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The first half went swimmingly, with rain bucketing down during the second quarter especially. Spectators shivered in sight of snow-capped mountains, but players from both teams kept their eyes on the ball and played good solid footy.

The third quarter featured a sickening incident when Bruthen veteran Lachlan Forbes was crunched in the lower back during a marking contest. The ambulance that was on hand (there must be an ambulance at Victorian country footy finals) took him to Bairnsdale, where he spent the night. The next day, he was flown to Melbourne, where he remains under observation with a ruptured kidney and bruised liver.

The game, however, continued to be played in good spirit. The rain stopped and the crowd soaked up a tight contest. Then everything went skew-whiff.

It began around the time that Bruthen key forward Marc Latham (nickname Conga?) took a mark early in the last quarter and was put in a headlock, prompting a 50-metre penalty. His goal increased Bruthen's slender lead.

Omeo-Benambra forward Jason Collier was sent off for abusive language and Ryan Gould, who was best-on-ground, was sent off after striking his tagger, Will Guarnaccia. Both players spent 15 minutes off the ground.

After returning to the field, both players were sent off again, for abusive language. The umpires later reported that they felt threatened and intimidated as Collier gave a bit of lip, as well as the bird, as he left the field.

In the final passage of play, Bruthen midfielder Danny Murphy received two 50-metre penalties that took him to his team's goal line. His goal put Bruthen eight points ahead.

Omeo-Benambra key defender Lachlan Symons then told the umpires they had done their best to ruin a good game and he, too, was sent off for abusive language.

Omeo and District league matches are played with 16 a side. The departure of Symons, who travels 600 kilometres from Ballarat to play with Omeo-Benambra, meant his team had only 13 players on the field.

The umpires declared that the game was over, prompting confusion among players and officials from both clubs. It was not until much later that many had the ruling explained to them.

The ruling was that Omeo-Benambra had forfeited the game because, with three send-offs, it had fewer than the allowable minimum of 14 players on the field.

The match was shortened by only 30 seconds, but in the Tambo Valley, they'll be talking about it for 30 years. Roll on the rest of the finals.

By Paul Daffey

Articlefirst appeared The Age, August 13, 2008