WPL president Jim Auld said in the wake of the meeting that the lack of interest from Bathurst in re-entering a side in the competition was disappointing and also indicated that Colts had flagged interest in entering their own team before the meeting.

“Bathurst City Colts were thinking of joining but now have 48 hours to let me know. They didn’t even bother to turn up to the meeting. It’s disappointing a city the size of Bathurst can’t find enough players to field a side,” Auld said at the time.

But Tony Clancy, who captain-coached City Colts to the Bathurst District Football Association first grade title in 2011, said that it was never the intention of the club to aim at competing in the WPL.

“I really have no idea where he got that information from to be honest, I haven’t spoken to Jim in probably two years,” Clancy said.

“Dave [Clancy, Tony’s brother and Colts president] got an email a few weeks ago canvassing interest in the 2012 competition but at no stage did he reply and I don’t know of anyone else who would have been in contact with them.

“A couple of months back a few of our guys spoke about the possibility but straight away we knew that we didn’t have the player quality or the depth to join. On top of that there is the commitment factor – you need at least 17-18 blokes per side committed to playing each week otherwise it doesn’t work.

“Realistically we were probably lucky to win the local comp last year so we would be pushing things uphill just going up another level for the sake of it.”

Clancy, who has also been a part of the Bathurst ’75 State League division two side in past seasons, was also quick to point out that Bathurst soccer was in a different boat to the likes of Dubbo and Orange in that they fielded two teams in the State League premiership.