Revelling in the Riverina: Episode 9 – Country roads and the canola way

REVELLING in the Riverina

 

The vintage years

 

 

 

Episode 9:                               Country roads and the Canola Way

 

 

 

 

Ganmain, NSW (Ganmain Grong Grong Matong, the ‘Lions’ – Riverina Football Netball League)

 

 

Stage 9: Ariah Park to Ganmain

 

Ganmain and Ariah Park-Mirrool had a fierce rivalry in the mid 1950s, a tug-of-war full of ambition and jealousy, intensified by strong football characters. In this episode we go back in time to seasons 1956 and 1957 as flies on the wall in the Ganmain dressing sheds. But before we get there, I must take you via Methul, Rannock and Coolamon.

 

A fair dinkum country road trip should have at least one stage of driving on dirt, sand or gravel, even if only for half an hour.  Motoring along sedately we will seek the quieter bitumen routes and back roads wherever possible before joining the Canola Way at Coolamon on the last leg to Ganmain. Heading south from Ariah Park on Mary Gilmore Way, our first call is at the dot-on-the-map locality of Methul. 

 

The Australian game was introduced to Methul in the 1890s by early adopters of the code who settled in the district when the large pastoral stations of the 19th Century were broken up. In 1893 Methul formed a football club, which later became an inaugural member of the Ganmain and District Football Association, a forerunner to the South West District Football League. Just prior to World War I they moved to the Ariah Park and District Association. Methul then joined the Tara and District Association where it competed in the 1920s against the neighbouring settlement of Rannock and other clubs including Walleroobie, Tara, Mimosa, Ariah Park, Mirrool and Pucawan. Methul was a strong force in the competition, winning back-to-back premierships in 1923 and 1924. The decline in population brought on by increased farm sizes, eventually caught up with Methul by the middle of the Century, but rather than disbanding, the club joined forces with neighbours Rannock to form the ‘Federals’. The Narrandera press once identified the Federals as ‘the boys from the hill country’.

 

A road trip needs a Dylan song. So settle back and sing along to a 1960s classic from his ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ album:

 

 

 

 

Rolling on, making tracks to the east, we venture through a series of dog legs on red dirt roads – Methul Hall, Gibbons and Freers lanes – and soon arrive at the locality of Rannock. Here we stop for a while to experience the atmosphere of another long deserted football ground and learn a little of the footy club that called it their home for 40 years (1923-64). After parking the Falcon among the native pines and gum trees at the Rannock Recreation Reserve we are instantly taken back 60 years – the season of the last home game at Rannock. Very little here has changed – the sheds are still standing… one goal post survives… the ground is quite discernible, despite needing a good mow… even the concrete cricket pitch looks up for a game. The scene is very much like the Four Corners ground we visited in episode 5.

 

Rannock football ground in 2019

 

Had we arrived in town on Central Riverina League second semi final day in 1963, finding a place to park at the ground among all the Holdens, Hillmans, Chevvies and Zephyrs would have been a challenge. A record crowd of 1400 attended.

 

Rannock Recreation Reserve 31.8.63

 

The following extract from my history of the Rannock Football Club, In the True Sporting Spirit, reveals some of the narrative.

 

Rannock’s football experience is a familiar tale of a farming community starting out with a healthy stock of fit young men eager to play football only to see that supply evaporate as farms got bigger, families got smaller and distances became faster to travel. From its beginnings in a localised football competition comprising similar-sized settlements, Rannock’s football journey expanded to new frontiers. It eventually competed against teams from much larger and more distant settlements before finally confronting the inevitability of demise due to an insufficient number of players. Rannock won five premierships in the span of 42 years (1923-1964). Those premierships were claimed in just 25 seasons of football. Rannock’s premierships were won in 1939, 1940, 1947, 1952 and 1954. To have won a flag every five years on average is not a bad record for any football club.

