IT'S been two years since the Victorian Country Football League swung the axe on the Benalla and District league.
While rumours had been rife throughout 2009, it was mid-August when the VCFL hammered the final nail into the coffin of country Victoria's smallest footy league.
After an extensive review, bush footy's powerbrokers announced the five-team competition would be disbanded at season's end.
An initial copy of the VCFL review suggested none of the remaining Benalla league clubs would be viable in another league but, two years on, all five are still kicking.
Four clubs - Bonnie Doon, Tatong, Goorambat and Swanpool - transferred to the neighbouring Ovens and King Football League, while Longwood switched to the Kyabram and District league.
Bonnie Doon proved a surprise packet last season, finishing seventh on Ovens and King's expanded 14-team ladder, and winning its way through to a preliminary final.
The other transferring clubs, however, struggled to find their feet.
Goorambat took home the wooden spoon with two wins, while Swanpool finished ahead of the Bats only on percentage.
Tatong fared only slightly better with three victories.
Longwood won two games in its debut season in the Kyabram league.
The story has been much the same this season. With one round to play, Bonnie Doon is eighth, Tatong has notched four wins and Goorambat three.
Swanpool is winless, with a woeful percentage of 16.9 after 17 rounds.
Outgoing North East Football Netball Hub general manager Rod Carmody, who was administrator of the Ovens and King league until his resignation last week, said the transfer of four Benalla clubs to his competition had been "somewhat of a success".
"Those individual clubs are certainly having their own battles, but they all still supply a place for local people to play footy and netball every weekend," Carmody said.
"I don't know what other options they really had when the Benalla and District league was wound up, so in that sense it's a success - the clubs are all still surviving."
Carmody said Swanpool, in particular, had battled for depth and talent this year.
"They've got some work to do with recruiting, and I think Tatong is looking for a new coach, too, and they've got someone in mind," he said.
"Ovens and King is obviously a better competition, so it will take them a few years to get going in this league."
Goorambat president James Gall said his club had showed on-field improvement this season.
"The boys are developing and we've had a few wins, though we probably could have had a few more," Gall said.
"We hope to recruit another four or five players next season to grow our base and hopefully we'll be up playing finals in the next couple of years.
"A flag is always in sight and hopefully we can develop to that."
Gall said the death of the Benalla and District league was sad, but it had been a sign of the times.
He said he was hopeful all four former Benalla clubs would con- tinue to thrive in the Ovens and King league.
"It would be a damn shame if they weren't to survive and the VCFL will have failed us terribly if they don't," Gall said.
"Footy is the heart and soul of all country towns and I hope that everything keeps ticking over."
But VCFL chief executive Steven Reaper said it was unlikely the five former Benalla and District clubs were sustainable in the long term.
"They weren't (sustainable) anyway," he said.
"We've given them an opportunity to participate and I think in the long term, when you look right across Victoria, with ongoing demographic changes there's always going to be challenges for clubs to survive.
"But we're trying work with those particular clubs so they have good platforms to either grow into the future or identify areas where they can work with other clubs to sustain futures.
"So, mergers in the future is not something that's out of the question."
Carmody agreed it would be difficult for all ex-Benalla clubs to survive.
"There's a chance for amalgamation for some of them, which makes sense when you can have one viable club instead of two battling clubs," he said.
"I think it's bound to happen in the near future."
BY - Roslyn Lanigan,
August 17, 2011.
http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2011/08/17/369061_country-footy.html
