Para Hills withdraws on eve of Amateur football season

PARA Hills Football Club has withdrawn its senior teams this season because of a lack of numbers – less than seven months after winning the division five premiership.

12.9.2015. Terrence Sleep (Para Hills). Division five amateur football grand final - Para Hills v Colonel Light Gardens. Photo Sam Wundke

PARA Hills Football Club has withdrawn its senior teams this season because of a lack of numbers – less than seven months after winning the division five premiership.

The Big Reds informed the amateur league last Thursday – two days before round one – that a mass exodus of players meant they would not be able to field two teams.

The club had been set to play in division four after being promoted at the end of last season on the back of a fifth-tier flag.

Amateur league chief executive John Kernahan said Para Hills was offered a chance to play in a lower grade but had not sought assistance from the governing body before a deadline last month.

“If they wanted our assistance they had to seek it by March 2, failing that they were on their own and constitutionally we couldn’t do anything else,” Kernahan said.

“It got to the point where we had to draw a line in the sand.

“As for the reasons those players aren’t there, I don’t know.

“We have attempted to seek answers from the Para Hills Football Club ... but they won’t talk to us.”

Para Hills chairman Mark Westover could not be reached for comment before presstime.

In a statement on its website, the club said its juniors were “going strong” and it would field six underage teams this year, including a girls’ side.

Under league guidelines, the Big Reds would be forced to resume in division seven if they had enough players to fill two teams in 2017.

“It is with great regret that we announce that we will not be fielding seniors this year due to lack of numbers and not a financial issue,” the statement said.

“We now all need to pull together and start rebuilding our seniors for season 2017 and supporting our juniors going ahead.”

The Big Reds’ late withdrawal meant the league was unable to replace them in division four.

That competition will have a bye this year.

Para Hills’s plight follows fellow northern club Salisbury West asking the league to drop it from division three to seven last year because it also had a large number of players leave the club.