Up the Mighty Murray! – Wrap Up

 

 

Wrap Up

 

The places we visited

 

Introduction

 

Across the course of 22 episodes of Up the Mighty Murray! we have traced the Murray River from its mouth in South Australia to near its source in the Australian Alps. We have gone against the flow, as many an old paddle steamer would on a river trip from Goolwa to Swan Hill, Echuca and beyond. Along the way we have encountered 16 country football leagues, each with at least one club having a foothold on the Murray’s banks. We have met traditional owners, explorers, bushrangers, drovers, pioneers, river boat captains, irrigation developers, soldier settlers, weir construction workers, federationists, migrants, environmentalists and ordinary Australians who live, work and play along the Murray. Listening to their stories, we have enjoyed an insight into people’s experiences of the ‘Old Man Murray’. 

 

In the final episode we will revisit some of my favourite  sojourns and waypoints of our Murray River journey and recap on the health of country football all the way from the Great Southern League at the river’s mouth to the Upper Murray League 2500 km away. To get back into the flow, I invite you to listen to two songs; the first inspired by the South Australian River Murray and the second by the high country of its upper reaches.

 

Murray River I Hear You Calling written and performed by Greg Tape

 

 

 

Days of Old Khancoban written by Trevor Knight and recorded by Lee Kernaghan and Smoky Dawson

 

 

 

We have seen how the rhythm of life in the Murray Darling Basin is affected by the ebbs and flows of the rivers as the sequence of floods and droughts roll on. The 2022-23 floods are still affecting people in the Lower Murray (SA) as levee banks continue to break, reminding us of a vexed problem for riverine communities: coping with too little, and then suddenly, too much water.

 

The abundant evidence of how people have changed the river system to conserve water for agriculture and urban use, to mitigate the effects of flooding and to facilitate river transport has been documented. Today we see water being conserved and delivered for environmental flows, designed to protect the health of the river’s ecosystems. I have not set out to make judgements about the past and present management of the Murray-Darling system. However, the mistakes, the successes and the challenges do stand out for all to see.

 

Moments of our Murray journey

 

Allow me to indulge in ten of my favourite moments on the journey.

 

 

Above. At Goolwa wharf where the paddle steamer ‘race’ up the Murray to Swan Hill in 1853 ushered in the riverboat era and where our river journey commenced.

 

Below. Crossing the River Murray near its entry to Lake Alexandrina on the Wellington Ferry.

 

 

 

Above. In the SA Murray-Mallee at the home of the Mallee Storm on the annual Karoonda Farm and Fair Day.

 

 

 

Above. Beside Lake Cullulleraine, a welcome oasis in the Victorian Mallee on the long stretch between Renmark and Mildura.

 

Below. No footy on that day, but the Lake Cullullerine Ovals were ready for the next game featuring home clubs Werrimul and Meringur in the Millewa League.

 

 

 

Above. Back at my late 1970s teaching post, beside the Murray River at Tooleybuc. It marks the halfway point on the Murray River journey.

 

 

 

Above. Postcard from a quiet Riverina country town – Mathoura, set beside the river red gum forests of Barmah-Millewa.

 

Below. A lunch stop at Australia’s “paddle steamer capital” – the historic port of Echuca on the Murray.

 

 

 

 

Above. The Mighty Murray looking west below Hume Dam – where the waters are “bound for South Australia”.

 

Below. At the “MCG of the Bush” with the boundary riders at Sandy Creek in the Tallangatta League during the finals.

 

 

 

Above. The journey’s end in sight on the Great River Road in the Upper Murray near Tintaldra.

