Up the Mighty Murray! – Episode 20: On the Border

 

 

Episode 20                      On the Border

 

Map of the Murray River

 

To Albury-Wodonga in the Ovens and Murray League

 

The Murray River below Hume Dam

 

On our way from Yarrawonga to Albury, let’s call in at Corowa to check on the Corowa-Rutherglen Football Netball Club’s 2023 season in recess and its hopes for 2024. The long standing Ovens and Murray League club faces an uncertain future due to a player shortage. Compounding the perilous situation facing the Roos, the club’s facilities at John Foord Oval were inundated and badly damaged by flooding in November 2022.

 

John Foord Oval is situated a punt kick away from the Murray on the river flats at Corowa. The ground has a unique feature alongside the entrance gates – a tree sculpture of footballers rising to contest a mark. Recently refurbished and modernised, the sculpture pays tribute to the Roos’ foundation clubs. It comprises representations of players from Corowa-Rutherglen ‘Roos’, the Corowa ‘Spiders’, the Rutherglen ‘Redlegs’ and also the former Coreen and District League. The historical link with the Coreen & District Association is that Corowa played in the competition in 1920, winning the premiership, before returning to the Ovens and Murray FA in 1921.  

 

The original football tree carving (‘Mr Woody’) on a dry day (source: author, 2016) 

 

 

The revamped sculpture at the entrance to John Foord Oval in flood, 2022
(source: Border Mail 15 November 2022 )

 

After an unprecedented loss of 30 players in the off-season, Corowa-Rutherglen went into recess for 2023, with no seniors, reserves or Under 18s football teams and no A and B grade netball teams participating. Meanwhile, in 2023 the club has continued to field three netball teams (C grade, Under 17s and Under 15s) in the O&MFNL and junior football teams.

 

The club is feeling optimistic about its mission – ‘Reset 2024’. Positives and lessons come from the examples of other clubs who have successfully emerged from their own recessions. The experience of the Kyneton Football Club, who made a return to the Bendigo League in 2014 after a season in recess, is one that the CRFNC have tapped into. The club has received overwhelming community backing from the people and businesses around Corowa who are firmly behind their plan to return. The direction of the Roos’ future remains unclear at this moment, although the strongly preferred option is to return to their vacant position in the O&MFNL. One ‘left field’ alternative canvassed at an unofficial  community meeting during 2023 was a merger with the Wahgunyah Saints in the Tallangatta and District League. The club is very conscious of not bleeding local clubs of their talented players in their comeback mission and in that regard have been searching to attract players from further afield.

 

The AFL North East Border (AFLNEB ) recently announced measures to assist the club’s return and longer term sustainability. Following extensive consultations with the Roos, OMFNL, and the AFL Victoria Community Club Sustainability Program (CCSP) Advisory Panel, AFLNEB has granted the club specific assistance measures aimed at fostering “sustainable” growth and “eliminating potential barriers” in their journey back to the league. The key aspects of the support package for the 2024 season include:

 

Player Points Cap: The club will operate under a player points cap of 60. This measure is designed to create a level playing field and ensure fair competition while enabling the club to build a strong roster of players.

 

Salary Cap Increase: The club will benefit from a salary cap increase of $25,000 above the maximum league-set cap for the 2024 season. This financial boost is designed to aid the club in attracting and retaining talented players, as well as investing in coaching and development programs.

 

But the question of whether an increase in player points and the salary cap actually helps a club  be more competitive, let alone relaunch itself into the league after a season in recess, concerns some Corowa-Rutherglen members. Recruiting players is a difficult task, especially prior to the end of the current season, when footballers are focussed on the short term and are reluctant to commit in advance. Little progress in signing players for 2024 can be made before the current season is done and dusted, at which point the hard business of recruiting will swing into top gear.

 

Corowa hosted two conferences over a century ago that were fundamental to our system of government and water management in the Murray-Darling Basin. The Corowa Conference held in 1893 was a driving force in the Federation of the Australian colonies through its role in creating a ‘road map’ towards Federation. The 1902 Corowa Water Conference, held during the ‘Federation Drought’ of 1895-1902, set in train arrangements to manage and share the waters of the River Murray which were finalised in the River Murray Waters Agreement ratified in 1915.

 

Hume Dam

 

Explorers Hume and Hovell made their crossing of the Murray River near the junction of the Murray and Mitta Mitta rivers in 1824. The site is now beneath the waters of Lake Hume. The first sod in the construction of the Hume Dam was turned in 1919. Fifteen years later the first filling of the 1522 GL dam occurred. Modifications were made between 1950 and 1961 to increase the capacity of the reservoir to its current 3005 GL capacity. 

