Inside North Shore’s fight for survival, netball growth as rumours swirl about club’s future

North Shore FNC is in danger of fading away as rumours swirl around it. And while the club is fighting hard, they are calling for help. We sort the fact from the fiction and examine their plight.

Inside North Shore’s fight for survival. Picture: Mark Wilson

The future of North Shore Football Netball Club has been the talk of the town in Geelong.

Rumour has spread like wildfire in the local footy community and some haven’t bothered to sort the fact from the fiction.

The once dominant club sought to clear the air itself when it issued a video calling for help from Seagulls of the past.

“Over the decades this club has become more than a sporting institution. It is the cornerstone of our community where generations have come together to play, to compete, and to support each other,” the video stated.

“But today this club stands at a crossroads.

“We’ve made memories, built bonds and celebrated victories together. But today that very history is at risk of fading away.

“The North Shore Football and Netball Club, founded in 1927, needs your help. Not only to survive, but to thrive.”

There has been plenty of hearsay, but you can take one thing to the bank: this proud club isn’t giving up without a fight.

“We hear the rumours, we know what people say about us, but we’re the ones that are putting up the fight. We are the ones that want to be able to get through the next two years so that we can celebrate 100 years of the North Shore Football Netball Club,” interim co-president Edwina Wilkens said.

“But we can’t do it alone. We don’t have an enormous pool of volunteers that we can ask for help, so it’s really just getting everyone that was once involved in North Shore in some regard – whether they’re a player, a member, any of that.

“Any of those groups of people, just to say, ‘Hey, we’re still here, and we can’t do it alone’. Because all of our volunteers and our committee members, they’re bearing the brunt of all the work that needs to be done.

“We only have plans to field the two senior teams – the ressies and the seniors. So we’re not wavering from that, and that’s what we will do, one way or another.”

Noth Shore plans to field teams in 2025. Picture: Mark Wilson

THEN VERSUS NOW

From a football perspective, North Shore is a far-cry from where it was 25-years ago, when it celebrated its seventh premiership in eight years.

After winning just three games in the last two seasons, former coach Darren Winter – who was immensely dedicated, flying from Hobart for matches each week – departed and was replaced by former North Geelong coach Mark Hounslow.

Best-and-fairest Nathan Arbon and talented playing assistant Mahli King, star signings ahead of the 2024 season, headed back to Western Australia for family reasons.

Several other senior players have looked elsewhere this off-season and Seagulls Hall of Famer and long-time president Dale Purcell resigned at the club’s annual general meeting in December.

Wilkens and fellow co-vice president Greg Dennis are filling the void as interim presidents for the time being.

Dale Purcell back in 2020. He has resigned as president. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

The Seagulls will enter 2025 with the threat of relegation to the Bellarine, sitting on the bottom of the club championship table largely due to the fact they have no netball sides in A or B grade.

A lot has conspired against the Seagulls since 2000, including the low socio economic status of the area and a rise in diverse communities who are reluctant to pick up a footy.

“What the northern suburbs of Geelong are like now compared to when North Shore were winning seven back-to-back flags, you can’t compare what’s gone on in the area,” Wilkens said.

“So I think everyone’s now aware that there is no quick fix, like this is something that we have to do strategically and it’s going to take time.

“And I just think that’s especially important out in the northern suburbs. North Shore sits in the lowest socio economic catchment in Victoria, so these kids have already got sometimes what can feel like the world up against them.

“And so if we can create a space that they know is safe and they’re welcome at, then that’s what we’re going to do.”

These issues were spoken about at length at the Greater North Geelong Future Football summit in October with seven northern clubs in the region: Anakie, Bell Park, Bell Post Hill, Corio, Lara, North Geelong, and North Shore.

North Shore had a productive meeting with key figures from AFL Barwon and AFL Victoria in mid-December, where the summit and the club’s overall progress was discussed.

AFL Barwon regional manager Ed Wilson walked away from that meeting feeling positive, praising the lion-hearted efforts of netball director Wilkens in particular.

“If we look at the last 24 months their netball program has come on in leaps and bounds with additional senior teams and they’re making really good progress in that space and significant credit absolutely has to be given to Edwina Wilkens, who has been the netball director, and her team as to the advancement of their netball program,” Wilson said.

“When it comes to footy, we received a positive indication from the club that they were shaping up well for the year ahead.”

Edwina Wilkens is helping turn North Shore's fortunes around. Picture: Supplied

GULLS’ GROWTH

When Wilkens arrived at the club in late 2021 from Torquay, North Shore had zero junior neballers and three E-grade players.

The next season the club was controversially forced out of the competition altogether after the Seagulls refused to field an A-grade team.

In 2025, the club is hoping to field four senior netball sides – including one in B grade, pending grading games – and potentially a junior team as well.

A sign of the club’s fighting spirit, Wilkens remarkably coached North Shore’s E-grade, C-grade (playing coach) and D-grade sides (co-coach) last season along with her role on the committee.

“What haven’t we had to do,” she chuckled.

“We have had some really incredible support from AFL Barwon, just with the change in working together to actually rebuild the netball division out at North Shore is just second to none.

“The general consensus is everyone is just happy to have a bit of blue and gold back on the court and back in the competition as well. We work day and night to get the girls where they need to be.”

Wilkens in action. Picture: Supplied

Edwina Wilkens coaching North Shore's netball team. Picture: Supplied

Wilkens, a marketing a business development manager by trade, and the club have been proactive on social media to recruit new footballers and netballers to North Shore.

The growth of their netball program – which Wilkens says remains a work progress – is evidence that their football arm can improves its fortunes.

“All we need is one person to take a chance and that can be all the difference. I took a chance, and look where we are now,” Wilkens said.

“Don’t get me wrong, we’ve still got a hell of a long way to go. But we’re doing the hard work, we’re not afraid to dig deep and pull our socks up and do what has to be done.”

While North Shore came close to recruiting an ex-AFL player this off-season, it can be challenging for a less successful club to a lure recruits, particularly when rumours are swirling.

But Kai Bloomfield, the creator of local footy recruiting site Trainstop, was motivated himself to go down and lend a hand with coaching last season.

Bloomfield works with clubs across the country and believes the Seagulls have plenty going for them.

A recent message posted to North Shore's social media channels. Picture: Facebook

“What sold it to me was the passion that (former coach) Greg had, the passion that the community had and that they had been struggling for a while and needed a hand,” Bloomfield said.

“But not only that, their selling point they have got an elite facility. They have got a fully decked gym, they have got one of the better local footy grounds I have seen.

“All the players there are fantastic guys, I made mates instantly. So as soon as they got me into their environment and I saw the passion and I saw the camaraderie and the facilities, I thought there is something to work with here.”

Wilkens has a message to those who might be apprehensive about signing with the footy club.

“I would say there is two sides to every story – sometimes there is three sides to every story as well,” Wilkens said.

“Just because the scoreboard might not reflect – or the scoreboard reflects – a not so strong team, it doesn’t mean that with said person looking for a club, that it can’t actually improve.

“Those boys that have signed on for 2025 have been putting in so much work that they will literally be able to outrun any club that we play this season.

“But all it takes is one or two people to go, ‘You know what? I will play for a season. What’s the worst that could happen?’ And I guarantee you that they will stay there.”

As talk swirls around them, the Seagulls will continue fighting like their life depends on it.

Because giving up isn’t in their DNA.

Originally published as Inside North Shore’s fight for survival, netball growth as rumours swirl about club’s future