Australian rules football in the Riverina
{{Short description|From 1881 in southwestern NSW, Australia}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2024}}
In the Riverina, Australian rules football is the equal most popular football code (with rugby league) and has a long history since the establishment of the Federal Football Club (founded 1861 now known as the Wagga Tigers) with the earliest recorded interclub match occurring in 1881 against the Albury Football Club (founded 1876). Unusually for New South Wales, Australian rules football is quite popular in the Murray and Southern Riverina especially in the larger cities of Albury and Wagga Wagga. The region is considered to form part of the Barassi Line which divides areas where Australian rules and rugby are popular. There are many clubs and leagues in the district, including the Riverina Football League, Farrer Football League, Hume Football League and Northern Riverina Football League. In addition, many clubs along the border play in Victorian leagues such as the Ovens & Murray Football League, Murray Football League, Picola & District Football League and the Golden Rivers Football League.{{cite web | url = http://aflnswact.com.au/default.aspx?s=leaguesdisplay&aid=91554 | title = Senior Leagues and Clubs | publisher = AFL NSW/ACT | access-date = 29 January 2007|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060823233226/http://aflnswact.com.au/default.aspx?s=leaguesdisplay&aid=91554 |archive-date = 23 August 2006|url-status=dead}}
The Murray region of western New South Wales, sometimes referred to as the southern Riverina, though the state's least populated, had by 2021 become the highest per capita producer of AFL talent in the world, far surpassing Melbourne's by the same measure.[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-12/the-best-towns-and-suburbs-for-building-afl-talent/101055164 Inside the game: Which locations have provided the AFL with the most talent and the best players?] By Cody Atkinson and Sean Lawson 12 May 2022 The "Wagga Effect" is a term that has been used frequently in the Australian media to describe the disproportionately large number of elite sportsmen and women that originate from the region.{{cite news | first=Edwina| last=Farley| url=http://www.abc.net.au/rural/nt/content/2005/s1504753.htm | title=Sports stars more likely to come from the bush | work=ABC Rural | publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation | date=11 November 2005 | access-date=20 January 2007}} It is speculated that the phenomenon may arise in rural areas where the population is large enough to sustain the presence of a large number of sporting codes, but small enough to ensure that talented individuals are exposed to adult-level competition at an earlier age.
History
{{seealso|Australian rules football in New South Wales}}
The Wagga Tigers were established in 1861 as the Federal Football Club, however details of its early history are scant, though early records appear to indicate that it aligned with Victorian rules and held local scratch matches. An 1874 ban placed on Victorian rules by the Southern Rugby Union (SRU), which governed football in New South Wales, made it extremely difficult for clubs in the region to compete, this was despite no rugby matches being played there. This did not stop the Albury Football Club from forming in 1876 to play under Victorian Rules though it was forced to cross the border to Beechworth, Victoria for its first match against the Beechworth Football Club in 1876A Brief History of Football in Wagga. The Riverina Weekender. 23 February 2013{{cite web |title=1876 – Beechworth FC v Albury FC |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197059650 |website=Trove Newspapers |publisher=Ovens and Murray Advertiser |date=11 July 1876| page=2}} Newspaper records indicate that clubs like Wagga and Albury clubs were actively organising local scratch matches as early as 1878.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article101938816 |title=Advertising |newspaper=Wagga Wagga Advertiser |volume=IX |issue=333 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=27 July 1878 |accessdate=9 July 2024 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} Despite this both clubs came very close to folding due to the SRU ban and lack of local competition.
By 1882 further clubs had formed including Narrandera (1881), Albury Mechanics (1881), Wagga Mechanics (1882), while they initially struggled to coordinate with nearby clubs and typically travelled to northern Victoria, the increase in clubs introduced the possibility of local interclub competition.AN EARLY HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL IN THE RIVERINA REGION OF NEW SOUTH WALES Rodney Allan Gillett Department of History of the University of New England 1982 The earliest records of an interclub match there was in 1881 between the Federals (Wagga) and Albury Football Club in Wagga,{{cite web |title=1881 - Football |newspaper=Wagga Wagga Advertiser |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/101813679 |publisher=Wagga Wagga Advertiser (NSW) |access-date=23 February 2022 |pages=2 |date=2 August 1881}} This was just a year before the first recorded rugby union matches were held in the region.A Brief History of Football in Wagga. The Riverina Weekender. 23 February 2013 Victorian rules clubs were disallowed to respond to requests to compete with other local clubs, as such the Yass Football Club which had formed in 1878 as one of the first SRU clubs in the region, had no local opponents.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article263967998 |title=YASS FOOTBALL CLUB. |newspaper=The Yass Courier |volume=XXV |issue=2334 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=9 June 1881 |accessdate=9 July 2024 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} Records exist of matches between Narrandera and Wagga, along with matches between Albury Mechanics and Wagga Mechanics in 1882.
