Senior Rugby League football in Blayney may be down but it is not yet out if Ron Hartigan has any thing to say about it. Ron is determined to see Blayney field a team in the Mid West competition following news that the Blayney club had made the painful decision to withdraw from Group 10 for the second straight season. "I want a team just as much as anybody else", Ron said on Tuesday. Ron Hartigan said he would captain/coach a Mid West Blayney Team and had the support of Darren Cook and Damon Taylor to get a team together. "The commitment needed for Premier League of three nights training a week is getting difficult for players working night shifts", he said. A Blayney Mid West team would train once a week. There will be a barbecue at the Royal Hotel on Friday February 17 for players interested in joining the team.
Lack of numbers forced the Bears' hand at a club meeting on Monday night.
Having just four senior players attend training last Friday was the 'straw that broke the camel's back,' according to club president Steve McKenna.
The Bears had signed Neil Orcher as premier league captain-coach and hoped to return to the Group 10 competition in three grades.
But McKenna said yesterday the interest wasn't there.
"It's a real kick in the guts but we came to the decision we just haven't got enough players and won't be able to field a side," he said.
"There's been a couple of us who have put a lot of hours and days and nights into it over the last three of four months and have got nowhere.
"It's a very sad situation but we had to draw a line in the sand.
"The club's got a proud history. I've been involved with it all my life and I just want to see it keep going. But we're getting nowhere at the moment."
The Bears were Group 10's glamour club in the 1990's winning four premierships and making another two grand finals.
But their last premier league appearance was the 2000 final when they lost to Mudgee 40-22.
After fielding first division and under 18 sides intermittently over the last 5 season, the Bears didn't play at all last season.
However McKenna based his belief the club could return from the wilderness around the signing of a few key players.
"I reckon I would have spoken to a dozen or more, they were all a bit keen but none of them were really willing to commit," he said.
"I was looking at bringing about six or seven players to the club and building around them.
"Three or four blokes were really interested but not one of them would jump that fence and say 'I'm on board.'
"I thought if we got through one year we'd kick on."
McKenna said the committee was still hoping to field a Mid West side but with jut 10 or 11 seniors attending training on average he said even that was doubtful.
Two strikes and Bears may be out for good
Blayney made the tough decision to withdraw from the Group 10 competition in the knowledge they may never return.
Having tried for two seasons to attract enough players to keep the club afloat, club president Steve McKenna conceded the Bears may never be back.
"I honestly don't know, I'd like to think so but it's going to take a lot to recover from it," he said.
While the club is hoping it can find enough players to field a Mid West competition side, McKenna doesn't want to hold players back from joining Group 10 clubs.
"There are three or four blokes who went and played first grade last year at different clubs and I want them to continue playing first grade," said McKenna, who wont' stand for president again.
"I would rather see them playing first grade than Mid West."