Rumbalara vow to fight on after tsunami of bad times hamper club in first round

A club in the state’s north has given assurances it will survive the season despite forfeiting in the first round of the season. Here’s why.

Rumbalara is confident it can bounce back despite the ongoing challenges it continues to face.

The Murray league club met with competition officials on Tuesday night about its future after it was forced to forfeit the reserves game in Round 1 against Deniliquin.

In the seniors, they played, but scored just one point in a 150-point loss to the Rams, extending their winless streak to 20 matches, which stretches back to 2021.

Rumba will have another meeting on Wednesday night with AFL Goulburn Murray.

But club president Josh Atkinson said Round 1 was a once off.

“We had a number of players missing the last game due to a funeral, which was a fairly large family group,” he revealed.

“They just weren’t available for the round and that meant people who would normally drive other people to the game could not get there either.

“We didn’t really estimate or understand how great it was, so the club is looking at supporting those situations the best as we can.”

Atkinson said the club would now look at transport options for players when it needs to travel large distances away from home.

“The way things unfolded up at Deni are not reflective of the club’s status at the moment, at all,” he said.

“It was purely because of being time poor leading into that game, which is no excuse, but we completely own the results we delivered.”

The club admits it had a tsunami of issues heading into the first round, including the unavailability of players and their coach, Chris Egan, not able to fulfil his role heading into the season.

A combination of health and circumstances changing in his life forced him to move on after the first game with the clubs blessing.

The club is now in the process of signing another coach, which should be finalised by the end of the week.

“The potential coach is a great people person,” Atkinson said.

“A part of his scope is to really strengthen the relationships among those players to pull through the tough teams.”

Atkinson hopes the new coach can turn things around on a significant weekend for the club.

Rumba will host Congupna at home with both teams to play for the Unity Cup.

The Cup, in its 10th anniversary, is a way for both clubs to pay tribute to important people who help run their teams.

“We cherish our rivalry with Congupna,” Atkinson said.

“It’s one of great respect and it doesn’t matter on the ladder where we are to each other, in netball or football, the games are played in great spirit and they are almost always great close competitions.

“It’s a day we’ve really emphasised on both our social calendars to highlight the contribution of women in sport and in the communities and clubs.”

Rumba is confident of being competitive and making sure it bounces back.

“We’ve got 18 players available (to come back in) compared to the round one team where we didn’t have enough to field two sides,” he said.

“The people and the players and the supporters we have at the club at the moment are very positive and have massively high hopes for the success of our teams on and off the courts and football fields this year.

“We expect to field four football teams every week but we also think three of those sides have the potential to play finals.

“(In netball) we will take a lot of teams by surprise.

“Both our football and netball are going through development periods, it is a place we haven’t been at as a club before but we’ve got the talent and the people in the right positions to steer us out of this.

“There’s going to be some bumpy times in it and we expect and we know we will come through the other side stronger and better for it.”

Atkinson said the netball sides are strong, as reflected by the seniors making the grand final last year.

The junior numbers are also at a strong level.

Murray Football League administrator Dale Norman said the competition was working hard with Rumba to make sure it can return to the glory days.

The side won the 2014 senior premiership and has won a premiership in every competition it has been part of since forming in 1997.

“I’m confident now that they are back on track,” Norman said.

“The league will be doing everything it can to support them. The dialogue will continue throughout the year to see where they are at.

“We’ll keep in touch with them every week to see how they are tracking. Going into recess is not an option as far as we are concerned.

“They are a strong community, strong club, they are just going through a hard time.”