The Scarecrow
25 Sep 2003, 13:23
Source: The Advocate
THE NTFL will be reduced to 11 teams for the 2004 season following last night's withdrawal of the Deloraine Football Club which will now join the NTFA Division One competition.
A foundation member of the NTFL, Deloraine opted to leave the league primarily to ensure its long-term viability.
"We feel we've got ourselves back on our feet financially and we saw that to be competitive in the NTFL we would have to spend money to attract players here,'' Deloraine president John Gardner said.
"We'd probably have to get ourselves further into debt to attract enough players to be competitive against the top clubs and we didn't want to go down that path.
"We don't see it as going back to the NTFA, it's more of a change of direction.''
NTFA president Ian Young said season 2004 would be one of the most exciting in years with the inclusion of Deloraine.
THE NTFL will be reduced to 11 teams for the 2004 season following last night's withdrawal of the Deloraine Football Club which will now join the NTFA Division One competition.
A foundation member of the NTFL, Deloraine opted to leave the league primarily to ensure its long-term viability.
"We feel we've got ourselves back on our feet financially and we saw that to be competitive in the NTFL we would have to spend money to attract players here,'' Deloraine president John Gardner said.
"We'd probably have to get ourselves further into debt to attract enough players to be competitive against the top clubs and we didn't want to go down that path.
"We don't see it as going back to the NTFA, it's more of a change of direction.''
NTFA president Ian Young said season 2004 would be one of the most exciting in years with the inclusion of Deloraine.