Local competition between clubs commenced in earnest in 1884 around Wagga Wagga which became the Wagga Football Association. which was immensely popular and grew rapidly.
Further south towards the Murray River, the Ovens & Murray Football League included teams from Albury that formed as the Ovens & Murray Football Association in 1893.
In 1905, the Wagga Football Association representative side lost a close match against the Fitzroy Football Club at Wagga.{{cite web |title=1905 - Fitzroy v Wagga |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/145188661 |publisher=Wagga Wagga Express (NSW) |access-date=23 February 2022 |pages=3 |date=22 June 1905}}
In 1929, Riverina separated from control of the NSWFA with its own governing body, the Southern Districts Australian National Football Council headquartered in Wagga.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223186647 |title=RIVERINA COUNCIL |newspaper=Weekly Times |issue=3218 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=1 June 1929 |accessdate=28 May 2024 |page=74 |via=National Library of Australia}}
In these early days, the Ovens and Murray Football League produced champion players including Haydn Bunton, Sr., who was born in Albury and played with the Albury Rovers FC, Albury Football Club, and West Albury prior to playing with Fitzroy in the VFL in 1931.
In the early 1930s, rugby league began to rapidly outgrow Australian Football in the larger centres of the Riverina. Among the main reasons was its decision to listen to the public and hold its games on Sundays and align train timetables with matches, a move which proved very popular.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223838064 |title=FOSTERING THE GAME IN RIVERINA |newspaper=Weekly Times |issue=3474 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=28 April 1934 |accessdate=28 May 2024 |page=60 (FIRST EDITION) |via=National Library of Australia}}
In 1933, the Australian National Football Council granted the Victorian Football League direct control over the Riverina, the move effectively meant that the VFL did not have to transfers for players from New South Wales, paving the way for easier recruitment.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article100736683 |title=AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL |newspaper=Narandera Argus and Riverina Advertiser |issue=10,306 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 March 1933 |accessdate=28 May 2024 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}
By the late 1930s, the popularity of Australian Football was booming in the smaller towns of the northern Riverina, displacing rugby league, particularly in Ungarie and West Wyalong.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article185768675 |title=IS RUGBY DOOMED? |newspaper=The West Wyalong Advocate |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=30 July 1937 |accessdate=28 May 2024 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article185777133 |title=ON THE BALL |newspaper=The West Wyalong Advocate |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=6 May 1938 |accessdate=28 May 2024 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}
File:Mangoplah football team which won the A. & D. League premiership pennant for 1950.jpg which won the A&DFL premiership pennant for 1950]]
In 1944, rugby league authorities from Sydney began a campaign to oust Australian rules from the Riverina, and were successful in having it banned from public schools in Albury, Wagga, and Junee to be replaced by Rugby League. The move was in part an effort to expand rugby league into Victoria.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article178120317 |title=RUGBY IS OUSTING CODE IN RIVERINA |newspaper=Sporting Globe |volume= |issue=2523 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 August 1946 |accessdate=25 September 2022 |page=6 (Edition2) |via=National Library of Australia}} Rugby League successfully held schoolboy carnivals in Junee aimed at growing further south.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article178599426 |title=Game Dying In The Riverina |newspaper=Sporting Globe |volume= |issue=2401 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=27 June 1945 |accessdate=28 May 2024 |page=16 (Edition1) |via=National Library of Australia}} However Victoria began directing funds to help the game survive.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article264994652 |title=AUSTRALIAN RULES PLAN TO ENLARGE GAME IN RIVERINA |newspaper=The Gundagai Independent |volume= |issue=4739 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=28 February 1946 |accessdate=28 May 2024 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248529293 |title='Rules Move To Counter League |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |volume=XI |issue=91 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=8 July 1946 |accessdate=28 May 2024 |page=19 |via=National Library of Australia}} By 1947, the code began making a comeback in Narrandera, where rugby league had taken over.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article279159680 |title=SOCCER, RUGBY "TAKING OVER" IN PARKLANDS |newspaper=The Sun News-pictorial |issue=7777 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 August 1947 |accessdate=28 May 2024 |page=28 |via=National Library of Australia}} By 1951, however it was once again under threat in Junee, Leeton, Griffith and Wagga.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193636092 |title=Menace of Rugby in the Riverina |newspaper=Sporting Globe |volume= |issue=2990 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=7 February 1951 |accessdate=28 May 2024 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}} However, in 1953, Australian Football was once again declared the most popular code in the region with huge crowds and gate takings across the northern Riverina including Leeton, Griffith, Narrandera and Culcairn.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145661028 |title=AUST. RULES HAS HAD A RECORD YEAR |newspaper=Daily Advertiser |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=11 September 1953 |accessdate=28 May 2024 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}
In 1982, at the instigation of the Victorian Country Football League (who had jurisdiction over the area at the time), the South Western District Football League, the Farrer Football League, and the Central Riverina Football League were all combined into the Riverina Football League and the Riverina District Football League. The district league reverted to the Farrer Football League in 1985. There were two divisions of the Riverina DFL / Farrer FL between 1983 and 1994. In 1995, these two leagues were part of the Murrumbidgee Valley Australian Football Association.
