Murray Valley Football Netball League club Blanchetown-Swan Reach in recession
A local SA footy and netball club has revealed it will pull out of competition for season 2026 after struggling to maintain player and volunteer numbers.
An SA country footy club will spend season 2026 on the sidelines as it struggles to build enough player and volunteer numbers to remain viable.
Murray Valley Football Netball League club Blanchetown-Swan Reach has made the decision to pull out of competition for at least next year, reducing the league to just six outfits.
The Redbacks this week made an announcement regarding the decision, which was made at the club’s AGM on Saturday.
“It is now confirmed that 2026 will be a recession year,” a spokesman said.
“We were able to fill all executive roles and those involved have committed to guiding the club through this transition year.
“We will remain active in the community with plans to host some connection events, tournaments, trivia nights and other get-togethers.
“Our hope is that by staying connected and visible throughout 2026, we can reignite local spirit and support and come back in 2027 ready to field teams and rebuild stronger than ever.”
The Redbacks won an A Grade premiership as recently as 2022 and finished third on the ladder in the 2025 MVFNL season but had been battling to maintain healthy numbers throughout the year.
President Mitchell Stalenberg said the club knew a recession would be a possibility.
“Financially we’re very stable but there were some challenges last season with overall numbers and we had about four volunteers total doing a number of jobs around the club while our committee consists of a few individuals who have been doing this for the last decade alongside their own commitments,” Stalenberg said.
“A lot of the clubs have faced their struggles with no junior competition or system and no youngsters coming through the ranks, as well as players getting to their late teen or early adult years and moving to the city for uni or apprenticeships.
“We knew that next year was really going to be a big struggle, we could probably get by with netball numbers but with footy it’s tough.
The Redbacks have received support from the local SA footy community since their announcement this week but Stalenberg said they would eventually need more help from locals around the club in order to return in 2027.
He also believed the MVFNL starting a juniors competition would be key in guaranteeing the future of its clubs.
“I think bringing the junior competition back into the fold would ultimately be the biggest step but realistically we just don’t have the numbers in the community right now to fill junior sides … it’s really hard for small town clubs when you have bigger clubs just a drive away.
“We’re still positive, we went through a recession around a decade ago and managed to bounce back after more people put their hands up to help out.
“It’s touching to see how many people care now but we need more than that, we need the community to survive and the community needs clubs and environments like us to survive.
“We hope members of the club and surrounding community can continue to get around us and support us so we can get back on our feet in 2027 … it’s the only way it’ll happen.”
