CAMPBELLS Creek only needs to take a look at rival Maryborough-Castlemaine District Football League club Trentham to realise there is light at the end of the tunnel.
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That's the message from VCFL south-west area manager Brett Anderson to the embattled club, which was this week forced into recess for this year because of a lack of players.
Trentham faced a severe shortage of players in the lead-up to last year's MCDFL season, but battled on, playing the season out with just a senior and under-17 side.
However, 12 months on, the Saints have been inundated with clearances in, with 59 players wanting to join the club, while just seven have sought to leave.
'‘It's always disappointing to lose a club, but Daryl Best (Campbells Creek president) has assured me they are just going into recess at this stage and they are going to be working hard over the next 12 months to try to come back,'' Anderson said yesterday.
‘‘We have a good example of how that can be achieved with Trentham, which last year went through a similar situation, but was able to hang in there with just a senior and under-17 team at least.
‘‘They now look like they have a full complement of players this year, so they have done really well, and let's just hope the Campbells Creek committee can get active over the next 12 months and come back better than ever.''Campbells Creek, which has won 13 games in the past three years, held a crisis meeting in late February, where it vowed to play on in 2007, despite at that stage not having a coach.
Rod Donaldson was later appointed as coach, but with the playing stocks unable to improve, the club took the decision on Monday night to go into recess for this season.
The club had just three players lodge clearances to join it this year, while more than 30 have sought clearances to depart.
The decision to go into recess for season 2007 comes 17 years after Campbells Creek wrote its name into the record books when it recorded the highest score in a senior game in Australia.
It was June 23, 1990, when Campbells Creek hosted the now-defunct Primrose.
The Magpies, who went into the game sitting in fifth position on the ladder, booted 100.34 (634) to Primrose's 3.0 (18).
The game took an incredible 185 minutes to complete, with the final two quarters lasting for more than 50 minutes each.
Campbells Creek's record total was made up of scores of 20.4, 25.8, 29.10 and 26.12 in each term.
The Magpies brought up the 100-goal milestone when ruck-rover Butch Sartori slotted through his 18th with 20 seconds left in the match.
Sartori led the Magpies' goalkickers, while forward pocket Craig Ginnivan (17), half-forward flankers Kelly Stevens (14) and Craig Pietsch (13), and centre half-forward Alister McGibbon (13) also had days out.
The match was umpired by Ballarat's Daryl Deveraux, who had to bounce the ball in the centre of the ground 107 times during the game.
Primrose folded in 1994 because of a shortage of players.