File:Aerial_view_of_Robertson_Oval_in_Wagga_Wagga.jpg
File:ANZAC Day Commemorative Games Wagga Tigers v Collingullie GP Demons at Robertson Oval (4).jpg
At the conclusion of the 2007 season, the Coreen league was disbanded with most of its clubs joining the Hume league for the 2008 season.
According to studies in the 2010s and 2020s, Australian rules football is continuing to expand north into the northern Riverina, one of the only areas of the Barassi line which are moving.
Competitions
= Current Competitions =
| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:100%" | ||||
| League
! Years ! Senior clubs ! Divisions ! Headquarters ! Notes/References | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Riverina Football League | 1924- | 5 | 1 | West Wyalong |
| Hume Football League | 1933- | 9 | 1 | Walla Walla |
| Farrer Football League | 1957- | 9 | 1 | Wagga Wagga |
| Riverina Football Netball League | 1982- | 9 | 1 | Wagga Wagga |
= Past Competitions =
Players
File:Haydn Bunton Snr leap.jpg, an Australian Football legend from the 1930s and 1940s in a photo that became the basis of a statue outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground.]]
Early in the 20th Century notable players included Haydn Bunton, Denis Ryan, Gordon Strang, Doug Strang and Maurie Hunter. During the 1970s, the region produced a famous footballer family, the Danihers from the Ungarie Football Club: Terry Daniher, Neale Daniher, Anthony Daniher, and Chris Daniher.Daniher, Terry Daniher, Neale Daniher, Anthony Daniher and Chris Daniher. The Danihers: The Story of Football's Favourite Family. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2009. {{ISBN|1-74175-651-0}} In the modern era, the Riverina had many players for the VFL/AFL, including champions such as Wayne Carey, Paul Kelly, Dennis Carroll, John Longmire, Leo Barry, Shane Crawford, and Brett Kirk. Some other players from the region to have played AFL level football include Isaac Smith, Luke Breust, Zac Williams, Dean Terlich, and Sam Rowe.
File:IsaacSmithNSM.jpg|Isaac Smith, 4 time premiership player is from Cootamundra
File:Matt Suckling 2018.2.jpg|Matt Suckling, premiership player, is from Wagga
File:Cameron Mooney (cropped).jpg|Cameron Mooney 3 time premiership player is from Wagga Waggaa
File:13. Adam Schneider, St Kilda FC 01.jpg|Adam Schneider Sydney premiership player is from Osborne
File:Brett kirk.jpg|Brett Kirk, Sydney Swans premiership player and coach is from Albury
File:John Longmire 2017.2.jpg|John Longmire premiership player and coach is from Corowa
File:Neale Daniher.jpg|Neale Daniher is from West Wyalong
File:GHFC Wayne Carey 110719 gnangarra-100-2.jpg|Wayne Carey 2 time premiership captain is from Wagga
File:Paul Kelly (the footballer) (7176553482).jpg|Statue of Paul Kelly, Brownlow Medallist Sydney Swans captain and rugby league convert was from Wagga
File:Bill_Mohr.jpg|Bill Mohr of Wagga kicked 735 league goals
File:Tom_Hawkins_2019.4.jpg|Tom Hawkins, Geelong premiership player is from Finley
File:Harry_Cunningham_2017.2.jpg|Harry Cunningham is from Wagga Wagga
File:Luke_Breust_2018.3.jpg|Luke Breust, Hawthorn premiership player is from Temora
File:Taylor_Duryea_2017.jpg|Taylor Duryea, Hawthorn premiership player is from Corowa
File:Zac_Williams_2017.1.jpg|Zac Williams is from Narrandera
File:Dougal_Howard_2018.1.jpg|Dougal Howard is from Wagga Wagga
File:Jeremy_Finlayson_2018.1.jpg|Jeremy Finlayson is from Culcairn
File:Jacob_Hopper_2018.4.jpg|Jacob Hopper is from Leeton
File:Harrison_Himmelberg_2017.2.jpg|Harrison Himmelberg is from Wagga Wagga
File:Matthew_Kennedy_2018.1.jpg|Matthew Kennedy is from Collingullie
File:Harry_Perryman_2017.2.jpg|Harry Perryman is from Collingullie
File:Esava_Ratugolea_2019.2.jpg|Esava Ratugolea is from Griffith
File:Charlie_Spargo_2018.1.jpg|Charlie Spargo is from Albury
File:Zach_Sproule_2019.2.jpg|Zach Sproule is from Albury
File:Jacob_Koschitzke.jpg|Jacob Koschitzke is from Albury
See also
{{Australian rules football in Australia}}
{{Aussie Rules Playing Nations links}}