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The Mangawhai Football Club will leave the Rodney Otamatea Soccer Association (ROSA) to join the Northern Football Federation for the 2017 winter football season.
A total of 104 club members participated in a vote on the issue, with 85 per cent voting in favour of the shift.
Club president Dustin Reif was disappointed 96 members did not participate in the vote, despite being given plenty of opportunity, including a designated voting booth at Mangawhai Beach School.
“As far as I’m concerned, if they didn’t vote, then they aren’t bothered either way,” Dustin says.
The main motivation for the move was around player development, with the opportunity to play against more teams in the NFF competition.
“We are the biggest club in the league and to develop, we require more than what ROSA has to offer. NFF is the way of the future and eventually I can see other teams making the transition.”
He says the other benefits will be home games in Mangawhai, while ROSA fixtures are all played at the Port Albert Domain.
“We did some calculations and found despite having to travel to Whangarei for most games, the home games will mean that the season travel time will only be 15 minutes more.”
Dustin says the decision to move has been on the cards for about three years now, despite the ROSA committee dismissing it as a possibility.
He says initial support for the move was limited, but after two presentations about the benefits, the majority of members had a change of mind.
Home games will initially be played on the current Mangawhai Domain field, but the club has plans to develop competition standard pitches in future.
Dustin says the Mangawhai Domain committee has backed the proposal and believes they will have the necessary financial support to get the project underway in October next year.
ROSA president Martin Searle did not wish to comment, but said ROSA would issue a press release this month.
