WHEN it comes to community programs, the NRL trumps the AFL, Hay football club president Robert Howard says. If anyone is fit to judge, it's Howard, whose club is further from the Victorian border than any other in the Victorian Country Football League.
The Golden Rivers League club is entrenched in rugby league heartland, but despite the tyranny of distance between itself and Sydney, Howard said he felt the NRL was more in touch with his town.
"We're eight hours from Sydney, but they'll send a carload of Parramatta first-grade players to go to the local school every year," Howard said.
"We're about five hours from Melbourne and we never see any (AFL players).
"This is where rugby league would bend over to help little country towns."
Howard said former Essendon premiership captain Terry Daniher gave up his time to come to the town a couple of years ago.
But in Howard's time as president he has not seen am AFL player in Hay for more than two decades.
"I've been president for 30 years and the last time I can remember having one up here was back when we were playing in the Mid-Murray League 20 years ago," he said.
"It might be longer, I don't know. They don't care about us, unfortunately."
By Matt Windley
Article first appeared The Herald Sun, August 22, 2009
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