 

With Rannock now gone from the rear vision mirror we take in the views of the wheat fields, hay pastures and canola country of the Coolamon and Ganmain district. The short drive from Coolamon to Ganmain, along the Canola Way, follows the South West rail line. Motoring on quietly, I’ll recount the story of the ‘highest paid footballer in the country’ in the mid 1950s.

 

Ganmain is known as the Sheaf Hay Centre of Australia, a tribute to its reputation of producing some of the finest chaff in the country, all the more noteworthy because of the use of heritage harvesting methods. Originally the settlement was named Boggy Creek after the watercourse that winds its way through town, but was renamed Ganmain in 1894. The home ground of the Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong Football Club (G-GG-M), is wedged between the Canola Way and the South West Rail Line (Junee to Hay) a couple of hefty punt kicks from the heart of town. 

 

The South West line links the Melbourne-Sydney rail corridor with the expansive plains of the Riverina as far west as Hay. Hopping on a loco-driven carriage at Junee, Coolamon, Marrar, Ganmain or one of the many other stations along the line, was once a popular way for players and spectators to travel to a game of football. In fact, the rail line gave the South West District Football League (SWDFL) its name.

 

The premiership team photo below contains two Ganmain personalities in the back row that we will meet in a moment.

 

Ganmain premiers of Wagga and District League 1948

(Coolamon and District History Group on Facebook)

 

If Ungarie is Daniher country then Ganmain is certainly Carroll country. Nine Carrolls lined up for Ganmain in the 1957 SWDFL grand final. Ganmain’s Carroll clan exceeded that effort in 1968 when a fundraising match was played between ‘The Carrolls’ and the ‘The Rest of Ganmain’. The Bishop of the Diocese of Wagga, Father Frank Carroll, coached ‘The Carrolls’ that day, with young cousins, and future Sydney Swans stars, Dennis Carroll and Wayne Carroll in the team alongside a team full of their Carroll relations.

 

The inaugural NSW Australian Football Hall of Fame contains two members of the famous Ganmain football family, Tom Carroll and Dennis Carroll, plus a Riverina coaching legend who started his epic football journey at G-GG-M in 1985 and later held the reigns at the club – Shane Lenon. 

 

‘Turkey’ Tom Carroll and Dennis Carroll require little by way of introduction, suffice to say both stamped their names firmly on VFL/AFL clubs. While Tom returned to the Riverina and carved out a stellar career as a player and coach, Dennis gave over 40 years of service to his beloved Sydney Swans firstly as a player, then as captain, and post-retirement, as an administrator.

 

Shane Lenon earned four league best and fairest awards during his 500 game career and has coached an array of clubs in the Riverina (Riverina FL, Farrer FL and Hume FL)  during the past 27 years with remarkable success. He has coached 10 senior premiership teams, including two (2004, 2005) with the G-GG-M Lions. Lenon was once described as “the country’s version of Barassi” in recognition of his trademark coaching rev-ups.

 

In the next episode we will meet another inductee from a football club along the South West rail line, the prolific full forward from suburban Wagga who was Grong Grong- Matong’s 1975 captain coach.

 

Ganmain and it’s football progeny, G-GG-M, have a trophy cabinet bursting with premiership cups. How do you pinpoint their premium vintage years among all that silverware? Was it Ganmain’s three SWDFL premierships on the trot (1949-51)? How about back-to-back flags in 1956-57 and again in 1964-65? 

 

The 1956-57 seasons at Ganmain are known by the local football fraternity as the “Grambeau years”. Let me take you back in time, as far back as early 1956, to understand how Ganmain landed a big fish from the VFL in their endeavour to squash rivals Ariah Park-Mirrool. They made him an offer too good to refuse … one that would make him the highest paid footballer in the country! The extract is from my book Mambo with Grambeau: The story of Mick Grambeau at Ganmain.

