GRAFTON’S hockey competitions will soon be run under the same banner.
The amalgamation of Grafton Hockey Association and Grafton Women’s Hockey Association is not exactly new information – they have been working on it for some time – but a meeting last week has seen the move take another important step forward.
But if there was anything that caught GHA executive officer Chris Blanchard’s eye it was the lack of participation from members.
“I thought it was a bit disappointing,” Blanchard said.
“Apart from the committee there was only two other people who showed up.
While disappointed, Blanchard didn’t harp on about the lack of numbers, and instead focussed on what he described as the primary task : complete all of the legal work get done.
“We have to sort out the constitution, and all of that stuff so it’s not overly bad,” Blanchard said.
“We have to be amalgamated before the competition starts next year.
“The plan is to run the competitions separately for the first year, and we’ll set up a committee to bring the rules of each competition into line.”
An amalgamation of the two local hockey bodies has been the subject of whispers for several years, but a decision by the Federal Government forced Hockey Australia into action.
Blanchard described it as coming back to a funding issue which stemmed from a poor Olympic Games performance, and hockey clubs across Australia have been forced to confront the same issue.
“It’s all about making the best use of resources,” Blanchard said.
“Hockey here is very family-oriented. There could be four or five players from the same family playing the sport.
“The amalgamation will make it a lot easier to keep families involved.
“We could offer discounted rates for families at the association level to try to allow them all to keep playing.”
Grafton’s associations are better placed than most others in the state to deal with the directive.
GHA and GWHA are on good terms and have been happy to work through the tasks, though there are some in the state that won’t even talk.
“The biggest thing are areas that has several associations who don’t talk to each other at all are having to amalgamate,” Blanchard said.
“I can’t tell you the borders but down in Sydney there’s about four different associations and they have to work it out.
“That could see clubs who are with one association have to move to another.
“Everyone has to do it. If we don’t do it then the funding will cease, and that’s very important to keep our strength in hockey.”
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