DRAW DONE, BUT ONE CLUB SEEING RED AFTER PRESIDENT RESIGNS

11 April 2015

Shepparton News - Matthew Galea

With just more than a week until the new season starts, local soccer clubs finally have a fixture to look at.

Football Federation Victoria was able to circulate a draft draw to clubs at a meeting on Wednesday night, which the News understands all clubs have accepted.

However, any hope of a smooth transition into the league’s new administration might have been dashed overnight as Shepparton Soccer Club had talks about its involvement in the league following the resignation of president Joe Rossignuolo.

Rossignuolo stepped down after the club was unable to secure enough numbers to field an under-17 team, which meant his son, 14, would have had to step up to division two men’s soccer.

An opportunity for his son to play at the Goulburn Valley Suns arose and Rossignuolo decided to move his son to the National Premier Leagues Victoria outfit.

‘‘At the end of the day, I have to take my Shepparton Soccer Club hat off and ask, ‘What do I do? What is the best decision for my son?’,’’ Rossignuolo said.

‘‘I was going to stand down as president, but continue to help out around the club where I could.

‘‘But the whole thing has been blown out of proportion by certain people (at the club) and there has been abuse on social media and via text messages, so I’ve decided to walk away completely.’’

Reds senior coach Steven Hawkes said he was disappointed that Rossignuolo had left it so late to step down.

‘‘He could have delegated the role to someone else, but I think he’s left us in the lurch,’’ Hawkes said.

‘‘None of the players are registered, but we’re hoping someone steps up.’’

Hawkes said he was not sure if the Reds would be playing in the league, but Shepparton committeeman Stefo Radevski said club members needed to calm down and not blow the resignation out of proportion.

‘‘Just because one person resigns does not mean the whole club goes,’’ Radevski said.

‘‘If there are five people on the committee and one person steps down, you have someone else move into their position, or you approach people or put it out there that the position needs to be filled.

‘‘It’s not the end of the world.’’

Shepparton is meant to host Kyabram Phoenix in round one, while Tatura takes on Shepparton United and Cobram Roar travels to Shepparton South.

The fixtures FFV released show all six clubs have entered in the mixed under-12 competition and boys’ under-14 competition, while men’s division one is meant to be contested between Shepparton, Shepparton South, Shepparton United, Tatura and Cobram Roar.