Lack of players and board members could force Warren Bulldogs Rugby League Club to fold

The Bulldogs’ senior men’s outfit folded last season and didn’t compete in the Castlereagh League but the women’s League Tag took the competition by storm and downed Dunedoo in the final to claim the premiership.

But it now appears the Bulldogs won’t be able to defend their premiership with both a lack of players and board members meaning the club is likely to fold completely.

“It’s all quiet. There’s just no interest,” current president Phil Fuller said, just six people turning up to the club’s annual general meeting.

“We can’t get anyone on board to make a committee and we haven’t heard from many players either.

“It’s all a bit dire.”

It’s a rapid fall from grace for a club which ended a 33 year wait for a premiership when claiming the Castlereagh League title in 2010.

Another premiership was won two years later, following on from a grand final defeat in 2011, but there has been few highlights since then.

A lack of senior players forced the men’s team to fold in the lead-up to the 2017 but the women kept the club afloat.

“But what can you do now?” Fuller said.

“Usually things go well after success but people always move on and leave or retire but we’ve just go no young ones coming through.

“All the locals used to ring or ask me when we’re playing and where but it’s just got hard to run a club with one side.

“There’s not as much money coming through with just one side, not as much money through the gate and that’s what runs the club.

“It’s not cheap to run a club and people don’t realise that. They just think it runs itself.”

Fuller pointed to the lack of junior players coming through as a major reason for Warren’s decline and it’s easy to see why that’s the case.

The Bulldogs junior sides stop at under 13s with many children then leaving town to attend high school.

The best young players often head to Red Bend College at Forbes or Yanco Agricultural High School.

“We don’t see them again until they’re 17 or 18 while some others don’t come back,” he said.

Fuller has been president of the club for roughly five years while there is a handful of others who have also been there long-term.

But with some stepping away this year there is the need for fresh blood. Unfortunately for Fuller, no one has stepped forward and as it stands, the Bulldogs will fold.

“We’re putting it out there and if there was a side we would work to keep it going,” he said.

Anyone interested in helping out the club or joining the board can contact Fuller on 0418 619 220.

The Bulldogs will front up to the next Castlereagh League board meeting on February 11.