Outcome on Maryborough Rovers-Royal Park merger discussions for 2024 likely by end of April

The two Maryborough-Castlemaine District league clubs have confirmed they are in discussions to "explore the exciting opportunity to amalgamate" from next season.

A working party comprising three members of each of the Maryborough-based clubs has been established to explore the amalgamation option, with the ultimate decision resting with the members of both clubs.

"What is to come next is there will be an information night coming up soon and then a members' vote will take place," Rovers vice-president Mark Raven said on Thursday.

"This is not something we're going to be holding back on and drawing out; it's a process we want to move through while it has some momentum.

"I'd like to think by the end of March, early April we'd have an information session and then it would be 21 days from there for a vote.

"I would say by the end of April we will know where this all sits moving forward."

Raven understood it would require a vote of 75 per cent support for the members of both clubs for a merger to be approved.

Rovers and Royal Park are two of three senior football-netball clubs based in Maryborough.

The town, which had a population of 8160 at the last census in 2021, is also home to Bendigo league club Maryborough.

"With three clubs in a town of this size, it is becoming difficult to generate players and retain players and with the juniors, there's just not enough players going around for all of us," said Raven, who previously served as president of Rovers for eight years.

"At this stage the reaction to the discussions taking place between the two clubs has been very positive.

"A lot of the feedback we have received is that as much as it's sad to have to see something like this happen, it's something that needs to happen. From our side of things we've had very little pushback."

Rovers has a history dating back to the early 1960s, while Royal Park was formed in 1934.

The last time either of the clubs won a senior premiership was in 1991 when Rovers beat Royal Park by 32 points in the grand final.

"We've got a working party that has been looking into this for a good month or so," Raven said.

"The working party is looking at aspects such as what would it look like in terms of what would the club name be, do we put our names together, is it better to run with a brand new named club, what would the colours look like, where do we play, how would our junior system work, the impact on netball.

"By the end of April I would say we will know where it all sits for us moving forward and if it does go ahead we certainly don't want this just to be a year where we go through the motions.

"We want it to be a year where we celebrate the club and have events that honour our past and I'm sure Royal Park would be the same in that we want to honour the history of both clubs.

"But there's obviously still a bit to play out yet before any decisions are made."

The boards of the Maryborough Rovers FNC and Royal Park FNC have established a combined working party to explore the exciting opportunity to amalgamate the Maryborough Rovers FNC and Royal Park FNC for season 2024 to compete in the Maryborough-Castlemaine District Football-Netball League.

The combined working party has met to discuss the future of both clubs to explore the possibility of amalgamating the two clubs for the 2024 MCDFNL season.

The working party has reported back to both boards, recommending that both boards should continue discussions to fully explore the possibility of amalgamating both clubs for the 2024 MCDFNL season.

The boards of the Maryborough Rovers FNC and Royal Park FNC have agreed to continue this consultation phase and understand the importance of this opportunity and feel that to achieve due diligence that all opportunities should be explored to the fullest.

Both boards fully understand that any decision on the future of both clubs will be made by the members of each respective club.

The intent of both boards is to consult separately with members of each club and if appropriate, to meet and consult the members of both clubs together.

Both clubs have agreed to keep key stakeholders updated on the progress of this opportunity.

The Maryborough Rovers FNC and Royal Park FNC have sought the support of AFL Goldfields and Netball Victoria in looking at all opportunities available to each club. The next phase will be in consultation with members of both clubs.

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