 

Hume Dam wall and spillway

 

Murray-Darling Basin Plan

The Hume Reservoir is managed in conjunction with Dartmouth Dam (on the Mitta Mitta River) and the downstream storages at Lake Victoria and the Menindee Lakes (on the Darling River) to regulate and conserve water for both human use and the environment under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

Recently the Federal Government announced a revamp to the 2012 Murray-Darling Basin Plan that will extend the time frame for the recovery of 450 GL of water (originally promised to get South Australia on board) to 2027. The water will be delivered mostly through buybacks from farmers, a decision that has angered many in rural communities. While South Australia, Queensland and NSW have signed up to the revised plan, Victoria is in opposition to buybacks and has not joined the other states in the agreement. At the end of the day, there is nothing the states can do to prevent the water buybacks by the Commonwealth government. 

 

Farmers in the ‘Border area’ fear the impact of water buybacks on food production, farm viability and heightened flood risk along the Murray. Announcing the water plan amendments, Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek emphasised the need for the environmental water “… [without it] our river ecosystems will risk environmental collapse, and our food and fibre production will be insecure and unsustainable.” (Border Mail, 26 August 2023) 

 

Nothing is straightforward when it comes to water management, the environment and rural prosperity in the Murray-Darling Basin. It is always about balancing the competing uses of the precious water.

 

So what have water buybacks got to do with country football along the Murray and its tributaries? 

 

Wakool River Association chairman John Lolicato said the deal would mean less water for local irrigators to use, and that would harm local economies. “We’ve already lost almost 40 per cent [of the water] out of the region I come from,” he said. “The schools are shutting down, we’ve lost our football teams, we’ve lost our tennis sides, and that’s just the start of it.” (ABC Rural, 23 August 2023)  

 

A cod fishing tale

 

As we near Albury-Wodonga it is time to retell a cod fishing story that will resonate with the experiences of many anglers on the Murray. The story written by my father, Jim Clark, using the pseudonym J.B. Smith, appeared in Australian Outdoors magazine in July 1959. I will let ‘J.B. Smith’ take up the story.

 

The Big Cod in the Big Hole

 

Everything about the Big Hole was perfect for cod fishing – except that it had never yielded cod. Until one day …

 

As you meet the Murray River at the end of a trudge through a scrub-covered reserve, tricks of the current and an elbow in the stream leave a long, deep, sheltered cod hole. The three hopefuls agreed that The Big Hole had never looked better, and then moved on – as we’d done a dozen times before. For to us, and others, The Big Hole had seldom yielded anything but promise, and we were after cod. On this section of Old Man Murray, between the NSW-Victoria border towns of Wodonga and Rutherglen, the stream is comparatively narrow, and swift, and cold. Reports of 80 pounders grassed along the Murray are enough to make even the most casual angler itch with impatience, and there had been occasional reports.

 

We’d been coming to this bend on the river three or four times a season for five or six seasons with little luck – a 22 pounder one year, a couple of fives another, empty bags on most days. Now it was a new season . This was our first day out. The water looked near perfect in colour and depth. Maybe this would be the day.

 

We baited up a short distance from The Big Hole. Ten minutes, half an hour, an hour rippled by, with not so much as a soft tug on the line from a gentle river cray. How about half an hour at The Big Hole? Agreed. The half hour passed without incident. Dusk was giving way to darkness. Then a characteristic utterance from a quiet voice at the downstream end of the pool had Henry and I charging along the bank. One glance at Jack’s rod, heavily bowed to the strain of a line taken well downstream sent our blood racing. Easy now. He’s headed upstream again. You’re playing him by hand – good, that rod wasn’t made for this fellow’s size; best not to use the reel. He’s close in; be ready for the second run. There he goes; see him break the surface; he’s 40-lb. if he’s an ounce.

 

Got him – no; the net’s too small. Hold him there if you can. Now what? Only one thing to do – place a hand in his gill. Grab my leg and hang on hard; if he kicks I’m not letting go. Right, now pull. O.K., keep going, I think we’ve got him. And so, over the top of The Big Hole’s steep, 10-ft. high bank, in tug-o-war style, flopped two relieved helpers, a fish, and an unbelieving, madly-excited angler. An hour later “the one that didn’t get away” had been checked in at 62-lb. One like this in a lifetime, we reasoned, is good going on this stretch of the Murray.

