but we’re not seeing that on the track.
“The way it’s looking we could go into our 100th year without fielding a football side.”
Smith said they needed at least another 20 to 25 players.
He said they had been hurt by the departure of several players to the Western Region Football League.
Smith said any players of any ability were welcome.
He said because it was such a big year in the club’s history they were anxious to put sides on the park.
“One of our ex-presidents, Brian Kirk, has been going through and putting the history together of the club along with Gav” he said.
“He’s got articles and pictures of all the premierships in the 1960s. We were never the strongest club in the day, but we won five premierships in the 1960s beating the likes of Melton, Bacchus Marsh and Maddingley.
“We’ve always been the poor country cousin in the area, but not many clubs can say they’ve been around for 100 years. The club has done well to survive, it started with a ground in a paddock.”
Smith said new coach Lachie Waterman was doing a mountain of work and was using his contacts from across the country to get players on board.
He said players were saying it was their toughest pre-season in a number of years and they were really enjoying it.
Outside of the senior football, Smith said things were looking good for the club.
The netball program is thriving, and the club’s junior arm, the Western Rams, should field two football teams this season.
Smith said after struggling for juniors for a number of years, it would take time for those players to flow through to the seniors.
Smith said they were also looking for sponsors.
To play for the Rams contact Mark on 0402 277 267 or Gavin on 0450 947 109.
