Jessica Adamson: Protecting and growing grassroots footy must be a priority for the AFL
These clubs have survived depressions, recessions and wars, but not the AFL’s focus on the big-money competitions, writes Jessica Adamson.
Opinion
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Two footy stories hit the headlines within hours of each other last week.
One was Premier Peter Malinauskas’s proposal to host an entire round of AFL in the city next year – a nine-game carnival similar to the NRL’s “Magic Round”.
The other was the collapse of the mighty Mallee Football League.
The league’s historically been a healthy six-club competition spanning hundreds of kilometres from Tintinara in the South East to Murrayville in Victoria.
But it’s on its knees. Like many other country sporting leagues, a shortage of volunteers and declining junior numbers are among the challenges it faces.
Border Downs Tintinara is moving to the River Murray competition. Karoonda and Peake are amalgamating and doing the same. And Murrayville has applied to join the Murray Valley league, which incidentally doesn’t have a junior competition.
For many it will mean driving even longer distances for training and games – in some cases a four-hour round trip. It’s expensive, exhausting and not all families can make it work.
So, with Lameroo and Pinnaroo left out on their own, the Mallee league looks set to fold. It’s a distressing and emotional time for them. There’ve been rumours of this happening for years but when it happened, it happened quickly.
The region’s produced some big names across the years including Olympic basketballer Rachael Sporn and Crows defender Rodney “Rocket” Maynard – a man so dedicated to his club he played in Adelaide’s first trial game on the eve of his wedding.
Pinnaroo’s Tom Keough went on to captain West Adelaide and Peake’s Abbie Ballard is a Crows AFLW rising star.
These clubs have survived depressions, recessions and wars.
When Covid-19 hit, cross-border restrictions made it impossible to train and play together so the 2020 season was cancelled. Many juniors went to the River Murray and they simply haven’t returned.
Now they’re facing the sad reality that some of their own may never play country sport again.
Imagine having to tell your child there’s no one left to play against in their district.
Those who’ve switched leagues will be playing in towns they have little or no connection with. It won’t be the family day out they’re used to but at least they’re getting a kick and a catch.
As a kid that grew up in a country town, sport was at the heart of everything we did. It was a weekly call to arms that brought the whole community together – the one day farmers got off their tractors and went to town.
My sisters and I played netball, my brother played footy and for a while there, my dad coached the junior colts. Every Saturday morning we piled into the station wagon and headed off to whatever country town we were taking on that day.
A hot pasty, a cold drink, men at the bar, women on the canteen, some sheltering from the cold in cars that lined the oval – and a happy chorus of horns tooting for a goal.
Sometimes we’d be lucky enough to be whisked into the change rooms after a footy win – a heady haze of back slapping, beer and Deep Heat.
Country sport is the lifeblood of our regional communities.
It’s so much more than a football or a netball game – it’s one of the few social outings these days where country people get together and talk.
For some, who work alone on a property, it’s the only conversation they’ve had all week. They share their struggles and worries, their successes and triumphs. They have a sense of belonging at the club, they feel connected and engaged.
The club is where friendships are made and life events are marked. It’s the most dominant institution in most country towns, perhaps even more so than the church.
Without a league, they no longer have an excuse to regularly come together in their community. In a time of increasing mental-health issues, drug use and suicide in our regions, that’s a disaster.
For businesses like the butcher, bakery and pub, it’s devastating.
But the saddest part of this whole story for me is the older generation – the life members and club stalwarts who live for the weekly game.
They won’t be driving to Murray Bridge or Loxton as part of a new league. They’ll stay home, and the silence will be deafening. For many it’s their identity, and that’s about to be lost.
Protecting and growing grassroots footy must be a priority for the AFL.
Last month, just days before it announced a new $4.5bn TV rights deal, the AFL revealed that “not less than 10 per cent” of its assessable football revenue will go towards community footy, starting with a $17m investment next year.
That money can’t come soon enough. And let’s hope we see some of it in South Australia.
Tens of thousands of volunteers, coaches, umpires, first aiders, runners, club presidents, secretaries, treasurers and administrators power the competition week in and week out.
But after all the challenges of the last few years, those volunteers are tired. Many who’ve given up their time have now simply given up.
If the AFL can throw a Magic Round to celebrate footy in the city, surely it can find more to help our country leagues with volunteers, infrastructure and administration.
We’ve seen how successful it’s been in taking games and community camps to the country – it’s a massive windfall for the club and a huge morale boost.
If it can take the game overseas, it can surely lend more of a hand to the likes of Karoonda, Peake and Lameroo.
We can’t change declining rural populations, but we can change the way these clubs operate. We can incentivise volunteers and get the wheel turning again.
When Mike Brady sang about country footy he was spot on.
“There’s nothing like the local game to let your spirit flow, we’re the engine room of Aussie rules it’s the reason that we go.”
The SANFL and AFL have reaped the benefits of footballers learning their craft in country towns for decades.
But the engine room is struggling more than ever, and if something isn’t done soon they might find that rich supply of regional footy stars has suddenly dried up.
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