 

(Adapted from The Big Cod in The Big Hole, by J.B. Smith, Australian Outdoors, July 1959)

 

Arriving at Albury-Wodonga is a significant point in our five month long Murray River journey. We have reached the upper limit of paddle steamer navigation and our journey upstream beyond the Hume Dam must be made by a different craft. We have arrived at one of the largest urban areas in inland Australia (population 97 000) and one that has been a leading urban growth centre in our country’s decentralization dreams and initiatives since the 1970s. 

 

Albury-Wodonga’s history as an interstate border crossing on the Murray was fraught with interstate rivalry, protectionism and other barriers to the ease of movement of people and the transport of goods. The standardization of the NSW and Victorian state rail gauges in 1962 was a major step forward in the ease of interstate movement. Up until then, rail passengers had to change trains at Albury before continuing their journey. Most of the historic barriers to interstate movement have been removed or at least diminished, yet we were recently reminded of some of them during the emergency created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

 

River warning sign at Noreuil Park Albury

 

Drownings are one of the tragic realities of life along the inland rivers. The Murray at Albury and the Hume Weir have certainly experienced more than their fair share of drownings, with locations such as Noreuil Park in Albury notoriously dangerous for swimming. The waters of the Murray below the Hume Weir are quite swiftly flowing and cold, which combine to make the river treacherous for inexperienced swimmers. The Albury and District Historical Society have found evidence of approximately 250 drowning incidents (and over 300 deaths) in the Murray and other streams near Albury-Wodonga and in Lake Hume, since 1846. 

 

We have reached the focal point of the Ovens and Murray League, where five of the league’s football netball clubs are found. It is arguably the strongest country football league in the nation, one that has been the breeding ground of a host of VFL/AFL football greats and a destination for the post-metropolitan league careers of many others. One of the greatest Australian Footballers of all time, triple Brownlow and Sandover medallist Haydn Bunton Sn. was born and bred in Albury and played his early football there (with the Albury and West Albury clubs).

 

A day at the football in the Ovens and Murray League

 

 

Lavington v Albury

Saturday 27 August 2023

At Lavington Sports Ground

 

AFL Chief Gil McLachlan recently visited the Lavington Sports Ground for the first time and he commented very favourably on the venue and its facilities: “ … the Lavington sports complex is absolutely perfect, with two ovals and incredible facilities.” (Border Mail, 11 August 2023) 

 

Of course, Lavington and O&M folk have known that for years!

 

                   

Panthers             v             Tigers

 

The Lavington Football Club (Lavington was known as Black Range before 1909) was formed in the late nineteenth century and since the 1920s has been affiliated with seven different football associations/leagues. A glance at the timeline of Lavington’s league affiliations reveals its migratory existence and as the Border Mail’s Matt Cram said: “it is a bit like taking a stroll through the history of Australian rules in the North East and Southern NSW” (Border Mail, 11 October 2009). Initially, the Black Range football team (known as the ‘Rangers’) played in a district competition against teams from Thurgoona and Jindera for the Swain Trophy.

 

Lavington Football Club’s league affiliations 1921-present

 

1921-27 Albury and Border Football Association (1921-23 in 2nd division)

1928-32 Central Hume Football League

1933-39 Hume Football League

1946-56 Chiltern and District Football League

1957 Hume Football League

1958-76 Tallangatta and District Football League*

1975-76 Hume Football League*

1977-78 Farrer Football League

1979- Ovens and Murray Football League

*Lavington fielded teams in both the T&DFL and the HFL in 1975 and 1976

 

Over the course of its history Lavington has participated in competitions based in NSW and in Victoria, against teams as geographically distant as Temora in the north (Farrer Football League in 1977-78) and Benalla in the south (Ovens and Murray Football League between 1979 and 1997). The club has been known as the ‘Rangers’, ‘Saints’, ‘Blues’ and ‘Panthers’ at various times in its history. 

