The Corowa-Rutherglen Football Club may go “into recess” for 2023, shocking fans

The Corowa community is reeling at the likely decision the Corowa-Rutherglen Football Club will take “a recess” in 2023. Find out why.

An historic regional Victorian footy club where many AFL players began their careers is teetering on the brink of collapse as it struggles to recover from flood damage and disastrous player losses ahead of the looming 2023 season.

The Corowa-Rutherglen Football Netball Club, which is considered one of the best country leagues in Australia, on Monday night informed its remaining players that it was struggling to recover from setbacks including an off-season in which it lost 30 players.

The club has a 100-year history, with Sydney Swans premiership coach and North Melbourne premiership player John Longmire beginning his career there, while former Carlton coach David Teague played in the winning 2000 premiership team.

Club president Graham Hosier said the club was entering a period of “unprecedented uncertainty” and would reassess the future as it continued to tackle extensive damage caused by flooding last year.

The flood damage means the clubrooms and facilities remain “untenable” with plans to rebuild pushed back, meaning the infrastructure may not be ready for the upcoming football season.

Player losses mean the senior football team was “increasingly unlikely” to field teams this year, he added.

“Player losses to this extent have never been experienced in our history,” Mr Hosier said. “We are hurting, and the community are hurting as a result.”

“In times like this we have to face a very real reality that if things don‘t come together quickly, we will need to make tough decisions.”

One option – which will be discussed with members and sponsors on Thursday – is for the club to go “into recess” for a year to reset for 2024.

The club said it intended “to work through all situations and decide its future in the coming weeks”.

Mayor Patrick Bourke said the likely decision to withdraw from the league this year was disappointing and would “leave a hole in the community”.

“Football is one of the fabrics to the community — it’s a social outing for many families, to go on and watch football,” he said.

He said council would support the club to regain its feet.

“The football grounds have been damaged in the floods, and the council is calling on insurance,” he said.

“We’ll do whatever in our power to support it.”

Local fans also expressed their disappointment as they come to terms with the likely decision that they won’t see their club play in the Ovens & Murray Football Netball League this year.

Local resident and long-term club fan Ray said it was “not easy to accept”.

“A lot of us are disappointed because the team has a big following,” he said. “Clubs go through ups and downs. The club is going through a bit of a down right now and they aren’t able to get themselves out of it,” he said.

Another footy fan Wayne Lansdowne said he was stunned “things got to that situation”.

“I know they were finding it very difficult to get a coach and players, and then the floods came along,” he said.

“The player shortage is a real issue because they could have gotten temporary change rooms and all that sort of stuff that could have easily been catered for.”

Another fan, Linda, said the decision was unfortunate and would cause ripples through the whole town.

“Around Easter we would have over 3000 people attend the game. A lot of tourists would come in and stay at the caravan park and to watch football,” she said.

“It’s going to affect the whole town, not just the footy club, in terms of tourism and economy.”