LATROBE will remain in the Central Gippsland Cricket Association after voting down a proposal to apply for inclusion in the Traralgon and district competition.
Financial, club and life members voted 16-10 in favour of staying in the CGCA at a special general meeting last Wednesday night.
A three quarters majority would have been required to pursue the move.
Latrobe Cricket Club president Nicholas Brewer said despite voting to stay put, the Sharks retained some concerns about the CGCA.
“It’s not entirely put to bed; we did have a lot of concerns about central Gippsland, the way it’s headed and the current governance. Those concerns remain – they haven’t gone away just because we’ve voted to stay,” Brewer said.
He said the club met with the CGCA board prior to the vote where the league “took on a number of our concerns”.
“We’re very hopeful of working with them in the future to ensure not just next year but 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years down the track there is a sustainable competition for all clubs in and around the Valley, and all clubs big and small have a place in that,” Brewer said.
He said the perceived strength and management of the TDCA were among the arguments for the move, while the health of cricket in the Valley as a whole came into consideration for staying.
Brewer said the club elected to open the dialogue to its members in order to reach a majority decision.
“We made the decision to have a SGM and a vote among general club and life members, we’re not actually required to do that, but we wanted the feedback of our members,” he said.
“I’m proud we’ve gone down that route of actually getting the club members’ opinions, having them speak for and against it and ultimately taking it to a vote. It’s a whole club decision now.”
CGCA president Tony Flynn said the league was pleased to see Latrobe stay and was working to alleviate its concerns.
“Obviously we’re happy they’re staying in the CGCA, we’re aware of some of their concerns after we had our meeting so we’ll work together to try and address those,” Flynn said.
