Narwan’s bid to re-enter Group 19 in 2015 and end almost a decade in the rugby league wilderness has been knocked back.
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Group 19 clubs voted against allowing the Armidale-based club back into the competition at a meeting in Inverell on Tuesday night. It has left the club shattered, but they haven’t given up hope of returning to the rugby league field in the near future.
“It’s disappointing,” Narwan president Lyndon Strong said.
“I thought we had a really strong argument.
“We met all the criteria Group 19 and CRL set down.
“It’s not the outcome we wanted.”
Narwan were booted out of Group 19 in 2006 due to monetary concerns, only 12 months after winning the last of their six premierships.
The club was hoping to return this year and play their football at Armidale’s Newling Oval, but Group 19 clubs decided Narwan were not ready to re-enter the competition.
Narwan originally lodged their application to return late last year and after that was knocked back, Group 19 gave the club criteria to meet before they would be readmitted.
At Tuesday night’s meeting it was decided that criteria was not satisfactorily met.
The three main concerns the Group outlined in the original criteria were finances, where they would source players from and the playing ground.
However Strong believes they met those guidelines.
“We have paid the outstanding finances,” he said.
“They were worried we would steal players from the Armidale Rams, but we submitted a player list including 40 seniors that had no Rams players on it.
“They were also concerned about the ground, but we were working with the [Armidale] Sports Council about that.”
The Group was deeply concerned the remittance of Narwan would cripple the Rams, but Strong was adamant they had no interest in poaching any Rams players.
He said the majority of senior players were either players who didn’t suit up for a club in 2014, were new to town or played for the Uralla Tigers, who have left Group 19, last year.
Some of the players on the list submitted to Group 19 included well-known local names such as Barry Vale, Dwayne Daley, Stephen Kim, DJ Button and Fletcher Strong.
Narwan also indicated they would field an under 18s side and ladies league-tag if successfully voted back into the competition.
“We would have had the full roster,” Strong said.
Strong hinted Group 19 may not have heard the last of Narwan for 2015.
“We will definitely resubmit again next year,” he said.
“We are waiting on a response from [Group 19 president] Mick Lewis to see why we weren’t successful.
“But I believe we have serious grounds for an appeal.
“We didn’t get heard properly.”
Lewis commended Narwan on the way they handled themselves during the submission process and even expressed some surprise they were not voted back in, but said the final decision was ultimately up to the other clubs in Group 19, not the committee itself.
“I thought Lyndon and his committee did a great job with their submission,” he said. “It had a lot of merit.
“I’m a little surprised they didn’t get back in, but the clubs didn’t vote that way.”
Lewis indicated other clubs in Group 19 still had many concerns with Narwan.
“A debt to CRL was one concern,” he said.
“The quality of facilities was another.
“Part of the criteria Narwan had to meet was to ensure no alcohol was to be brought on to the ground and clubs were concerned they wouldn’t be able to ensure that with no security fence at the ground.
“Some clubs also were concerned it would affect the viability of the Armidale Rams.”
Lewis also said there appeared to be a split in the Armidale community regarding Narwan.
“There seemed to be different points of view by the Armidale aboriginal community that the club may not be viable,” he said.
The Group 19 president said about two thirds of the vote went against Narwan.
“It wasn’t a huge margin, but the support wasn’t there at this stage,” he said.
“We hope that Lyndon and his committee keep working with the Group and we may see them back in the competition in the near future.”