 

The issue surrounding Lavington’s struggle to gain admission to the Ovens and Murray League was described by Ron McGann (radio football commentator, football historian and O&M Hall of Fame inductee) as “possibly the most contentious subject ever in the history of the league”. It certainly was a major talking point over the course of the 1970s. Reigning Tallangatta and District League premiers, Lavington, first applied to join the O&MFL in 1972, along with Beechworth from the Ovens and King League, but both were rejected. In Beechworth’s case, Ovens and Murray delegates were not convinced the club was strong enough to join a major league. The two clubs appealed the decisions with the VCFL. The VCFL rejected Beechworth’s appeal but upheld Lavington’s on the strength of the club’s facilities and the projected population increase in its area. The VCFL’s ruling that Lavington be admitted was ignored by the O&MFL, which resulted in the league’s disaffiliation from the VCFL in 1974. Supreme Court action was taken by the league against the VCFL’s decision to admit Lavington, however the court upheld the governing body’s ruling. The O&MFL remained steadfastly opposed to Lavington’s admission and stood alone from the Victorian country football fraternity. One consequence of the O&MFL’s disaffiliation was its disqualification from the VCFL Country Championships. The isolationist position of the league became unsustainable due to the loss of players without clearances and difficulties in recruiting new players.

 

Meanwhile, in 1975 Lavington made an unsuccessful application to join the Farrer League. Prior to the start of the 1976 season O&MFL club delegates voted to re-affiliate with the VCFL despite the fact that the ‘Lavington issue’ had not been resolved. Lavington made a further application to join the Ovens and Murray in 1976 along with Beechworth and Mansfield. Once more delegates voted against the admission of any new clubs. Lavington responded by making a successful application to join the Farrer League where they competed in 1977 and 1978. The decision by Corowa and Rutherglen to amalgamate in 1979 created the opportunity for Lavington to finally fulfill its ambition of joining the O&MFL and in doing so avoided a nine-team competition. Ironically, the body that had steadfastly refused Lavington’s affiliation was now welcoming the club with open arms. According to club president Brian Chalmers, Lavington officials were ‘over the moon’ with the invitation and embarked on a five year plan to become a strong O&M club with strategic recruiting, growth of the supporter base and increased sponsorship as key elements  (PD Footy podcast, # 6 2017). The Hume League branch of the Lavington Football Club morphed into East Lavington and won premierships in 1979 and 1988 before folding in 1998.

 

The question of why Lavington’s entry to the league became such a contentious issue cannot be answered without an appreciation of the long term stability of the O&MFL as a ten team league for almost three decades after 1950 but also without an understanding of the fear of new competition held by the member clubs. That fear was heightened by Lavington’s obvious wealth, in their case derived from a booming poker machine club. Did conservatism and self interest rule the heads of club delegates when they repeatedly voted against Lavington’s entry? The answer is obviously yes. 

 

Lavington quickly became competitive in the league, winning the O&M flag in 1983 and 1986, but did not become all-powerful as was feared by opponents of its affiliation. Lavington have won five O&MFNL premierships (1983, 1986, 2001, 2005, 2019)  to go with the six flags won in leagues they previously participated in. 

 

Somewhat ironically, the superior football ground and facilities at the Lavington Sports Ground were recognised by the league, displacing the Albury Sports Ground as the preferred venue for grand finals since the mid 1990s. 

 

Lavington is the home club (juniors) of current West Coast player Campbell Chesser.

 

The Albury Football Club was established in 1876 with its earliest recorded match played against Beechworth. In 1881 Albury played a series of matches against the Wagga Football Club.  At that early stage of its evolution in rural areas, Australian Football was not played in organised weekly competitions under the umbrella of official leagues, but was a sport that developed on the basis of challenge and friendly matches between towns. In 1895 Albury were admitted to the Ovens and Murray FA and with the exception of several years just before and after World War I, have remained in that league for over 125 years. In the 1920s the Albury FC  developed a bitter feud with the St Patricks club, also from Albury, which was fuelled by competition for players and had sectarian tensions at its core. 

 

Sectarian tensions between the Catholic-based St. Patricks and the largely Protestant Albury Football Club fractured the Albury community. Association secretary and Albury Football Club leader, Cleaver Bunton described the tensions as ‘civil war between the so-called supporters’ with boycotting of local businesses and assaults of rival supporters rampant. Bunton observed “a society torn apart by bigotry in its worst form.” (CE Bunton, A Memorable Life, 1988)

 

After Albury’s victory over St. Patricks in the 1928 Grand Final, Bunton met with the president of the rival club, Father Slattery, and the two men expressed a shared concern at the bigotry between the two clubs. They agreed that the remedy was to disband both clubs and reform on a residential basis. After successfully arguing the case with their respective committees the two clubs were disbanded in 1929 and reformed as two new Albury clubs based on geographical lines- East Albury and West Albury, with Olive Street as the line of demarcation. There was also strong pressure from the other O&M clubs to weaken the strength of the two Albury clubs and stop professionalism in the form of player payments. West Albury morphed back into the Albury Football Club in 1933 and East Albury merged with Weir United under the title Border United. Albury commenced wearing the Tigers yellow and black colours in 1934. In 1936, Albury and Border United amalgamated, taking on the name of the Albury FC.

