It has been a great end to the year for the Yoogali Soccer Club who last Thursday found out they were accepted into the National Premier League Two competition.
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The YSC side will take the place of the Riverina Rhinos side who have unfortunately been unable to continue after the end of the 2019 season.
Yoogali SC's Luke Santolin was ecstatic when he found out.
"It is a huge day for our club after five or six years of playing in the local competition we finally have the opportunity to set goals as a club again, and the NPL construct allows us to really get excited again," he said.
"When the news of the senior Riverina Rhinos wasn't going to continue the Association (GDFA) put out a tender process out to all of the clubs. In the end, we were the only club to have submitted, and the member clubs voted to allow us to apply for the licence.
"Capital Football came back with the declaration of leagues on Thursday of last week, and we were one of the 10 clubs announced to be participating in the NPL2 competition."
Santolin was pleased that there would still be a side representing the Griffith region in the National Premier League competitions.
"We were a huge supporter of the Riverina Rhinos, and in some ways, we are sad that it wasn't successful, but we have always pushed our players to promote the growth of football," he said.
"The opportunity to now participate as Yoogali Soccer Club is really exciting because all of our players can now focus on the same goals."
While a coach hasn't been announced, Santolin said the club is going with a coaching staff structure which has plenty of experience at the NPL level.
"There will be myself, Sante Donadel, John Keenan and Gab Abdala who we are really thankful for signing on as part of our coaching team," he said.
"We have all had experience playing or coaching at an NPL1 level. We don't know exactly how it will look yet, that will evolve naturally, but at the moment we are keen to make it a team effort so far the players have responded well."
Squad wise the side will welcome back Joe Preece to the club while Andrew Vitucci and Jordan Bavaresco will also make their returns after missing most of last year through injury.
"They will have just one team to focus on so straight away that is like three new signings for Yoogali SC," he said.
Santolin also wanted to make mention of the work the Griffith Leagues Club had on securing a successful bid for an NPL2 spot.
"When capital football was considering our application, the facilities were a big reason why they were willing to accept a club side into the NPL," he said.
"That can't go unnoticed, and we look forward to continuing that partnership."
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