After a disappointing season in NPL NSW Men’s 3, the Western NSW Mariners will be staying in the division, even after finishing bottom of the club championship.
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Western NSW Football committee member Mark Comerford and Mariners coach Andrew Fearnley were involved in submitting and lobbying a proposal to Football NSW to remain in the NPL 3 and were successful last month.
Mariners captain Adam Scimone said it was a win for football in the Central West.
“It is really good to stay up, especially for the youth,” Scimone said.
“Many would have had to left and play in Sydney, if they wanted to remain competing at this level.”
“We should have gone down, but we submitted to a review to Football NSW pressing our case.
“They allowed to stay and promoted St George FA and Southern Raiders from the State League, so we done them [Raiders] a favour.”
The Mariners are the only regional team in the top three division in the NSW football system and the decision to keep the Mariners in NPL 3 is a win, after a disappointing season.
The result will see Sydney clubs making regular trips to the Central West, a win in terms of economics, with Scimone saying clubs like to “make a weekend” out of their trips to the state’s west.
Scimone is hopeful that either Bathurst or Orange councils can push for the development of a synthetic pitch, to help further the development of young footballers in the Central West, after the Mariners season was made difficult due to wet weather damage to fields.