 

 

The 2023 Football Premiers

 

Along the Murray it was the year of the:

 

Swallows … Eagles … Saints … Blues 

Bombers … Murray Bombers … Lions … Swans 

Magpies … Bluds … Tigers … Mighty Mounts 

Pigeons … Lions … Roos … Blues

 

One of the jubilant teams: Yarrawonga celebrate their 2023 premiership
(source: Yarrawonga FNC on Facebook)

 

 

Back-to-back flag winners

 

Irymple ‘Swallows’ (Sunraysia FNL) – Irymple 8.14 (62) d. Robinvale-Euston 4.9 (33)

McLaren Districts ‘Eagles’ (Great Southern FNL) – McLaren Districts 12.12 (84) d. Willunga 8.9 (57)

Bambill ‘Saints’ (Millewa FNL) – Bambill 12.12 (84) d. Gol Gol 11.5 (71)

Kerang ‘Blues’ (Central Murray FNL) – Kerang 11.10 (76) d. Balranald 9.12 (66)

Waaia ‘Bombers’ (Picola & District FNL) – Waaia 12.11 (83) d. Strathmerton 6.7 (43)

Echuca ‘Murray Bombers’ (Goulburn Valley FNL) – Echuca 15.13 (103) d. Kyabram 9.13 (67)

Mulwala ‘Lions’ (Murray FL) – Mulwala 14.14 (98) d. Congupna 9.11 (65)

Chiltern ‘Swans’ (Tallangatta & District FNL) – Chiltern 10.9 (69) d. Kiewa-Sandy Creek 9.12 (66)

 

2022 runners-up to 2023 premiers

 

Sedan-Cambrai ‘Magpies’ (Riverland Independent FL/Murray Valley FNL) –

Sedan-Cambrai 13.13 (91) d. Browns Well 8.5 (53)

Jervois ‘Bluds’ (River Murray FL) – Jervois 10.13 (73) d. Mypolonga 8.16 (64)

Osborne ‘Tigers’ (Hume FNL) – Osborne 15.16 (106) d. Holbrook 8.8 (56)

Mount Pleasant ‘Mighty Mounts’ (Heathcote & District FNL) –

Mount Pleasant 12.7 (79) d. Heathcote 9.6 (60)

Yarrawonga ‘Pigeons’ (Ovens & Murray FNL) – Yarrawonga 11.10 (76) d. Albury 10.12 (72)

 

First-time-for-a-long-while winner (more than 20 years)

 

Hay ‘Lions’ (Golden Rivers FNL) 1995 – Hay 11.15 (81) d. Ultima 6.16 (52)

 

The other premiers

 

Barmera-Monash ‘Roos’ (Riverland FL) 2012 – Barmera Monash 5.5 (35) d. Renmark 3.8 (26)

Cudgewa ‘Blues’ (Upper Murray FNL) 2015 – Cudgewa 22.14 (146) d. Bullioh 8.4 (52)

 

 

Apart from acknowledging the 2023 premiers, it is time to return to a theme concerning the health of country football raised in the Prologue to the series … “ the battle of pragmatism versus emotion for the stakeholders.”  The quandary – to pause, adapt and survive or to fold? – is not a new dilemma for clubs in bush footy, but seems to have a heightened relevance today. Let’s look at an example which illustrates the challenges some clubs face.

 

 

Can the Cobdogla Eagles soar over the Riverland skies again or is it curtains for ‘Cobby’? 

 

In episode 5 we met the Cobdogla Football Club from the former Riverland Independent League (now known as the Murray Valley Football Netball League). Cobdogla is a small irrigation settlement, specialising in grape growing, located on the River Murray between Kingston-on-Murray and Berri. The recent history of the town’s footy club is a common country football story of struggle for survival amidst demographic, economic and social change. At the end of the 2021 season, the Cobdogla Eagles club announced it would not participate in the 2022 season. The 102-year-old club broke a losing streak of over 1000 days during the 2021 season and went on to play in the finals for the first time for nine years. Despite their promising on-field performance, the club’s decision to go into recess was due to a lack of volunteers. 

