Stars vote for Ellinbank

By Brad Kingsbury
GARFIELD Stars Football Club members voted to ditch its place in the strong West Gippsland Latrobe Football League on Monday night.
The club will immediately seek affiliation with the communitybased Ellinbank and District Football League, but may strike problems if the 14 EDFL clubs decide there is not a place for them.
The vote to change leagues was 2625 in favour after those attending the special meeting were polled, but the support increased after proxy votes were tallied, the final count being 53 votes for and 33 against.
Netball club members were excluded from the vote.
In an unexpected move, debate on the issue was gagged after Stars’ life member and EDFL supporter Trevor Riches moved a motion for an immediate vote at the start of the meeting.
The format advertised before the night stated that three speakers from each group would put their cases but Mr Riches’ motion to stop that process was carried.
The meeting was the culmination of a process to assess the club’s future after significant unrest among members came to a head 10 weeks ago.
The EDFL supporters believed that the Stars should play football locally as a community club rather than travel as far as Sale and Maffra to play in the WGLFL, despite a significant difference in standard between the two competitions.
The issue created much heat across the community and proponents of both leagues were keen to put their case and garner support.
Garfield president Judy Bishop said she was happy the decision had now been made.
“I’m just glad it’s all over,” she said.
“The general consensus was that a move to Ellinbank was the way to go when the members had their say.”
“Most people believe that, at this time of year, making the change (in 2007) will be difficult, but a subcommittee of the new committee will put the process in place and take it from there,” Ms Bishop said.
Ms Bishop confirmed that she would step down as president and not be a member of the incoming club committee, ending her 21year official involvement with the Stars.
WGLFL general manager and Garfield life member Chris Soumilas was disappointed with the decision but said it had been handled properly.
“The vote wasn’t as decisive as the Ellinbank group would have liked but the majority of members have spoken and now the process (of changing leagues) will start,” he said.
“From a personal point of view I believe that Garfield should give its players the opportunity to play at the best level possible and in that light I’m disappointed.”
After informing Victorian Country Football League area manager Shaun Connell of its decision, Garfield will ask for a clearance from the WGLFL and then apply to join the EDFL.
EDFL secretary Peter Gallasch said that the issue would be raised at a league meeting on 6 September but indicated there was no vacancy in the competition at present and, should Garfield be voted in, it would create an unwanted bye in the fixture.