It appears the local competition will only field three sides in the 2012 season.

After claiming the MIRL premiership in its debut season, the Northern Storm has folded and won't be taking the field to defend their title.

Former Northern Storm president Max Smith confirmed the Storm had pulled the pin with its involvement with the MIRL.

"Unfortunately the club has had to dissolve," Mr Smith said.

"There are two main reasons for this. The club believes they did not get the support from the MIRL that it was promised and there are not enough board members available to help run the club."

While Mr Smith did not go into finer details regarding the lack of support, he did imply the MIRL was one-club centric and failed in its duties to help the new club.

"As the president, I felt like I was continuously at odds with the MIRL," Mr Smith said.

MIRL president Warren Hess said the MIRL had not received a commitment for the 2012 season from the Northern Storm.

"At this stage we have only heard from Black Stars, Town and Wanderers so it appears the competition may only have three teams," he said.

Mr Hess admitted the MIRL did owe the Northern Storm some payments for its grand final win.

"The MIRL has tried to discuss the situation with the Northern Storm in hopes to see the club return to defend its title, but there has been no response," he said.

Mr Hess indicated if a fourth A-grade side could not be formed the MIRL would like to see a reserve grade created.

"There could be a few players floating around if there are only three top sides so maybe we could have a reserve grade game to be played before the A-grade each weekend," he said.

"This would hopefully allow juniors to get a taste of senior football and some seasoned veterans to extend their careers."

The MIRL will hold an open meeting for all clubs on January 21 from 10am at Alec Inch Oval to finalise the 2012 MIRL draw with the local competition which is set for a March 24 kick-off.