 

 A new dawn for community football in the Riverland (SA) … but without Cobdogla

Wunkar Recreation Park on MVFNL Grand Final day 2023

(source: Murray Valley FNL on Facebook)

 

Update – September 2023

 

The prospects of the Cobdogla Eagles’ returning to competition look bleak. When the club went into recess at the end of 2021 it was hoped that the break from competition would be for only 12 months. While a committee was formed in late 2022, entry to the newly formed Murray Valley Football Netball League was not possible due to several factors. A condition of entry was that the Eagles field both A and B grade netball teams. Despite having had netball teams intermittently in the past, the requirement was a hurdle Cobdogla could not jump. It also did not have a coach and player numbers had already started to dwindle. Most players were already living outside of the area. Understandably, players on the club’s list found new opportunities – retirement for many of the older players and a place at other clubs in the district for the younger players. Once gone and happily settled elsewhere, it is very hard to draw players back, especially with uncertainty of what can be promised. As well as losing players during recess, Cobdogla have lost more of their volunteers, including training staff, who have taken up positions at other clubs.

 

The geography and demographics of the area have worked against clubs from the small communities, such as ‘Cobby’. Three other local clubs have folded in recent years – Lyrup (2021), Moorook-Kingston (2016) and East Murray (2014). So, there is not a wealth of potential merger partners near Cobdogla. Meanwhile, like elsewhere in country football, clubs from the bigger towns have prospered at the expense of the small settlements. Naturally, acceptance of the insurmountable odds against survival will be followed by sadness for a club with a history of over 100 years of football.

 

The situation facing Cobdogla is one familiar to clubs at the other end of the Murray, including Border-Walwa, Federal and Corowa-Rutherglen. In the case of Border-Walwa, who went into recess in 2020, the decision was largely a response to dwindling player numbers, but also to the impact of the 2019-2020 bushfires. The Corryong-based Federal FC decided at the start of 2023 to stand out of the Upper Murray competition due to a lack of senior grade players. For struggling Corowa-Rutherglen, damage to clubroom facilities during the 2022 floods forced the club’s hand and the decision was made to pause and hopefully reset.

 

A big question hangs over the heads of those four country footy clubs (and no doubt others one day soon). Can a period in recess help or hinder them in their quest for survival? The danger of losing continuity, and with that player, volunteer and supporter numbers, is a peril for footy clubs who go into recess. 

 

 

The future of country football

 

Some observers are very pessimistic about the future of country football. They point to the dominance of clubs from the bigger towns and the demise of smaller clubs in the same leagues as evidence for their concern. Heavily one-sided games, dwindling crowds in places and the struggle to maintain junior numbers are real problems. While acknowledging the imbalance and the impacts, I would argue that we must understand the trends in an historical context. Country footy has always and will continue to evolve. Clubs will come and go, there will be more mergers between neighbouring towns, leagues will be reshaped, some grades will collapse, while occasionally whole competitions will fold. We have witnessed those types of changes before – along the Murray, out in the Riverina, in the rural coastal leagues … in fact, wherever the game is played in the ‘bush’.

 

Leagues and their AFL administrative bodies have a vital role to play in strengthening country football in the face of demographic, social and economic change. Equalisation measures such as the player points system, player payment caps, junior development programs, financial assistance and other initiatives to support at-risk clubs are examples of how country football is being managed and nurtured. However, questions of whether sufficient is being done and enough is given back to the clubs are inevitably raised when you hear stories of struggling clubs and learn of the response of one league, the Picola and District League, in de-affiliating from AFL Victoria.

 

The continuity in country footy, the important place of clubs in their communities and the inherent capacity for adaptation must also be recognised and appreciated. Some examples stand out like veritable goal posts: the strengthening football-netball connection at many clubs; the improvement in facilities for spectators and players initiated and driven by clubs themselves; the strong traditions that continue to bind clubs and their communities evidenced by the rallying during the tough times along the Murray in the 2022-23 floods. 

 

 

Special thanks

 

Many people along the Murray have generously shared information and stories about their football clubs, helping to bring this series to life. Special thanks to: Peter Morton (Balranald), Colin Arnold (Cobdogla), Adam McNicol (Manangatang), Terry Morton (Murrabit), Gary Duggan and Melyssa Banks (Mathoura).

 

Thank you readers for accompanying me on the journey.

 

Up the Mighty Murray!!

 

 

All photos by the author unless otherwise acknowledged.

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

Do you enjoy the Almanac concept?
And want to ensure it continues in its current form, and better? To help keep things ticking over please consider making your own contribution.

Become an Almanac (annual) member – CLICK HERE