GCA club exodus deepens
INVERLEIGH has declared its intent to join the Bellarine Peninsula Cricket Association as the fallout to the GCA’s restructure continues.
The Kookaburras voted unanimously on Monday night to join the BPCA, walking away from a proposal to play in a lower-tier GCA competition.
“There were 17-18 (people) at the meeting and there wasn’t one person against it,” Inverleigh president Marcus Warton said.
“There were a lot of pros and cons, but when it came to the vote it was totally unanimous. A few people who couldn’t make it also supported the move.”
With Little River all-but accepted into the BPCA, Inverleigh’s fate will now rest in the hands of the league’s executive at the July 17 AGM.
Warton said a move to push Geelong’s country clubs lower down the GCA’s divisional pecking order was the final straw.
The creation of a new third division for turf clubs has effectively bumped the existing hard-wicket clubs, many with long and proud histories, into a fourth tier of competition.
“It’s (BPCA) purely going to be a better competition to play in, rather than playing against other teams’ thirds,” Warton said.
“It’s a new start and everyone at the meeting felt a bit reinvigorated. It’s a change and a new direction for the cricket club.
“The other big factor was that to attract players to the competition that the GCA was offering was pretty much impossible, whereas in the Bellarine league we’ve got more chance of getting people to play in a strong competition.”
Travel was the only concern for members, but Warton said it was not enough to deter the club.
“Really, that was the only issue but when we sat down and nutted it all out, the longest road trip was Portarlington, or St Leonards for the lower grades,” he said.
“It’s a bit under an hour from Inverleigh to St Leonards and almost our entire A grade is made up of people who grew up in Inverleigh, but they live in Geelong now, so it’s not going to make much difference.”
The Kookaburras, who finished fourth last season in GCA3 first XI, are unsure if they would be competitive in the BPCA’s A-Grade competition.
“That’s the great unknown,” Warton said.
“We played a rep game against their league and they gave us a touch up but I don’t think our league took it too seriously.
“Like any cricket, we’ve got some players who would be good in their league but we’ve got no idea where we’d sit in the pecking order.
“We’re definitely going to try and strengthen our A grade team to make sure we are competitive.”
Warton said he contacted GCA president Barry McFarlane to notify him of the decision.
“He understood,” he said. “I just explained that for the future of our club we have to look at playing the strongest competition that we can and he understood.
“But he also said that if we don’t get in, the offer will still be on the table to play in the GCA.
“We just hope the Bellarine clubs think we’ll be a good addition to the competition and welcome us with open arms.”