IT DOESN'T seem all that long ago that the Kennington-Strathdale Saints were competing in the Bendigo Football League.

But the club based at the Neale Street oval has been gone for quite some time now.

Never a league powerhouse, it did occupy a significant geographical spot in the city's football structure.
It was the only club east of the railway line which divides Bendigo and was within easy reach of not only the Flora Hill Secondary School --- now Bendigo's South East College --- but also the LaTrobe University campus with plenty of young men and women domiciled close by.

There was a fairly long and drawn-out process before the Saints bit the dust. Who can forget that dramatic early 90s afternoon over at Maryborough's Princes Park when the senior Saints walked off the field, alleging rough tactics from the opposition and precious little support from the field umpires were causing unnecessary injuries.
The Magpies snatched the four, premiership points following the walk-off. It was Round 14, 1993.

Then there was Provincial which operated out of Weeroona Oval.
The Pros had been an integral member club of the Golden City Football League and when the early 1980s amalgamation of the Bendigo and Golden City leagues came into force Provincial was still around.

Part of the founding BGCFL Division 2 structure, Provincial managed a few seasons and then some footy people believed it had headed a little further north and pitched camp at Huntly.

The name and the colours were gone, though. Provincial wore blue and gold vertical stripes while Huntly sports Hawthorn's brown and gold strip.

There wasn't as much press hullabaloo about the sink-without-a-trace demise of Pros, but old players and supporters still remember the original club quite fondly.
I spoke to a couple at a Christmas function down in Castlemaine in mid-December.

AND I vividly recall a special meeting called for the then spanking new North Bendigo clubrooms, adjacent to Shadforth Park.

It was the early 90s and a couple of Bulldog benefactors, Bendigo business people, were calling for the club to be wound up.

To his undying credit North stalwart Keith Robertson bounced to his feet. The club was an important and integral part of Bendigo's sports culture and was quite capable of continuing on, he stressed.

Admittedly there was a bit of a financial hole but with dedicated people to assist the Dogs could soldier on, Mr Robertson said.

And soldier on they did. The doomsayers were wished a speedy 'good night' and North Bendigo seemed never to look back.

Last season the Atkins St. Dogs played off against Lockington-Bamawm in the Heathcote DFL grand final. Had it not been for Mr Robertson, Francis Boyd and a handful of die-hard Bulldog fans the club might not have survived that tumultuous evening.

North played in the BGCFL when it first came into existence during the early 1980s. When the league was back to being known simply as the BFL, the club made the finals later that decade under the astute leadership of captain-coach Wayne Walsh.

Players such as Ross Alford, David Graham, Peter Young, David Bakes, Peter Hamilton, Abdul Halibi and century goalkicker Andrew "Nibbet" McClellan were key players for the Atkins Street Dogs.

THINK of all the clubs not very far from Bendigo, now long gone.

Northern United, BFNL premiers from 1984-87, retains a tenuous link. Calivil these days is called Calivil United but I'll bet very few of the under-17 players know the background to the "United" bit, even though the Loddon Valley F.L. Demons play a game or two at Northern United's old base, Raywood, each season.

Korong Vale and Yarrawalla, once proud members of the Loddon Valley league, have been gone for decades.
So, too, in the Bendigo region have Epsom, Dingee, Axedale, Hunter, Knowsley, Tooborac and Goornong. Add Campbell's Forest, Neilborough, Sebastian, Tandarra, Drummartin and Tennyson --- even out east to Tarnagulla, Shelbourne, Eddington and Rheola --- to that list and just in central Victoria the number of clubs which have disappeared is staggering.

In the Maryborough-Castlemaine DFL Primrose, based in Maryborough, and Chewton [on the outskirts of Castlemaine—Campbell's Creek] went under.

Up north Gunbower almost did, as well, but was saved by a merger with Leitchville and that club now competes in the Heathcote DFL.

This article doesn't pretend to have named all the district clubs which have folded.
It's offered as something to think about.

Once your club has gone under, not saved by a merger or an amalgamation, it's almost impossible to revive it.
And now we have Kyneton, a BFL member club since 1932, unable to field a BFNL senior footy side for the 2013 season.

The Tigers have not folded, it's true. But they faced huge problems over summer trying to entice enough senior players to the Showgrounds so that a senior 18 could take the park each winter weekend.

It didn't work out so there'll be no senior Tigers running around this year.

OVER the summer we drove through Ouyen one long weekend on the way to Mildura to visit friends.
And even though it's deep in Mallee country, the Ouyen United oval was in top condition.

There's a nice little piece of local history celebrated along a perimeter of the ground. Nine totem poles, painted in club colours, tell the story of all the local club amalgamations.

Ouyen Rovers, the Demons, is the ninth club formed from a succession of Mallee mergers. Three clubs --- Tempy, Gorya and Patchewollock --- amalgamated to form TGP [Tempy-Gorya-Patchewollock].

TGP competed from 1971 to 1996.
At roughly the same time Tiega, Kiamal and Ouyen (the oldest club, founded in 1910) merged and Ouyen Rovers was formed.

Rovers ran around from 1982 to 1996.

Then in 1997 Ouyen United was announced with TGP and Ouyen Rovers combining and bowing out under their own names. The Demons have been competing ever since.

Because Ouyen United came into existence, the old Northern Mallee F.L. had been reduced to just four clubs.

So the Northern and Southern Mallee leagues merged before the '97 season to form the present day Mallee Football Netball League, an identical name to South Australia's Mallee League over the border.

Walpeup-Underbool def. Sea Lake-Nandaly 26.13 to 9.6 to win the 2012 MFNL flag. Colin Durie of Sea Lake-Nandaly won the MFNL medal

The years 9 and 10 art students from Ouyen P-12 College provided the explanatory board notes and totem poles at the Ouyen footy ground. The poles were unveiled and dedicated in 2009.

A BIT further down the road back towards Bendigo there are plenty more ovals. Sea Lake had merged with Nandaly and the merged side had many battles with Berri-Culgoa.

But at the end of the 2002 season Berriwillock-Culgoa was forced to join Sea Lake and forego its name.

The one saving grace was that the Berri-Culgoa yellow and black guernsey was retained, hence the new entity known as the Sea Lake-Nandaly Tigers was born.

And in the Central Murray league there's just Kerang these days. Former Kerang District F.L. clubs the Appin Grasshoppers and Kerang Rovers had joined Kerang to form Kerang Rovers-Appin.

That club is now known merely as Kerang as the 21st century continues to unfold! Kerang won the 2012 CMFL flag, 19.14 to Woorinen's 10.12.

Wes Pye of Lake Boga won the CMFL medal. He played a season or two for the Square a few years back.

Richard's tips for Round 1: Golden Square (Good Friday), Maryborough and Strathfieldsaye (April 6th) and Sandhurst (April 7th). Bye in senior footy: Gisborne.
2012 season total [including grand final]: 75.