EFL 2018: East Ringwood set to be relegated from Eastern Football League Division 1 for the first time since 1973
EAST Ringwood coach Marcus Buzaglo says the Division 1 mainstay has to go backwards to move forwards as the Roos prepare for just their second relegation in club history.
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THE fight has come to an end.
After battling to avoid relegation from the top flight for much of the past decade, East Ringwood will be demoted for just the second time in its history.
The weekend’s 32-point defeat at the hands of the previously winless Knox consigned the Roos to their first demotion since 1973.
Traditionally a proud Division 1 club, elders will recall the glory days that produced nine Eastern Football League grand final appearances from 1977 to 1997.
But coach Marcus Buzaglo, a 2002 premiership player, said the time had come for the club to go backwards to move forwards.
Since their most recent finals appearance in 2008, the Roos have won just 58 of a possible 177 games and finished no higher than seventh.
Buzaglo revealed the club would have applied to the league to be demoted had it not finished in the bottom two.
“It’s something that’s been coming for a while, we fought pretty hard for a long time but I think there’s only so many times you can go to the well and I think we’re ready to go down,” Buzaglo said.
“We’ve just been treading water as a footy club and I think the thing for us is to go down and rebuild properly because I don’t think we’re making any progress at the moment.”
Buzaglo said the Roos did not have the resources to compete against the powerhouse Division 1 clubs, with the fight for survival taking its toll.
“It’s just hard work and footy shouldn’t be like that, footy should be enjoyable, it’s still enjoyable, it’s just been tough,” he said.
“We’re not strong enough both on and off the ground to compete and I don’t think we will be next year as well so we need time to go back and rebuild properly.
“It’s a proud footy club but in reality we’re not the footy club we were, we’ve been fairly strong but that is in the past and as it stands at the moment we haven’t got the resources to compete at the highest level.
“I’ve got nothing but admiration for our playing group, our core group over the past four years have been amazing but it’s just been really tough.
“Most weeks you’re playing to survive and compete rather than playing to win so that’s not what footy is about.”
Buzaglo pointed to East Ringwood’s strong juniors — its under-17s and under-15s have made the preliminary finals in the respective top divisions — and off-field facilities as reasons to be optimistic about the future.
“I think the best way to develop them (juniors) is to do that slowly and we might not have been able to do that if we stayed up,” he said.
“I think we’ll look back in four or five years time hopefully with a really strong footy club and we’ll look back on this year as something that really needed to happen.”
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