By Paul Daffey
The Coreen and District Football League, based in the Corowa region of southern NSW, is in line to be wound up just two years short of its centenary under a proposal put forward by the AFL’s representative body in the area.
The Coreen and District league had 12 clubs as recently as 2000. Mergers and transferrals have reduced the competition this season to six clubs.
Of the six clubs, Jerilderie has applied to join the Picola and District league while Wahgunyah has applied to join the Tallangatta and District league. The southern regional board of AFL/NSW-ACT has proposed sending the remaining four Coreen league clubs into the Hume league, which is based in the area north of Albury.
Such a move would be logical for three of the Coreen league clubs: Rennie, Billabong Crows (a recent merger of Oaklands and Urana), and Coreen-Daysdale-Hopefield-Buraja United (whose four clubs have joined forces in past the decade).
Hume league officials are believed to be unsure, however, about hosting Coleambally, which is 220 kilometres north-west of the town where most of their competition’s players live, Albury. Some officials are suggesting that Coleambally might be better in the Farrer league, which is based slightly further north and has only six clubs.
The 11 Hume league clubs have a meeting on August 8 at which they are to respond to the recommendations. Acceptance of the four Coreen league clubs would push their competition out to 15 clubs, which is considered an unwieldy number.
In the Hume league today, Sydney midfielder Adam Schneider’s brothers Leigh and Damian are to line up on opposite wings as their club, Osborne, hosts Walla. If Osborne wins the match, the Cats are likely to usurp Culcairn on top of the ladder.
Howlong full-forward Shaun Myles is going for his third consecutive century of goals in the Hume league. Myles has 91 goals this season and is considered an outside chance of kicking nine goals at Holbrook today.
The main competition in southern NSW, the Riverina Football League, features three clubs at the top of the ladder on 11 wins: Wagga Tigers, Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong and Narrandera.
The best match on the fixture this weekend is today’s game between fourth-placed East Wagga-Karingal and fifth-placed Coolamon Rovers.
The competition’s leading goalkicker is Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong spearhead Anthony “George” Carroll, a member of the famous clan that has produced league players Tom Carroll (Carlton), Dennis Carroll (Sydney) and Wayne Carroll (Sydney).
George Carroll has 61 goals. His team has a bye this weekend.
The leading goalkicker in the Riverina area’s second competition, the Farrer Football League, is Robbie Harper, a veteran who came out of retirement before the season and has booted 76 goals for the leading club, Northern Jets. The Jets are a recent merger of Ariah Park, Mirrool and Ardlethan.
The Jets today hosting Rivcoll, the club from the old Riverina College of Advanced Education, which is struggling at the bottom of the ladder.
Former Farrer league club North Wagga, the junior club of North Melbourne legend Wayne Carey, is considering coming out of recession and joining the Riverina league.
To gain an idea of the strength of the Geelong Football League, you only have to look at the best players in recent matches of the Victorian Country Football League team.
Leopold midfielder Tony Brown was considered the VCFL team’s best player in last year’s Australian Country Football Championships on the Gold Coast, which the VCFL team won.
Last weekend South Barwon midfielder Mark Corrigan was named best on ground in the VCFL team’s one-point victory over the Victorian Amateur Football Association team in Ballarat.
Ardmona star Perry Meka, the full-forward who played in the Legends game at the Whitten Oval last month, is to face the Kyabram and District league tribunal in Shepparton tomorrow morning after a report recommending that he face a charge of conduct unbecoming.
The recommendation was made after an investigation into incident an on the ground after the final siren had blown following the recent match between Ardmona and Avenel.
Meka, who has kicked almost 2500 goals in his country football career, has kicked 91 goals this season. High-flying Ardmona today hosts lowly Nagambie.
Fellow Kyabram and District league club Rushworth is today launching a club history as part of its 125th anniversary celebrations. Rushworth is hosting Murchison, which, having been formed in 1880, is two years older than Rushworth.
The Rushworth book, by 1977 grand final player Tony Ford, is called Men From Ironbark. One of the more interesting club histories to appear is that of the aforementioned Rivcoll, whose nickname is the Bushpigs.
The history of Rivcoll, which was formed in 1973, is called a Short and Concise History of the Bushpigs in Modern Times.
Article first appeared: The Age July 21, 2007
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