THE intense rivalry between Rochester and Echuca has been integral to life in the two northern Victorian towns since the 1870s.

Rochester was formed in 1874 with the founding fathers declaring the club had the purpose "of playing and soon beating Echuca."

The club now known as the Murray Bombers had been founded in Echuca two years earlier - in 1872.

Historians compiling football records in Victoria's north have stated the rivalry cannot adequately be described as "strong".

Words such as "intense" and "traditional" have often been used, but it is all of these expressions and more.
It is deep-seated and all-pervasive and it has a long standing to it.

And of course some of the most bitter battles between the two clubs were fought out when both were members of the Bendigo Football League.

The most famous match between these teams was the 1963 BFL preliminary final.

Former Collingwood star Bill Serong was Echuca coach and he recruited ex-St Kilda star and Brownlow Medallist Neil Roberts as an ex-radius player for the day.

More on that amazing clash later, but first a look back at how this intense rivalry all began.

ECHUCA is situated at the junction of the Murray, Campaspe and Goulburn Rivers about 220 km almost due north from Melbourne.

It was founded in 1850 and became a borough in 1864. Now it has a population of more than 12,000 and is the centre of local government following the forced council amalgamations of 1994.

There are two footy clubs in the town: Echuca and Echuca United. This second club was formed as a result of the merger between Echuca East and Echuca South in 1994.

The Echuca Football Club team wears a bottle green guernsey with a monogram on the front and is known as the Murray Bombers.

The club plays in the Goulburn Valley League, the current VCFL champions, while United are affiliated to the Murray League based east along the river with clubs spreading into southern NSW.

Rochester is just 30 km south of Echuca with a population of about 2600. It was proclaimed a town in 1855 and became a part of the Shire of Echuca in 1871.

On November 27th, 1909, after years of heated debate, the separate Shire of Rochester was proclaimed. But as fate would have it, in 1994 the Rochester Shire was amalgamated with Echuca and other surrounding shire areas to form the brand-new Shire of Campaspe.

Rochester wears a black guernsey with a yellow sash all the way round and are called the Tigers. The club had to change from its original BFL colours of red and black to avoid a strip clash with Kyabram when it re-entered the Goulburn Valley league in 1973.

THE earliest record of matches between the two clubs is 1876, two years after Rochy's formation. They played each other twice with Echuca downing their rivals by two goals to none first up.

In those early days only goals were recorded. The second match was a draw: two goals apiece.

Matches between the two clubs continued to be played on a challenge basis throughout the 1870s and 1880s --- that's how football was organized in this early period.

Tempers simmered throughout the 1890s. Protests erupted in 1892 when the two clubs battled it out for the Northern District Football Association Championship that year.

Rochy had fielded a Port Melbourne player and after meetings and protests for weeks about the 1892 play-off the association decided another match should be played.

The Echuca team came to Rochester on the train --- but found no one at the Rochy oval. Rochy refused to play Echuca again until 1901 when they re-joined the NDFA.

On July 10th, 1901 Echuca illegally played a footballer from Kyabram in their match against Rochy. A protest, again, and Rochester this time won the verdict.

After winning the Goulburn Valley Association premiership in 1914, Rochester joined the BFL in 1915. But as footy went into recess because of World War 1 the tenure was short-lived Rochester re-joined the BFL in 1923 and Echuca followed soon after in 1925, winning its first senior flag in 1928.

After World War 2, Rochy came back into the BFL in 1946 following a major triumph over Echuca in the Campaspe Valley grand final the previous year.

That 1945 match was played at Elmore and Rochy downed their hated rivals by eight points.

The Murray Bombers re-joined the BFL in 1949. As it turned out Rochester's last match in the Bendigo League was the 1971 first semi-final against Echuca, which it lost narrowly.

ROCHESTER had found it increasingly difficult to compete in the Bendigo League because of player payments and travel costs. The club decided to transfer to the GVFL.

However, the BFL blocked the clearance and this was ratified by the VCFL.

Rochester was forced to stand out of footy in 1972 and didn't enter the GVFL until the following season.

The year's break had a catastrophic effect on the quantity and quality of players and so the Tigers struggled for the rest of the 1970s.

Rochy did not make the finals until 1980 and had to wait until 1990 to contest a grand final. Meanwhile, Echuca found itself isolated in the BFL and at the end of '73 elected to follow their great rivals into the GVFL.

Initially, the transfer was opposed, but just prior to the 1974 season a clearance was granted and the Murray Bombers were able to resume the age-old rivalry with Rochester.

Remarkably the two clubs never met in a BFL grand final, despite their successes in our league. Rochy had a great rivalry through the late 50s/early 60s with another BFL country club: Kyneton.

Echuca won BFL flags in 1928, 1967 and 1970 and finished runners-up to South Bendigo in 1950.

Their arch-rivals went even better. Rochester played in eight, straight grand finals between 1958 to 1965, winning four.

The BFL flags came in 1958 and 1959 (against Castlemaine and Kyneton, respectively) and again in 1962 and 1963 (with successes against Golden Square and Kyneton).

In between, the Tigers under legendary coach Clive Philp beat Rochy in the 1960 and 1961 grand finals while Square reversed the '62 result with flags in 1964 and 1965.
Captain-coach Noel McMahen, the Melbourne VFL premiership legend, had a proud record at Rochy.

He christened his country side the Demons and under McMahen's leadership they did not lose a match to Echuca while he was coach from 1957 to 1961.

SO BACK to the 1963 BFL preliminary final.
Serong placed Roberts on the bench as 19th man and the former Saint didn't come on for Echuca until the third quarter.

He was promptly cleaned up by Rochester hard man Trevor Randall, the ex-Hawthorn player.

The Demons not only downed Echuca in the prelim., but went on under Con O'Toole's leadership to beat Kyneton 16.22 (118) to the Tigers 10.14 (74) in that season's grand final.

Serong later admitted it had been a mistake to play Roberts. "It inspired them. Rochy really fired up that day and beat us comfortably."

It remains one of the most sensational incidents in Bendigo footy and is still recalled today by supporters who claim to have witnessed it.

It confirmed the perception about the lengths that Echuca would go to "dud" Rochester, a perception with Rochy supporters which stemmed from experiences in football dating right back to the 19th century.

With thanks to football historian, scholar and lifelong Rochester fan: ‘Rocket' Rod Gillett. His early life was spent in Echuca where the family ran a milk bar.

The selected team used to be posted in the shop window. Later, during Rod's high school years, the family moved to a farm at Corop --- not that far from Rochy. ‘Rocket' played senior footy for Rochester under ex-Carlton premiership player, Jim Clark, in 1973.

Richard's tips for Round 14: Eaglehawk, Gisborne, Maryborough, Golden Square and South Bendigo.
2011 season tally: 38.

By Richard Jones