Kyneton's immediate future in the Bendigo Football League is in doubt and will be decided in the coming weeks.
The short-term future of the Kyneton Football Netball Club hangs in the balance after a crisis meeting with the Bendigo Football Netball League last night.
Facing a severe senior football player shortage , the Tigers have until clearances open on February 1 to get together a senior list which will satisfy the BFNL board that it can be competitive in the coming season.
If Kyneton is unable to meet the required standard of the BFNL, it may not field senior or reserves football teams next season.
"The board met last night with the new president of Kyneton (Marcello Matricadi) and some of his committee members, which was terrific," BFNL chief execuitve Steven Oliver said.
"There’s still, without doubt, significant challenges in front of them regarding senior football player numbers.
"It’s a concern to them and it’s a concern to the league, but they’re doing everything they can to achieve a full complement of teams.
"Clearances open February 1, they’ve been frantically ringing every player on their list and they’ll continue to do that.
"They’ll continue to talk to their possible recruits and come the end of January they’ll get back to the league with a position on where they’re at with their player numbers.
"Our hope and the hope of the Kyneton Football Club is that they’ll get a list of 25 senior players – of senior quality – that can take the field this year. If that doesn’t happen we’ll have to look at what alternatives are available and how that fits in with the club, the community and the competition.
"We’ll have those discussions late January, early February and we’ll go from there, but certainly the next two weeks are crucial in their short-term future."
It is understood Kyneton has strong numbers in junior football and its netball teams are unlikely to be affected at this stage.
For more see tomorrow's Bendigo Advertiser.