North Central football clubs Charlton & Wycheproof-Narraport to vote on merger

Two football clubs in North West Victoria will vote in the next week on whether to proceed with a merger of their clubs.

Charlton and Wycheproof-Narraport are in talks about a potential merger. Picture: Allan Fawcett

MEMBERS of two football clubs in North West Victoria will vote in the coming week on whether to proceed with a merger of their clubs.

Wycheproof-Narraport and Charlton, both in the North Central league, will hold meetings on Sunday and Wednesday, respectively, on whether to proceed with amalgamation plans.

While the proposal at this stage involves home games being split between both Charlton and Wycheproof, other details — including the name and jumper — would be discussed if the initial proposal is accepted next week.

Both clubs would also have representation on the new club committee.

“There’s a lot of work to do with a merger. We’ve come to this point where we’re willing to consider it, and we’ll see what our members say and then go from there before we go into any of the great detail,” Charlton vice-president Jake Lanyon said.

In order to proceed, Wycheproof-Narraport needs a three-quarters majority from a quorum of 30 members, while Charlton needs a 75 per cent majority from a vote of at least 10 per cent of its membership base.

Wycheproof-Narraport secretary Rory White said the number of players, particularly juniors, was a key reason for exploring the option of a merger with another club.

“We’ve got no kids — we haven’t had an under-16 team for about six years now,” he said.

“We won’t be able to field a full 21 under-16 side in the foreseeable future.

“We just haven’t got the population in our small towns anymore to fill the 42 young people in the under-13 and under-16 side of footy.”

Lanyon also said “sustainability” was the motive for his club exploring the potential merger.

“We are working our way through this … there was an option to potentially merge with Wycheproof-Narraport and we’ll know far more after our member vote,” he said.

There are eight football clubs currently in the North Central league, with Sea Lake Nandaly the most recent addition, having joined North Central from the defunct Mallee league for the 2016 season.

Wycheproof-Narraport explored merging with Golden Rivers club Nullawil two years ago, but White said that club had wanted to stay in its current competition.

One of the reasons the move was knocked back, he said, was because of hockey — the North Central league includes a hockey competition, as well as football and netball.

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