A distant memory
The football season may be over but the arrival the other day of a faded sepia postcard was a reminder of a memorable day at a “bush” footy venue just on forty years ago. I wrote about it in one of my books “Shadows on the Green” sadly, a number of people named in the story are gone from this life.
The story is maybe a reflection of an era when good people were not burdened in so many ways as they are today.
A large crowd assembled at Narrandera, deep in the Riverina on that distant day the the above photograph was taken.
A well loved Irish priest Father Hartigan loved the Riverina District and its people.
And writing as “John O’Brien” and famous in folklore for his “Round the Boree Log” and other verses, he penned nostalgic lines, many of them hauntingly evocative, of the people and places of this area in earlier times.
During a long weekend in the eighties the ACK footballers and supporters travelled north into this friendly and hospitable region where across the generations periodic drought has not dimmed the spirit of its people.
The Assumption contingent made the trek north at the invitation of the local football committee to play a curtain raiser to a pre-season clash between Sydney Swans and North Melbourne.
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Far from the big cities and often hidden in the recesses of the minds of city politician and bureaucrat, the region and its inhabitants, like their rural counterparts throughout the nation, remain the true heart of our land.
Narrandera, a pretty town of some 6000 inhabitants -and a leafy green oasis after the long, rather dreary drive north from Jerilderie – hosted the country day game between the Sydney Swans and North Melbourne on the Sunday. The fans came from near and far to fill the superbly picturesque Narrandera Oval to capacity.
Nearly 9000 was the count, and they flocked in droves from the bigger regional centres of Leeton, Griffith, Wagga and Junee, and also the tiny whistle-stop “towns” such as Boree Creek, Grong Grong, Matong, Barellan and the like. Even a large contingeht turned up from distant Lake Cargellico and Ungarie – Daniher country.
In brilliant autumnal sunshine – fortunately the temperature had dropped from a scorching 39 degrees on the Friday to the pleasant mid-20s – the occasion took on a picnic atmosphere with hundreds of families picnicking on the grass verges inside the boundary fence.
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They came from near and far
A day at the football in the bush is invariably an important social occasion: a gathering of the clans as town and country folk mingle, acquaintances are renewed, food and drink is consumed, and for a few hours cares and worries are put aside.
The early game, an invitation one, was keenly contested by a Riverina district combine and an XVIII from my own college at Kilmore, and the action kept the big and enthusiastic crowd happy as they awaited the Swans vs North clash.
This was considerably delayed due to some dispute at Sydney Airport which for a while grounded the Swans. Not a murmur, though from the “ring” when the ground announcer informed us of the hold-up.
The game finally started but proved a little one-sided to the slight disappointment of the throng, the majority of whom it seemed were barracking for the Swans.
Rival coaches Tom Hafey and John Kennedy were strained and intent as the practice clash action unfolded.
A coach can rarely relax, such are the demands of the job, Hafey, though, did manage a smile or two near the end, and indeed he had some reason, for the Sydney side, bolstered by its summer purchases, gave signs that it would be much more competitive in 1986.
Healy (ex-Melbourne) and Neagle (Essendon) in particular provided real ballast.
Not much joy, however, for North’s John Kennedy – one of the great coaches, I believe, and he clearly headed for home deep in thought.
Chief focal point in the hordes of young, and not-so-young autograph hunters was not any particular player, but rather the doctor’s wife, Leanne Edelstein, who, for a period, distracted attention from the field of play.
It is impossible at a country football outing not to meet many people. Some I spoke to were old friends; others were newcomers, one or two of them in the “bush legend” category.
Like Dan Clarke, veteran newspaperman and sports buff, then over 70 with a lifetime of devoted service behind him. He’s still going strong though and he is so widely known and regarded that letters merely addressed to Dan Clarke, NSW, have reached him in home town Narrandera.
Bill Howitt, for years a dedicated teacher and sports coach – and tireless community worker, and wonderful person.
And Keith Savage, a diminutive character, full of heart from near Griffith. Apparently he was quite a cricketer in the area in the early post-war years and his 408 in a semi-final still stood then as an Australian record.
Gary O’Connell was a farmer from near Lockhart, a footballer of note in his earlier days and for a long time a driving force behind the Osborne Football Club.
Osborne is neither a town nor a hamlet, just a farming district with an oval and pavilion out in the “sticks.” But if teams like Osborne are allowed to wither and die, then part of our great winter game, and indeed part of our heritage, dies with them.
Charlie Guy, a sprightly octogenarian, greeted me like a long-lost son.
Charlie played for Assumption.in 1915, at the time, a staggering 71 years ago. It was marvellous to meet a man of clearly indomitable spirit from a distant era. He told me proudly that Fr John Begley SJ is his nephew.
Tony Keogh, a farmer from Currawama; Geoge Flagg, from the land near Bareilan; Des Angove from Lockhart; Bill and Nevill Mitchell, long-time locals; a namesake from Boree Creek; Bob Henry another legendary bush cricketer from tiny Kamarah; Mick Daniher – tireless worker in football’s cause from Wagga, the list could go on and on – all sincere and genuine people, all part and parcel of the Riverina scene.
Far from the madding crowds they and their families live and work with much concern for their fellow citizens. They are truly Christian in outlook and practice and to talk to them all made it a more memorable day at the football.
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Assumption across its 133 years history has been schooldays home for many illustrious students. On the playing fields of winter and summer such names as the following list announced themselves as stars of the future: Simon O’Donnell, Neale Daniher, Shane Crawford, Jon Henry, Keith Savage, Tony Armstrong to name just a few.
