Mendooran Tigers roar back to life after a 40-year absence, reviving the town’s 275 residents in the process

Mendooran, the tiny town 350km west of Sydney, died when it lost its rugby league side 40 years ago. But thanks to one plucky publican, the Mendooran Tigers’ revival has the town’s population buzzing again.

From left: Mendooran Tigers players Sam Cook, Bailey Monk, Jacob Potbury, Nathan James, Tom Kenny and Jake Swan.

In an extraordinary revival, a country rugby league team has risen from the dead after a 40-year absence.

The Mendooran Tigers will this Saturday play their first game in Western NSW’s Castlereagh Rugby League competition since way back in 1986.

With a small but passionate town backing them, Mendooran’s footy side will roar back onto the footy field in an away game against the Binnaway Bombshells.

The club’s reincarnation after four decades has reinvigorated Mendooran, located 350km west of Sydney.

“We’ve brought the club back from the dead. It’s unreal. It’s great to bring some life back into the town. We have a great community behind us. Here we come,” Tigers vice president Bailey Monk said.

Mendooran captain Tom Kenny added: “The town is thriving at the moment with the hype through the footy. Even downtown, old ladies are pulling us up and asking where we are playing.”

While Mendooran has 400 residents around its surrounding areas, the 2021 census states there are 275 people living in the town. Around 200 of those locals will travel 47km to the game in Binnaway.

“Mendooran died when we lost our footy side,” said John Hunter, a Tigers old boy and 66-year Mendooran resident.

“But this footy side now has Mendooran buzzing again, the town is alive and kicking. Everyone is behind the team.”

Around 150 excited locals crammed into Mendooran’s Royal Hotel for the season launch last Friday night where officials revived the club’s black and gold coloured jersey. The club’s old boys from the 1980s will hand out the jerseys to current players this Friday night.

Mendooran last played in 1986, running fifth in the now defunct Group 14. The club collapsed when a number of players left the tiny town for work elsewhere.

The Royal Mendooran Hotel will host the jersey presentation this week. Picture: Supplied

Locals never attempted to rescue the team – until now.

“We just ran out of locals back then,” Hunter said.

The Tigers won three successive Group 14 premiership between 1983 and 1985, a time when rugby league gave Mendooran its swagger.

During that period, esteemed author and journalist Ian Heads made his way to Mendooran and ran a double page spread in Rugby League Week headlined: The Mouse That Roared. Heads’ story is still pinned up on walls around town. Locals equate the Tigers’ celebrated seasons during the 1980s with glory years in the town. It was a time when Mendooran was flourishing.

The town’s vibe has returned again, all thanks to rugby league.

Mendooran has 19 players for Saturday’s game with a total of 26 registered squad members.

And the club’s rejuvenation comes largely through the work of publican Scott Murray, who has leased the Royal Hotel, the only pub in town, for 10 years.

Murray, who arrived in Mendooran from Shellharbour 15 months ago, is Tigers coach and his pub is the major sponsor. Mendooran Bowling Club is also sponsoring.

The Rugby League Week clipping in the Royal Mendooran Hotel.

“This will take everyone back in time, when Mendooran was a really thriving town and we were winning premierships. We’re bringing something back from a time when the town was booming. It shows that the town still has legs and spirit,” Murray said.

“This is more than just footy. It gives you goosebumps. Country towns around Australia are probably fading away and we’re no different, with only a couple of shops open, so this has got everyone in town interested.

“Since this team became a reality, and it’s taken a long time to get here, it has become the main topic of conversation in the bar and in pretty much every shop in town, not that there’s many.

“Everywhere you go in town, people want to know who is in the starting team, what time do we play, are we taking a bus? We had a 40-year reunion (in April last year) from the town’s last grand final win and to see all the old blokes, hearing their yarns, I thought it was such a shame we didn’t have a footy team. On that night, I decided by hook or by crook, we would get a team running this year. Some doubted we could get it going but I knew that if we could get some momentum, it would take off. Some of our players haven’t played since junior footy, some have never played but we also have a couple of old heads.”

The Mendooran Tigers logo.

The Tigers’ team will comprise predominantly Mendooran residents and those that work on nearby farms.

“Scott has really made the town vibrant again. He had done the pub up and he now has a footy side going. He has really put the work in,” Hunter said.The Castlereagh Rugby League offers two grades with Mendooran to compete in a six-round reserve grade competition. Mendooran will use the Dunedoo Swans’ home ground while funds are being raised to improve Mendooran Showground.

Originally published as Mendooran Tigers roar back to life after a 40-year absence, reviving the town’s 275 residents in the process