Battered by floods, Lismore prepares for a local derby in the Northern Rivers rugby league Trophy final
Marist Brothers and Northern United face off in an all-Lismore Northern Rivers Trophy final on Sunday. But the fact that they are even playing at all feels like a win in itself after a year from hell.
Local Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A few months ago, Oakes Oval in Lismore was, much the rest of the town, completely underwater. In many of the photos taken of the town centre following the floods in February and March, all that was to be seen of the park was the upper tier of the grandstand.
But on Sunday the ground will be back doing what it does best: playing host to an all-Lismore derby, with Marist Brothers taking on Northern United in the Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League Trophy Final.
The game is, in essence, just a fancy seventh-placed playoff. Given the extensive flood damage, league authorities restructured the Northern Rivers’ senior competition, reducing it from 16 rounds to 13, with the top-six teams at the end of the regular season breaking off to compete for the Premiership and the bottom five fighting it out in the Trophy division.
In this revamped competition, Marist Brothers finished seventh and Northern United eighth.
And while both teams are disappointed not to be fighting it out for the big show, the fact that they are even playing at all seems like a win in itself.
“Our supporters have been very loyal, we’ve been very lucky with that,” said Marist Brothers co-captain Paul O’Neill.
“They get to go and watch footy on the weekend, so it does make you proud that you get to run out each week and represent Lismore.”
A YEAR OF HARDSHIP
To say that the year has been challenging for local sporting clubs would be an understatement.
For a large part of the season players were getting changed under a marquee at Oakes Oval because there were simply no dressing sheds.
Even now, half a year after the floods, there is still no running water, no electricity and clubs are forced to bring in generators and bag after bag of ice to run a makeshift canteen. But there is footy. Much like the rest of Lismore, there is a still a long way to go, but progress is being made.
To ease the burden on facilities, Northern United moved their homes games out to their training field, Clifford Park at nearby Goonellabah. Meanwhile the Rams doggedly fought to keep their games in town, desperate to give the locals something to cheer about.
“We obviously can’t produce the best home game facilities, but it was really important to us as a club and our players that we play at home in Lismore,” Marist Brothers secretary Julie Perren said.
“It was important for us that our supporters could come to a home game on a Sunday, walk down to the oval and come and watch something that was normal, because for many months nothing was normal – there were no shops, there were no facilities, no restaurants, no pubs, no nothing.”
Given the sheer scale of devastation, simply finding a place to train was a hard task, with Marist Brothers forced to share a small patch of grass in Goonellabah with the Lismore Rugby Union Club and two local soccer clubs.
“There are no footy fields marked out, so we just mark out our cones and share the field. Obviously it hasn’t been easy, but we’re just lucky that we’re actually able to do it,” says O’Neill.
While happy to be simply taking the field, both clubs have suffered significant financial strain as a result of the reduced canteen, bar and gate takings for the season, while the broader devastation has meant that there simply wasn’t anywhere near as much sponsorship money available.
“Our sponsors are our pubs and clubs and businesses in town. We can’t ask them for money this year – some of them are not coming back,” says Perren.
Although there has been a massive wave of support and assistance – from the NSWRL waiving insurance fees and providing grants for equipment and apparel, to a host of sporting clubs and community organisations donating anything from football boots, to mouth guards and scoreboards – the clubs say that in situations like this, the needs always outweigh the help on offer.
PLAYER NUMBERS AFFECTED
The impact has also been felt in terms of players. While overall rugby league participation rates in Northern NSW have remarkably increased slightly this year, both clubs saw player numbers take a hit.
Both the Rams and Dirawongs failed to field an under 18s team, with Northern United only just managing a reserve grade team by scraping together the remaining under 18s players and fringe first graders.
“We were affected big time,” Northern United president Djaan Jarrett said.
“There are some people in our club who weren’t even able to commit because they were homeless and had other priorities that they had to focus on in their lives: the loss of their homes, the loss of their belongings, the loss of jobs.”
The challenges experienced by United also mirrored those in broader society. Established in the early 2000s by the region’s Indigenous community, the club has seen first-hand how aboriginal people have been disproportionately affected by the floods.
