Back in the 1980s, the Riverina town of Jerilderie boasted one of the strongest football clubs in southern New South Wales.During that decade, the Demons won the Murray league premiership three times – in 1983, ’87 and ’89 – as they routinely matched it with powerful rivals like Barooga, Cobram, Finley and Tocumwal.
They almost won the flag in 1985 as well, when local hero Bill Brownless returned home for a year after finishing his schooling at Assumption College.
Playing at full-forward, Brownless, then 18, ended the season with 150 goals. But Jerilderie’s hopes were dashed when he suffered an ankle injury in the second semi-final against Cobram.
Despite being on one leg, Brownless still kicked six goals in the grand final, yet the Demons were beaten by Deniliquin.
However, the good times didn’t last. The heroes of the 1989 premiership had been a group of players from Darwin, including Mark Motlop, an uncle of Port Adelaide’s Daniel Motlop. When they departed, the Demons were suddenly struggling to even win a game in the MFL.
They responded by dropping back to the Coreen league in 1994, and began doing battle with clubs from small communities like Rennie, Wahgunya and Coleambally.
During the following 10 years, the Demons’ players and supporters had some of their best and worst football experiences.
The high-point of the period came in the 1999 grand final against Wahgunyah, when Jerilderie fought back from a 59-point deficit in the third quarter to win the flag.
That success erased some memories of the previous seasons, in which the Demons had lost four consecutive grand finals, including, notes club president Des McRae, “the last one on the last kick of the day”.
But as a series of droughts began afflicting the region’s farmers and taking a toll on the town’s once-thriving economy, the club’s fortunes dipped once more. Jerilderie won just a single game in 2005 and ’06.
When the Coreen league was wound up at the end of 2007 (it had been in operation for 99 years), things became even tougher.
For the 2008 season, Jerilderie was absorbed into the Picola and District league, expanding that competition to 16 clubs. As a result, the Demons found themselves trying to match it with highly-rated outfits like Tungamah, Katandra and Waaia, whose playing lists benefit greatly from their close proximity to Shepparton.
Jerilderie was competitive most weeks, especially when young-guns, Brodie A’Vard (now with the Bendigo Bombers) and Josh Bryce (currently playing for Werribee) were home from the Murray Bushrangers, but it won only seven matches.
With few players emerging from the junior grades, the club’s supporters wondered whether the Demons would ever return to the top. However, an administrative masterstroke has done the trick.
Last year an idea was floated to split the Picola league into two divisions, based along geographic lines, while retaining its single administration. It quickly won support, especially from the clubs based in New South Wales, most of whom were grouped near the bottom of the ladder.
Once the ’08 season had concluded, a vote was organised. As always when it comes to bush footy, there was plenty of huffing, puffing and political jousting among the parties involved.
Unlike in Gippsland, where the VCFL’s efforts to restructure the game have been repeatedly derailed by big egos and petty rivalries, the Picola league delegates voted to support the proposal, albeit by a small margin.
“I always had confidence that our clubs had the leadership and quality administration to make it work,” says PDFL president Bruce Tuhan. “I don’t want to see any clubs fold because of pig-headed attitudes.”
Nine months down the track and the change has proved a godsend for Jerilderie. Under the coaching of former Mulwala and Billabong Crows star Jason Sanderson, the Demons have flourished in the PDFL’s newly-formed North West division. In fact they’ve been so good, they will next Saturday run out in the qualifying final.
“We’ve had a fantastic year,” says McRae, who runs a veterinary clinic in the town. “We’ve been able to get half-a-dozen of our good local footballers back who live elsewhere. We had good crowds last year but with us being successful it’s really added to that. It just lifts the spirits of everyone in the whole area.”
While top side Deniliquin Rovers has been the pace-setter, finishing the home-and-away rounds one game clear on top of the table, most of the nine North West clubs have benefited from this redrawing of football’s boundaries.
Berrigan’s effort in finishing third is especially notable, as the Saints have struggled badly in recent years. Only perennial battlers Wunghnu remain largely uncompetitive, although they did break their two-year losing streak by defeating Blighty in late June.
“Every club, bar probably one, would go to the game every week thinking they had a chance to win,” says McRae. “We’ve won our last 10 straight (before yesterday), but there’s been some pretty tough and close games with the lower-placed teams and we got beaten quite decisively by the second-bottom team early in the year. In terms of competitiveness and keeping people’s interest it’s been a raging success.”
While reigning premier Tungamah is undefeated in the South East division, followers of its eight clubs, along with their players, have appreciated the rising number of close games.
“Last weekend was a poor round, with the lowest winning margin about six goals,” says Tuhan. “But prior to that it has certainly been more even.”
The VCFL is now looking at making the Picola league’s revamp a template for resolving similar issues elsewhere in its territory.
But after all this good news, and as his club eyes off a premiership, McRae delivers a sobering reality check. As the big dry continues, he says the exodus of local youth from Jerilderie to the cities has gathered pace, seriously threatening the footy club’s long-term viability.
“What the future holds I’m not sure. The farming season is looking like another disaster. The crops here are really on the brink. They need big rain now and it doesn’t look like coming. That will make four crop failures in a row if that happens.
“And there’s not as many kids as there used to be either. We’ve only got two boys 16 or over in the under-17 age-group. Most of the kids in that team are 15-year-olds. Our under-14s are going well but some of them will probably head off to boarding school. So it’s going to be a real battle.”
By Adam McNicol
Article first appeared The Sunday Age, August 9th 2009
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