WAITING GAME
Mustangs ISC bid on hold as game navigates crisis
While things in the rugby league world are looking bleak, the Western Mustangs are holding onto hope that their 2020 Intrust Super Cup bid can remain alive.
As it stands there is no rugby league being played across any competition in Australia, following Monday’s decision by the NRL to suspend its season.
It remains unclear when the topline league will return to play, with the competition needing to resume by September in order to go ahead for 2020.
The QRL has pencilled in a date of June 5 for the Intrust Super Cup to return, however the situation remains fluid and has the capacity to change.
For the Western Mustangs, they were given the green light to enter the 2021 competition (pending meeting financial criteria) as recently as March 13 by the league.
However the situation has changed dramatically since then, and Mustangs chairman
Frank Martin believes the league position might change in terms of bringing in a new club.
“Realistically it doesn’t look like the QRL will entertain an application by us to enter the
ISC next year because there could be no money brought about by this pandemic,” Martin said.
“If we can get back on the field to play on the 5th of June and can start training on May 5 that would help our chances, but if the NRL doesn’t start till September then I’m not sure whether the competition run by the QRL will go ahead in June.
“If we entered a team in the Intrust Super Cup in 2021 the QRL would be up for accommodation and travel including airfares, and my thoughts are that I can’t see them being able to afford that at the moment with how things are going.”
The Mustangs were set to host a sponsor day to coincide with their return to Clive Berghofer Stadium last weekend, but ultimately they were forced to cancel with the competition being suspended.
“Our free day and sponsors day was cancelled, which we had hoped was going to be a day that was supported by the community and big sponsors but obviously if there is no football being played they aren’t going to be interested,” he said.
“We’re like everybody else at the moment. We just have to wait for QRL to advise us on the situation.
“We have decided to close shop so we don’t incur any more expenses. The QRL has directed everybody to not play or train, so we just have to wait it out.”
As for the times ahead, Martin said the club remains hopeful of gaining access into the ISC in 2021, but they won’t quit if that is postponed for another season, as they push ahead to try and reach their ultimate goal
“We’re still hopeful that the season will progress with the U18s and U20s this year,” he said.
“Even though we were given a provisional letter of support by the QRL for entry into the ISC in 2021 with everything that has been happening now I think that may not be achievable this year.
“As a board we’ve decided to sit and wait, and hopefully we can still apply for entry this year into the ISC in 2021, but the longer this pandemic goes on I think our chances are fading.
“We haven’t abandoned our hopes of getting into the ISC in 2021, but if we don’t this year we start all over again and try for 2022.”