The future of the Trangie Magpies will be decided on Wednesday night.
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After the club failed to form a committee at its annual general meeting, a second emergency meeting will be held this week to decide if the club can continue on in the Castlereagh League or fold.
Luke Phillips, who runs the Trangie Magpies Old Boys group, described it as a dire time for the passionate, small-town club.
"This is it. They will never form again if we don't get a committee this week," he said.
"It's just committee members. We've got coaches and we're financial but I just can't believe it, to be honest."
Phillips said it would be a huge blow for the entire community if the worst was to happen this week.
The club has folded and restarted again twice in the past few decades, but the feeling is this could be death knell for the Magpies if people don't put their hand up to help.
"It's a football town and it's been built on football for a long, long time," Phillips said.
"We'd never recover from it as a footballing community."
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The Magpies field a senior side and a league tag team in the Castlereagh League.
A battle for player numbers is an issue almost every season for the Magpies but that isn't the main problem for the club currently.
There has already been applications for 2022 coaches while people have also put their hand up to help out on gameday.
The problem is the committee as all executive positions are currently vacant.
"If we don't get one this Wednesday night it's all over, Phillips reiterated.
"There's been a lot of people who've put their hand up to do the work but unfortunately it's always the same people and there's only so much they can give.
"It doesn't feel like there's a new lot of people coming through who want to put their hand up."
Phillips said a new executive would provide the club with a fresh start and those who are willing to take on the roles would be able to run the club their way.
The club is also one with "a hell of a lot of potential" given the interest from prospective coaches, support from the community, a healthy Old Boys organisation, and the chance to be part of what is expected to be an extremely strong Castlereagh League in 2022.
It was confirmed on Sunday the Narromine Jets, a nearby rival of the Magpies, will be joining the league from Group 11 next season and that means there's currently 10 teams in the first grade competition.
Phillips has helped the Old Boys grow in recent times and a major reunion, featuring a number of retired NRL stars, is being planned for March after the original 2021 date was ruined by COVID.
"We either miss a committee and have the players, or don't have the players and have a really good community, or we have the financial support but don't have the infrastructure we need," Phillips added.
"There's always something that's missing that's let us down and we can't be at 90 per cent, we need to be at 100."
Wednesday night's meeting will be at 7pm at the Trangie Bowling Club.
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