 

Mick Grambeau

 

A notice written on white notepaper was tacked on the wall in the Ganmain change rooms at the start of the 1956 football season. It contained a new and alluring slogan for the traditionally powerful Riverina football club: ‘Mambo with Grambeau’. It advised … ‘Do not neglect your training every Tuesday and Thursday night’.

 

What’s this? Does the new coach want us to dance with him? with puzzled expressions they asked. With 19 premierships already on their honour board by the mid-fifties, Ganmain football folk were understandably very proud of their club’s achievements. They liked to see themselves as “the Collingwood of the South West”, with a reputation parallel to that of the famous VFL club. Ganmain (the ‘Maroons’) were hated for their premiership-winning record. But jealousy runs both ways. A new rival from across the wheat plains, Ariah Park-Mirrool, had won two premierships in succession (1954, 1955) and were building a dynasty of their own, one that was close to matching, or potentially surpassing Ganmain’s record of three South West District Football League flags in a row – 1949, 1950, 1951. In fact it was four straight flags as Ganmain had won the 1948 Wagga and District League premiership as a prelude to the sequence [see photo above]. Ariah Park-Mirrool joined the SWDFL in 1953 and had an immediate impact. There was simply no way the Maroons could allow their record to be eclipsed. So, a plan was hatched to counter the imminent threat from ‘The Park’.

 

Ganmain’s top officials, ‘Bardy’ Quinn – President, Bill Warran –Vice President (see photo above) and George Stevens – Treasurer were in agreement … We need a big strong ruckman from Melbourne to stand up to those tough Quade’s from Ariah Park. Ariah Park-Mirrool (the ‘Brown Bombers’) had won in 1954 against Ganmain and followed that up with a premiership victory over Leeton in 1955. Ganmain knew the Brown Bombers would have a strong team again and feared they would take a lot of beating.

 

So, Bill Warran was sent off to Melbourne to scout for the right man. He needed to be as tough as nails to squash Ariah Park’s bid and win the premiership for Ganmain in ‘56. Warran returned with good news for his committee … We can get Mick Grambeau … North won’t clear him to St. Kilda and eight other VFL clubs are chasing him … Grambeau is a hard man ruckman … and he will cost. Wasn’t he in trouble with the tribunal a few years back and didn’t North sack him last season? asked a concerned committeeman who always had his ear close to the ground …. He copped eight weeks three seasons ago, and yes, last year the North Melbourne powers sacked him and his good mate Laurie Icke. Sources tell me they were scapegoats after a bad loss to St Kilda. But it all blew over a week or so later and the pair were reinstated.

 

What do you reckon it will cost to get him? the Treasurer asked. … For starters, let’s wave 40 quid a week in front of him and we can add some sweeteners to that …  the President suggested. The Ganmain committee didn’t turn a hair. With 300 pounds in support from local farmers and businesses, promised on the spot, the money was the least of their worries. We’ll have the money alright … it’s the premiership we are worried about! … one committeeman admitted.

 

Warran went back to Melbourne to make an offer too good for ‘Big Mick’ to refuse. It was an unprecedented offer: 40 pounds a week as coach; a job worth 20 pounds; a house rent free; and some extras thrown in, including a cow and some chooks, plus free fruit and vegetables, groceries and meat after every win. All up the remuneration was worth at least 70 pounds a week, the highest fee ever paid to a footballer in the league and arguably anywhere in Australia. But there was much more the club could offer the new coach. As one committeeman put it … If he can win us the premiership, he will share in the hundreds Ganmain people bet on the football.

 

By then it was mid-March and the start of the 1956 football season in the South West was only three weeks away. The Melbourne press was still full of stories of Grambeau’s bid to get to St Kilda and the stonewalling of North Melbourne. It was time for Ganmain to make a move and get their man. We are going to fly him up to Wagga and give him the royal treatment … the Vice President announced.

