Trouble could be brewing at Goulburn Valley Hockey Association with a dire forecast expected at next week’s annual general meeting.
A lack of available volunteers is cited as the primary cause for the bleak outlook, ahead of the meeting scheduled for Monday, November 27.
Outgoing association president Cam Druitt explained concerns about the league’s future.
“It’s not looking good and, I must say, it was similar this time last year,” Druitt said.
“For a couple of years I’ve said I’d do one more as president, but I’m pretty adamant that’s that after six years.
“Our treasurer stands down after two years and our vice-president leaves after a year.
“We were already operating with such a small committee to begin with, but without a functional association, the competitions won’t occur.”
This leaves several critical positions vacant.
With so few members of the current committee intending to continue, what could the future hold beyond Monday’s meeting if the league cannot readily fill all these vacancies?
Druitt says while the answer to that question is still being determined, not many possible scenarios would be financially sustainable.
“Without all that representation, we would be forced to continue along the same path of having Hockey Victoria run our competition management, which is quite expensive,” Druitt said.
“Then, money would go there rather than staying within the association for programs and facility improvements.
“That’s the only solution I can see if we can’t take on the work ourselves as volunteers, which comes at a significant cost and ultimately members wear that.”
The problems facing the association’s long-term future go well beyond the executive branch though.
Druitt says one of the essential cogs in the wheel of hockey operations is simply engaging more staffing at the venues each weekend.
“It’s time for some new faces to step in and have the greater good of hockey in the GV at the forefront of their minds,” Druitt said.
“I’d like to see a few hands up from people from different clubs to help with junior areas, like a group that could deal with development and pathway matters.
“A small sub-committee that could deal with things like putting the fixture together, sorting results, conducting votes, that would be needed.
“But there’s no point having 15 people on a club committee if there’s nobody to run it from an association level, and we just don’t have the numbers there for two levels of governance.
“Hockey Victoria can only do so much from Parkville, so we still need a lot of boots on the ground to help run things on a Saturday.
“Whether people are past, present or prospective members, we just need hands.”