“A lot of our players are well connected to Cabbage Tree Island through family, kinship and extended family,” says Jarrett. “It was completely destroyed. It was completely wiped off in terms of their homes – they’ve lost everything.
“Even now, they’re still homeless. They won’t be able to move back onto the island for another two to three years, so they’re looking at temporary accommodation for those families. And there are people in our club who actually live on the island but still play football for our club.”
Despite these challenges, Northern United, like all good community clubs, has provided a platform for people to get their lives back on track.
“The club in itself has been able to support our players. We’ve been able to refer people to different areas to be supported, whether that’s through work, housing, jobs, all of those sorts of things,” says Jarrett. “We’ve got a large network towards health services, towards job network places, so we’re very, very fortunate in that aspect.”
THE GAME
Turning towards the Trophy final, the Rams – who finished the season three points ahead of their cross-town rivals and knocked them over 36-8 in round one back in April – look set to go in as favourites.
“I think we are the underdogs,” says Jarrett. “Marist Brothers are always a strong team, they’re a well-drilled machine, they play 80 minutes of football.”
On the other side, Rams co-captain O’Neill was a little more cautious.
“I wouldn’t say (we’re favourites), we’ve struggled a bit this year. But we’re definitely going in confident,” he said.
“It’s always an enjoyable game. They’re always very difficult to play, they’ve got plenty of points in them.”
For the Dirawongs, halfback Evan Hickling, who has been a standout all year, is likely to be a danger man, while new recruits Theo Hippi (lock) and Eddie Walker Williams (fullback) have been strong throughout the season.
Meanwhile for the Rams, O’Neill says fullback Hezakiah McKenzie is one to watch.
“He’s been sensational all year,” he said. “We’ve also got some really good forwards. Lochie Perren, our front-rower, has been leading the charge all year and playing big minutes, because we’ve been down on a few troops here and there.”
And while both teams will be gunning for local bragging rights, after the year the people of Lismore have just had, the fact that they are even playing is special.
“There’s always a rivalry between local derbies, but we do get along very well, we work very well with each other as two local teams,” says Rams secretary Perren.
“We’re hoping for a good crowd and Lismore will get around both clubs, as it does. Northern have been through similar things to us where they’ve lost everything. We know they’ve been through and they know what we’ve been through.”
Jarrett, Northern United’s president, agrees: “I think the boys will go out and enjoy themselves. That’s been our message for the past couple of weeks: go out, enjoy yourselves, finish on a positive and focus on coming back bigger and stronger next year. And I think that goes for all of us, to be honest.”
NRRRL Trophy final teams, times
Marist Brothers Rams v Northern United Dirawongs at Oakes Oval, Lismore, on Sunday at 2:50pm
Marist Brothers: 1. Hezakiah McKenzie 2. O’Shea Hannaway 3. Mitchell Krause 4. Fred Pitt 5. Harry Cusack 6. Paul O’Neill 7. Jacob Follent 8. Lochie Perren 9. Jamahl Roberts 10. Aiden Kennedy 11. Nick Morissey 12. Lennon Bartlett 13. Henry Lee 14. Jake Petty 15. Nathan Stewart 16. John Paden 17. TBC
Northern United: 1. Eddie Walker Williams 2. Nick Benn 3. Timothy Torrens 4. Clarence Kelly 5. Malaki Ferguson 6. Jerome Green 7. Evan Hickling (c) 8. James Smith 9. Brett Kelly 10. Christopher Cubby 11. Jerrod See 12. Raymond Buchanan 13. Theo Hippi 14. Allan Mckenzie 15. Godfrey Swan 16. Alwyn Roberts 17. Jirra Breckenridge
Aussie quartet make sailing history with win in women’s America’s Cup
For the first time in 174 years Australian women have set sail in an America’s Cup. How the quartet on Andoo Australia are faring as the Pool B Racing begins.
Future Olympians! Try-fectas, close calls in Next Gen 7s battles
There were blowouts, close calls, a hot boot and multiple try-fectas in the opening round of the Next Gen Sevens rugby series in Sydney. Stars, great photos and Rd 1 result wrap.