Former country footy powerhouse Nangwarry Saints are rising up again
Dynasties will be forged into footy folklore. Others will crumble. But for many of SA’s battling country footy clubs, success will be simply fielding a team each week. With a losing streak stretching back to 2014, the Nangwarry Saints are no strangers to adversity.
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Dynasties will be forged into footy folklore. Others will crumble.
But for many of South Australia’s battling country footy clubs, success will be simply fielding a team each week.
The 2019 footy season is upon us and generations-deep rivalries have ignited for yet another winter.
It’s no secret country life can be a tough slog — and the 161 clubs dotted across the vast state are a mirror to that struggle.
Tyranny of distance, dwindling numbers and increasing costs are a burden shouldered by most clubs, and the Mid South East Football League is no different.
Nangwarry, a timber town straddling the Riddoch Hwy 30km from Mount Gambier, was the MidSE powerhouse in the 1990s.
But that was a long time ago.
No club in SA — and probably the nation — has been cruelled by adversity like the Nangwarry Saints.
A losing streak of 65 games stretching back to 2014, defeats by margins that would be a flogging in Test cricket and the closure of Nangwarry’s lifeblood timber mill could have consigned the Saints to oblivion.
Then the clubrooms were burned to the ground in a senseless arson attack in early January.
The disastrous on field results suddenly found a new perspective for the Saints faithful. Their humble but vital clubrooms and irreplaceable history was reduced to a charred pile of ashes and debris.
It’s about 200 years since English philosopher and author William Hazlitt wrote that “prosperity is a great teacher; adversity a greater.”
Hazlitt’s words could describe the past three months in Nangwarry, where the reeling community has been buoyed by a remarkable wave of support from across the region.
Fierce rivalries were cast aside when 94 players from each MidSE club converged on Nangwarry Oval for a poignant display of unity, under the guise of a pre-season training run.
Nangwarry club president Shane Ploenges says that day fortified his belief that his Saints would rise from the ashes.
“Every club in the league had a few numbers out there to train with us. That wouldn’t happen in many leagues,” he says.
All that remains of the clubroom is the concrete slab of the verandah and doorway.
Boosted by a $200,000 Federal Government grant brokered by local Liberal MP Tony Pasin, the club will be carefully planned after initial forlorn hopes of rebuilding for the 2019 season.
“Realistically it was never going to be ready for this season,” Ploenges says, “we just need to make sure now that we do it properly.”
The nearby swimming pool hall and community clubs will act as temporary clubrooms this year, and strong numbers and a new ruckman won’t restore the Saints to on field glory.
“(Rival club) Kongorong had an auction night and sold half a dozen items, and Bill Burley from Blue Lake Golf Links has been fantastic in organising sportsmen’s nights and a Celebrity Golf Day on April 12.”
Burley never played for Nangwarry, or even in the MidSE.
But the former South Gambier reserves forward is one of those blokes who knows how vital the bonds of sport are to rural towns.
“It’s not just the footy and netball clubs, it’s a community meeting place,” Burley says.
“Imagine it. We’ve all been in sporting clubs and to have that taken away, especially after all Nangwarry has been through would be devastating.”
While Burley humbly downplays his influence, those in Nangwarry are in awe of his commitment.
Burley drafted an impressive batch of former AFL stars including VFL/AFL Saints legend Danny Frawley, Brownlow Medalist Dane Swan, Billy Brownless and Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall to host fundraisers during summer.
Frawley and Dunstall will return next Friday, for a Celebrity Golf Day at the Blue Lake Golf Links which Burley has managed for years.
Among the sporting luminaries set to tee off are former Aussie cricketer Greg Ritchie, golfer Gary Simpson, livewire triple AFL premiership forward Jason Akermanis and retired St Kilda and Essendon player Brendan Goddard, who plays off a handicap of two.
The charity day will further bolster the kitty towards Burley’s initial target of $20,000.
But the emotional, even spiritual impact of the flood of goodwill is priceless.
Now a prominent commentator and Fox Footy stalwart, Danny Frawley is regarded as one of the greatest Saints in Aussie rules history, and didn’t think twice when he heard of the Nangwarry Saints’ plight.
Frawley knows only too well the pain of being the league whipping boy. valiantly manning full back during St Kilda’s darkest period in the 1980s.
“Spud” persisted in the Moorabbin mud as the VFL Saints eked out just five wins in two seasons and several brushes with extinction.
His loyalty and tenacity — and a bloke called Tony Lockett up the other end of the oval — helped transform St Kilda from the league joke to finals before his 240-game career ended.
Frawley says St Kilda and Nangwarry have more in common than their club song and mascot.
“The AFL Saints are going through some tough times at the moment but not as tough as Nangwarry,” he says.
“Obviously their clubrooms getting burned down for one. And two, they haven’t won a game for five years.”
Frawley is glowing in his praise for Bill Burley, who he describes as the “driving force of this whole thing”.
“So hopefully this really turns it around for Nangwarry. Dunstall and I are only too happy to come over and help out wherever we can.”
Born and raised in the country near Ballarat, Frawley says footy transcends onfield glory and defeat.
“That’s the thing about local communities, when things go wrong that is when you find the best in people,” he says.
Like most country clubs, Nangwarry has been kept afloat by families including the Virtanens, Dinnisons and the Ploenges family.
Tyson Ploenges will tee off alongside the parade of sporting heroes at Friday’s golf day, while 15-year old Joel Virtanen has already racked up 24 senior games before he can get his Learner plates.
Joel is part of Glenelg’s under-16 junior SANFL squad and topped Nangwarry’s 2018 goalkicking tally with six for the season.
Kevin Dinnison, who runs the tiny local store that acts as the town’s butcher, baker and post office, played for the Saints and has held most committee positions including president secretary and treasurer.
Kevin says the upswell of help has helped allay the unease that whoever torched the club hasn’t been caught - yet.
“The most positive thing about this has been the tremendous amount of support from the people of Mt Gambier,” he says.
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