Country footy’s biggest controversies and talking points since 2000
Country footy has had its fair share of controversies and headline grabbing moments since 2000. See the big ones still talked about.
Covid, salary cap busts, player points indiscretions, superstar recruits and betting plunges.
Since 2000, country football has created its fair share of headlines.
The Weekly Times lists the biggest talking points of the last 25 years.
COVID CHAOS
The only times Victorian country footy had previously been forced into hiatus and no flags won or lost was two world wars.
But in early 2020, after some parts of the state had just dealt with major bushfires, a global pandemic put the game on hold.
Previously unheard of terms such as social distancing, contact tracing, PPE equipment and wearing face masks became our new world for almost two years.
The AFL went ahead when teams took refuge in Queensland and Western Australia, but country footy wasn’t so lucky.
The 2020 country footy season was a total wipe-out and 2021 started before being called off, and again no premierships won for the second year in a row.
THE POINT OF IT ALL
A rise in leagues becoming battles between the “haves and have nots” forced those in charge to finally act and bring in two major equalisation measures in 2017.
Debate rages on the effectiveness of the salary cap and player points system in curbing player payments, but they’re here to stay.
Wangaratta paid the ultimate price for a salary cap breach when it had the Ovens & Murray 2022 flag stripped by the league.
Omeo & District club Swan Reach felt the full force of a player points indiscretion in 2023 when it lost all points earned from eight wins and went from top to bottom of the ladder and missed finals.
VALE VCFL
After being custodians of the grassroots game for almost a century, the Victorian Country Football League met its demise in 2016.
Rules of the game, league structures, interleague competitions and, in latter years, funding for upgrades at country grounds, were all the remit of the VCFL until the AFL assumed total control.
The last VCFL president was Echuca lawyer, Nicholas Rolfe, who served 13 years in the job.
REPORT GOES AWRY
In 2011, the AFL engaged former Essendon chief executive Peter Jackson to conduct a review of country football, concluding that Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat were doing the heavy lifting in the game’s growth, VCFL area managers were stretched to the point of being ineffective and volunteers were worn out.
He recommended independent commissions and regional administration hubs be set up.
But a decade or so down the track, many of the commissions and admin hubs have been disbanded with the majority of leagues back in charge of their own affairs.
HOLDING THE LINE
As part of the Jackson Report, AFL Victoria had hoped all leagues would be part of their region’s administration hub, and push came to shove in early 2018 on the move.
Geelong and District was among multiple leagues which had resisted joining their regional hub and president Neville Whitley instigated a meeting at Bungaree to fight the move.
AFL Victoria agreed to a compromise of not making it compulsory for leagues to join the hubs in a decision Whitley later described as “commonsense”.
YARRAWONGA’S FEVOLUTION
In 2011, Yarrawonga had just suffered its third successive grand final loss to O&M powerhouse Albury when it took one of its biggest punts on Brendan Fevola, whose AFL career had unceremoniously ended 12 months earlier.
Fevola signed for Yarrawonga in 2012 and played a massive part in the club winning back-to-back flags.
In addition to booting bags of goals, “Fev” drew some of the biggest crowds to watch O&M matches in decades.
He kicked more than 360 goals including nine in his last game for Yarrawonga in round 1, 2016.
HITTING THE JACKPOT
Ellinbank District league club Nilma-Darnum won way more than the flag with its drought-breaking grand final win in 2009.
The premiership was its first in 50 years, but there was an added financial windfall of $100,000 from a string of bets laid by club president Andrew Patterson.
One bet that paid off in spades was 34/1 offered by a Darwin bookmaker before the season started.
Former AFL player Mal Michael was then recruited to the club along with a host of other players from around Gippsland.
Nilma Darnum dropped only one match on its way to the flag.
THE DOMINATORS
Horsham Demons stand out as the team with the biggest run of sustained success in the last 25 years.
They won 10 Wimmera league flags in a row between 2003 and 2012 and 13 in total to 2018.
Stuart Farr played in the first three Demons’ flags as assistant coach before taking over the top job and leading the club to the next seven.
A serious knee injury late in the 2012 season denied him the chance to play in all 10 on the trot.
Current Sydney player Jake Lloyd played in four of the flags.
Other clubs to crack double-digit premiership tallies since 2000 were Koroit, Kerang and Nathalia.
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