THE Hamilton Kangaroos are coming to a Hampden league ground near you.
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Club officials yesterday announced members of former clubs Hamilton and Hamilton Imperials voted for the name at an historic meeting this week.
The members had the options of Hamilton and Hamilton United for the club’s name and Kangaroos, Power or Hawks as its mascot.
Hamilton Kangaroos won 29.5 per cent of almost 300 votes cast at the meeting at Hamilton Exhibition Centre on Wednesday night.
SED Advisory’s Lachy Patterson, who is managing the merger process, said the successful meeting boded well for the club’s debut Hampden league season.
“To have a huge room filled with close to 300 passionate members of both clubs prepared to have their vote and contribute to the look of our new club was quite overwhelming,” he said.
“This project has obviously been very keenly followed and many people have been keen to contribute.
“To get the result we did on Wednesday night and to feel the excitement in the room gave everyone a sense that this is going to be a big success.”
Patterson said the members electing Hamilton as the name spoke volumes about the way the two clubs had united for the betterment of football in the city.
“It tells us that people realise this is about a new team that represents our town and the place we live,” he said.
Hamilton Power was the second most popular name for the new club, capturing 26.5 per cent of the vote.
Hamilton United Kangaroos (16.8 per cent) and Hamilton United Power (13 per cent) had modest support.
There was little enthusiasm for Hamilton Hawks (11.3 per cent) and Hamilton United Hawks (2.9 per cent).
The Kangaroos as the new club’s moniker had been widely discussed well before the eight-member interim board shortlisted it as an option.
The thought was the jumper would feature the stripes of Hamilton — formerly the Magpies — and the blue of Imperials — formerly the Bulldogs.
But while acknowledging the history of the two former clubs, officials are keen for the new entity to represent a fresh start for football and netball in Hamilton.
Football coaches are already in place, while netball coaching appointments are “well advanced”.
Patterson said Hamilton wanted to develop a relationship with AFL club North Melbourne, which had shown interest in supporting the club.
“Exactly how that manifests itself is yet to be determined, but certainly the early indicators are very positive,” he said.
afawkes@standard.fairfax.com.au
