In the 1970s, '80s and '90s, there was nothing special about North Ballarat being undefeated and sitting atop the Ballarat league ladder. During those years the Roosters won 14 premierships, so that was just the way it was.

But the club's return to the top of the BFL table this season, in the guise of North Ballarat City, is very significant for it marks the end of a circuitous journey from the top to the bottom and back again.

The tumult began in 1996 when North Ballarat fielded teams in the VFL and the Ballarat league. The other local clubs became concerned that the Roosters would channel the best talent in the region into their VFL program, then start directing the fringe players down into their BFL teams. After much debate, North withdrew from the Ballarat league.

During the following nine years, many Roosters supporters expressed unease about the loss of their grassroots focus. They were disappointed that the youngsters emerging from the North Ballarat Junior Football Club were no longer able to keep running around in a North jumper unless they were good enough to make the VFL squad.

It was decided that North's junior club would apply to field senior, reserves and under-18 teams in the BFL. The first application, lodged for the 2006 season, was rejected by the Ballarat league's board.

Stung by the rebuke, the junior club's president, Paul Leahy, within weeks had signed a 10-year deal to play in the Bendigo league.

The new teams, made up of kids and playing under the name North Ballarat City, made an inauspicious debut. In fact, the first season was a nightmare. North City didn't win a senior game, and in the final round it conceded 47 goals in a 249-point loss to Golden Square.

North City improved markedly in 2007, winning five matches, but everyone involved knew they had to find a way back into the Ballarat league. Their wish was granted in the lead-up to the 2008 season, but only after the Roosters agreed to accept a rule that only two players could transfer between its VFL and BFL teams each year.

The Roosters' first three seasons back in the Ballarat league were a struggle, winning a total of just 12 senior games. But the continuing development of their young players, and a recruiting campaign that has been canny and controversial, has led to some dramatic improvement since then.

Under the coaching of Robbie Waters, North City made the preliminary final in 2011, and the Roosters made the top six again last season, although they were beaten by Redan in the first semi-final.

A driving force behind the rise has been captain Jason McNamara. The tough onballer notched up 42 senior games for North Ballarat in VFL, then spent four seasons driving back to his home town of Colac to play in the Geelong league. He joined North City in 2010 and took the BFL by storm in 2011 and '12, winning the competition's best and fairest, the Henderson Medal.

These days McNamara is making the most of some great service from gun ruckman Tristan Cartledge.

A product of North Ballarat's junior club, Cartledge played seven AFL games for Essendon and two for Richmond before spending a couple of years with the Roosters in the VFL.
Having joined North City last season, he has quickly become one of the dominant big men in the league, and he led the way as his team beat Sebastopol by 141 points last week.

Not everyone, however, is pleased to see the Roosters on top of the ladder again. Supporters of Redan were dismayed when star forward Derick Micallef, who had come through the Lions' junior program, defected to North City after a stint playing for the Roosters in the VFL.

"We knew this would happen," said Ballarat Swans president Shane Manley, whose club opposed each of North City's applications to join the Ballarat league.

"They take players up into the Rebels [North Ballarat's TAC Cup team], into the development squad, into the Roosters, then convert them into players for North Ballarat's BFL side.

"When they were readmitted they promised that North City would be a separate club from its VFL parent. But within a couple of years they were openly prophesising that they are all the one club, which they are. Now that the child has been fed by its VFL parent for the last few years, it is a full-grown adult, out of its cage, and free to run rampant."

Quite a few more feathers will be ruffled if North City goes on and wins the premiership.
But the passionate backers of the Roosters are unfazed.

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared the Sunday Age July 28, 2013

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/mcnamaras-band-a-hit-in-ballarat-20130727-2qrvk.html#ixzz2aI0FqTeV