 

Usually the Riverina landscape is parched and long overdue for a drink in March, with summer still lingering. But ‘56 was different. It was the year of the big wet in much of the Murray-Darling Basin, so instead of being greeted by dry stubble paddocks, visitors to the Riverina saw water wherever they looked. Bill Warran and his wife set off for Wagga airport to meet the North Melbourne big man they planned to wine, dine and sign. They drove 40 miles along flooded roads to meet the prize recruit off the plane and escort him back to Ganmain. Grambeau came, saw and indeed signed … I hope to give them good service as a coach he vowed.

 

When Grambeau returned to Ganmain ten days later to take up his coaching job he was given the red carpet treatment again. As he arrived in Ganmain, on the town’s half day holiday, crowds lined the main street to catch a glimpse of the man they had heard so much about …  What about a kick Mick? yelled one eager footballer from the roadside. But Grambeau was there to be entertained, football could wait. The 26 year old ruckman from the VFL was feted by the club. Ganmain residents turned up in droves to welcome him at a reception held in the town’s hall. They’d organized a euchre party and dance, but Mick was too busy shaking hands to play cards or dance, let alone perform any Mambo steps.

 

His first training run at Ganmain attracted 72 players (aged between 14 and 40) assembled from the ranks of the club’s seniors, Reserves and schoolboys. All were eager to Mambo with Grambeau.

 

History records that Ganmain won back-to-back flags under Mick Grambeau in 1956 and 1957. His and Ganmain’s assignments were achieved. ‘Big Mick’ had given good service to the Maroons, and Ariah Park-Mirrool’s threat had been seen off.

 

The 1964 SWDFL grand final between Ganmain and Griffith is remembered for a sensational last quarter of football and a premiership winning last kick of the day goal by ‘Turkey’ Tom Carroll. Coaching Ganmain after three productive seasons with Carlton, Tom Carroll seized the moment in the dying seconds of the match. With the rattle of a thunderstorm above, Carroll took possession from a ball-up deep in the Maroons forward line and quickly slammed it onto his boot then watched as the ball floated through the big sticks. When the ball was bounced after Carroll’s last gasp goal the siren sounded ending a see-sawing struggle in wet and windy weather and a last quarter of football when ten goals in succession were kicked. 

 

In the Prologue I said we would be in select company travelling through the Riverina in a GTHO. Dennis Carroll recalls going to the football at Matong in his Uncle Tom Carroll’s brand new blue Ford Falcon GTHO.

 

A journeyman footballer from Kergunyah and Myrtleford (via St Kilda), Frank (‘Ironman’) Hodgkin, played in those mid sixties premierships for Ganmain. He coached the Maroons in 1967, the same year he won the SWDFL best and fairest award, the Gammage Medal.

 

Another VFL footballer we associate with Ganmain is North Melbourne’s Frank Gumbleton. After playing in Ganmain’s 1969 premiership-winning season he packed his bags for Arden Street and became a reliable defender for North throughout the 1970s.

 

Matt Watson wrote a very informative piece for the Footy Almanac on Frank’s Gumbleton’s footy career, including his Ganmain days. Check it out:

Almanac Footy: Frank Gumbleton – Ganmain to Glory

 

G-GGM’s seven flags in eight Riverina Football League seasons (2004-2011 – missing out in 2007) cannot be overlooked as the most successful period in the club’s rich history, but that is a story for another day.

 

Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong in 2024

 

After nine rounds G-GG-M are undefeated in 2024. A bye on 15th June will be followed by a match against their eastern neighbours, and also great rivals, Coolamon.

 

Riverina Spotto

 

The last post has fallen and there’s 9 to go.

 

the last post	Irish pub	a slice of pizza
faithful canine	sheep and dog	the family club
22 yards	two felines	31.12.74
truckie’s stop	submarine	a shearing team
all among the wool	one pub town	Sherrin
three  bees	square	footy hub

 

Next episode: Stage 10 – to Narrandera

 

 

Previous episodes of Revelling In The Riverina, and more from Peter Clark can be read Here.

 

 

To return to the www.footyalmanac.com.au  home page click HERE

 

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