Late last year the children of our small town were dealt a significant blow. The AFL Riverina board made the decision to discontinue Barellan United Football Netball Club’s (BUFNC) junior component from their South West Juniors competition. 

For the last few years BUFNC has fielded three strong junior netball sides. Sides with some of the best players in the league and sides that compete and win in finals. Whilst our club has been unable to field the required football sides, BUFNC’s Auskick and NetSetGo sides had some of the highest participation in decades and strong hope for the future.

The argument has been made that letting our modified involvement in the competition sets a bad precedent with the other sides. We would argue that excluding our kids from community sport in a period in which our children are missing out on so much, purely sets a precedent that it is ok to muscle out the little guy. We live in a time when inclusivity and compassion should be the only thing that matters (most importantly in women’s sport), excluding our kids from playing quite simply does the opposite. 

With this, we are putting out a call to all concerned supporters to help us in urging the AFL Riverina Board to reinstate BUFNC’s netball sides for the 2022 season. Please sign below and share it with your friends, share it with your kids, share it with your kids friends. 

All kids including those of small communities deserve sport, and the opportunity to play now and into the future.