Despite their best efforts, Wagga City Wanderers are unlikely to field any female sides next season.
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The Wanderers had been making a push to get three juniors teams into Football NSW’s new Girls Conference League, which is set to replace the women’s State League next season.
But the club’s bid was unsuccessful due to many of the competition’s Sydney-based clubs claiming they would be unable to make the trip to Wagga, according to Wanderers director Brendan Flanagan.
“They’ve been in the process of getting enough teams together for a league and I didn’t want our involvement to jeopardise the formation of the competition,” he said.
Flanagan said he’d received “positive signs” from Football NSW that they were committed to finding a solution for teams in the region looking to compete at a higher level, but said it was unlikely that anything would happen in time for next season.
“We’re ready to fit into a competition because we have a lot of younger girls ready to go and wanting to play at that level,” he said.
Joining the Canberra competition remains off the table with Capital Football previously informing the Wanderers that the Riverina Rhinos held the one and only Riverina license for the competition.
The Wanderers have inquired with the Rhinos about submitting a combined entry into the competition’s various age groups, but Flanagan said the Griffith-based club was determined to stand on its own two legs.
Meanwhile it is also doubtful that a senior women’s Wanderers side will get off the ground next year, after the club’s mission to do so fell over ahead of the 2017 season.
There also are not as many potential Wanderers seniors as there are juniors, according to Flanagan.
“It’s probably something Football Wagga and the local clubs need to be a bit more hands on with, because we need to gauge through the clubs what kind of commitment and support a senior women’s team would receive,” he said.
“The players would need to really buy in and commit if it’s going to work.”
While it appears nothing will happen in time for next season, former Football Wagga planning and strategy officer Mark Stephens said a partnership with Wodonga-based Murray United was a potential solution for future seasons.
Stephens said United were eager to establish a range of women’s teams, noting that discussions were in their early stages.