 

Cleaver Bunton served the O&MFL for six decades as secretary and later as treasurer. He instituted the local football record, ‘The Critic’, whose publication he oversaw until his late eighties. He was the first football player-administrator-media personality inducted into the Ovens and Murray League Hall of Fame with the status as a ‘legend’. Some readers will recall him as a the controversially appointed Independent Senator for NSW in the politically tumultuous year of 1975.

(For a colourful description of Cleaver Bunton, read KB Hill’s On Reflection, ‘Mr Ovens and Murray…’, 5 August 2021) 

 

Albury have won 22 Ovens and Murray League premierships over the course of their history, with their most successful era being from 1995 to the present, when the Tigers have claimed ten flags. The club has enjoyed three sequences of three successive premierships in that time.

 

The Tigers can claim four current AFL players as their own – Will Setterfield (Essendon), Charlie Spargo (Melbourne), Patrick Parnell (Adelaide) and Jacob Koschitzke (Hawthorn).

 

Preview

 

The last time they met was on the King’s Birthday weekend. Albury snuck home by a solitary point after kicking 6.21 (57) to Lavington 8.8 (56) in a heart-stopper at the Albury Sports Ground. Lavington coach Adam Schneider (Osborne, Sydney Swans, St Kilda) has brought the club together and although they will miss the September action this season, are on the road back towards the heights they reached in their 2019 premiership season. Albury will be flat out to secure the minor premiership, needing a win over the Panthers and for Yarrawonga to slip up against Wodonga.

 

The match

 

The Tigers wore their clash jumper and that is exactly what they got – strong opposition again from the Panthers. After kicking five goals straight the Tigers temporarily lost their radar, but always had the answers as they warmed up for the finals. Lavington’s Luke Garland, playing his 250th O&M game, kicked three goals, while at the other end, Albury’s seasoned-star Jacob Conlan booted four. The evasive and fast ball movement skills of Riley Bice were on show. The midfielder kicked two goals and was the most damaging player for the Tigers. The Panthers stuck to the task all afternoon, closing to within 10 points of the Tigers in the last quarter, but could not pull off an upset win.  

 

Albury Tigers Brydan Hodgson marks inside 50 while Lavington’s Jesse Hart tries to spoil
(source: O&M football on YouTube)

 

Final score

 

Albury 11.11 (77) defeated Lavington 10.7 (67)

 

Goals – Albury: Jacob Conlan 4, Bice 2, Heiner-Hennessey 2, Garlett 2, O’Sullivan

Lavington: Garland 3, O’Brien 3, Aalbers 2, Driscoll, McKinlay

 

Best – Albury: Lucas Conlan, Riley Bice, Jake Gaynor, Connor O’Sullivan, Michael Duncan, Kolby Heiner-Hennessy

Lavington: Shaun Driscoll, Ewan Mackinlay, William Glanvill, Maclayn Hallows, Joe Hansen, Samuel Hopper

 

Around the grounds of the Ovens and Murray League

 

Yarrawonga 14.10 (94) defeated Wodonga 7.6 (48) and secured the minor premiership.

Wangaratta Rovers 15.8 (98) were too strong for North Albury 4.12 (36).

Wodonga Raiders 10.5 (65) powered home in the second half to defeat Myrtleford 6.12 (48) and with that handed the wooden spoon to the Saints.

Wangaratta – bye

 

O&M ladder at the end of the home and away fixtures

Yarrawonga

Albury

Wangaratta

Wangaratta Rovers

Wodonga

North Albury

Lavington

Wodonga Raiders

Myrtleford

 

Next week: Finals round 1

 

Qualifying Final: Albury v Wangaratta at WJ Findlay Oval Wangaratta on Saturday 2 September

Elimination Final: Wangaratta Rovers v Wodonga at Wangaratta Showgrounds on Sunday 3 September

 

Yarrawonga have the week off and will play the winner of the Qualifying Final in the Second Semi Final at Martin Park Wodonga on Saturday 9 September.

 

Next episode: to Sandy Creek in the Tallangatta and District League

 

 

All images by the author unless otherwise acknowledged.

 

 

Read all episodes of ‘Up The Mighty Murray’ and Peter Clark’s previous series Here.

 

 

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