Green shoots at Greenock as footy club bids to rise from ashes

For more than 60 years, Greenock’s picturesque oval has been dormant during the winter months. But that could all soon change if a campaign to revive the footy and netball club succeeds.

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It’s a sad but familiar story all along the bush telegraph.

Country towns gutted by population decline forced to consign their sporting identities — and in many cases beating heart — to history through club mergers or, even worse, termination.

But one Barossa community is keen to buck the trend and has launched a spirited campaign to use its past to bolster its future by reviving the footy team that last graced the picturesque oval more than 60 years ago.

Like most good ideas, the plan to kickstart the Greenock Football and Netball Club was hatched over a few post-match beers between cricketers from the hometown Schlungers earlier this year.

“We were sitting in the tavern here one day after cricket and a few of the boys were saying ‘wouldn’t it be good to get the Greenock football club back up and running’ and it just snowballed from there,” spokesman David Coombs, who also coaches the cricket team, said.

David Coombs, spokesman for the Greenock Football and Netball Club, with town legend Norton Schluter who played in the club’s last premiership in 1955 at Greenock Oval. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

“A lot of the lads who play cricket at Greenock, they’ve been playing here since they were under 10s and they are now all in their early 20s or late teens and they all play footy elsewhere. I coached Greenock cricket club this year and any where I’ve coached, I’ve always played footy there, so I was keen on the idea as well.

“The idea was to set up a football and netball club to play at Greenock Oval and bring winter sport back to the township.”

The group set up a Facebook page, and quickly found it had struck a chord, attracting more than 450 followers and 12 potential sponsors.

Last Tuesday night the committee put a constitution in motion and on Sunday will stage an interest day at Greenock Oval from 11am where they will provide an update on where the plan is at and canvas expressions of interest from senior and junior footballers and netballers as well coaches and volunteers.

“There’s a lot of people at the moment saying ‘we will come across’, but we actually need them to commit to make it happen,” Mr Coombs said.

Greenock Football Club, from about 1930. Norton Schulter's dad Gerald is in the back row third from left. The club folded in 1959. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

The club plans to adopt the green and gold of the cricket club, along with the nickname the Schlungers (legend says it has something to do with a player discovering a snake in his cricket pad). It will use Sunday’s turnout to help determine which competition it will pitch to play in, with Adelaide Plains earmarked as an early preference.

Adelaide Plains president Michael Vigor said the league wasn’t “close minded on these things” and would look at any formal application if it was presented.

“They’d have to convince us they’re a good match and meet all the requirements and have football and netball,” Mr Vigor said.

“There’s all sorts of competing interests as well — it would mean we go to nine teams which would mean we go back to a bye situation which has positives and negatives to it.

“They sound like they are doing all the right things but it really is premature to be discussing it. It would take our league some time to go through all the pros and cons.”

The 110 year-old league features teams including Balaklava, Mallala, Two Wells and Virginia and requires A, B, under 17, under 14, under 11 and under 8s football sides, along with five senior and four junior netball sides.

Barossa, Light and Gawler league president Mick Brien was frank about the chances — or lack there of — of a revived Greenock joining its competition.

“We’ve discussed it at board level and wouldn’t approve it,” Mr Brien said. “The nine clubs can overturn us, and I can’t speak for them, but those in the catchment area would be a definite no. Then it would have to go to the netball association as well.

“People don’t realise they’re in a catchment area of four of our clubs: Freeling, Kapunda, Nuriootpa and Tanunda. Three of those clubs are battling for underage kids and B Grade players and netballers. So with another club in there, what is going to happen to those clubs? Then there’s the issue of sponsors … the ground is not up to scratch, there’s no netball courts ready, and the facilities and change rooms are not there.”

The facilities at Greenock Oval. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

South Australian football historian Peter Lines said Greenock was caught in a football “no man’s land”, which probably contributed to it going into recess in 1959 after playing in a variety of leagues since its started in the original Barossa and Light Association in 1894, where it won a premiership in its first year.

Lines said the club was instrumental in the formation of the Barossa & Murray Valley association in 1947 with Sedan Cambrai, Swan Reach and Truro, again winning a flag in the first year.

The association stopped in 1949 before reopening for two more seasons in 1955 with Greenock winning both premierships. They had a brief spell in the Gawler & Districts A2 competition before disbanding.

“Why they disbanded could be attributed to their better players leaving to play for bigger clubs in the Barossa,” Mr Lines said. “A host of other reasons including travel distances and it would also appear that they did have trouble establishing themselves for any period of time.”

Ironically, Adelaide Plains is home to the most recent club to come back from the dead. Angle Vale disbanded in 1937 before reforming in 1998 in what is now the Adelaide Footy League before joining the Adelaide Plains league in 2016.

Bill Fuller, Trevor Spong and Scott Burgess after Angle Vale joined the Adelaide Plains Football League in 2016. picture: Bianca De Marchi

Mr Vigor said they had been a lot of concern from other clubs prior to Angle Vale’s entry and admitted there had been some early issues, but the club this year was once again fielding a full complement of netball teams.

Other clubs across the state that have experienced successful rebirths include Aldinga, Nuriootpa, Elliston and Nangwarry.

But the Greenock committee need look no further for inspiration than the Greenock Cricket Club, which itself revived in 1976/77.

Mr Coombs said they weren’t daunted by the enormity of the challenge ahead, with plans already in place to build a fourth cricket pitch to level a slope on the western side of the oval and to spruce up netball courts and facilities.

The SANFL’s community football arm, which will be in attendance on Sunday, has vowed to work with the committee on its next steps if the community groundswell is significant with a priority focus on the long-term sustainability of the club and those around it.

“There is a lot of interest, but there’s a lot of people also sitting on the bench at the moment,” Mr Coombs said.

“There’s a lot of doubters out there don’t reckon it’s going to happen, but there’s about 10 of us out there at the moment willing to give this a crack and see where it takes us.”

“At the moment, Greenock town is up and buzzing so if there is any time to do it, it is now.”