Mobbs
A Large Portion, Yes
When Marnoo found it didn't have the players to continue fielding teams in the Lexton Plains FL, it went into recess a couple of years ago.
It was definitely a player issue - the Noo's financial status was by far the least of their problems. Supporter groups had kept the club flush with everything required ... except blokes on the field. A slow and painful population decline, exacerbated by a lack of industry alternatives to farming in the town, left Marnoo charging their teams with players from Donald and Saint Arnaud, and sometimes from Stawell.
When Marnoo decided to call it a tentative day, the question remained : What shall we spend all this dosh on?
Enter Rupanyup, close neighbour and Horsham District FL powerhouse. The twenty-two kilometres separating the two teams was not enough to dispel the waft of dollar signs that floated lazily from the east.
Rup have the players, but apparently they could always do with a bit more of the hard-earned (couldn't we all). Whether any official proposal was ever tabled is not known to myself, but Rup were definitely on the prowl for a merger.
Marnoo resisted, choosing instead to enter recess. Those hidings the Noo received at the hands of Rup, at staggered preseason practice matches, probably lent themselves to a bit of a sneer. For whatever reason, Marnoo abstained.
Which was worse : an alliance with this exercise in pomposity, or the loss of whichever players did come from home, to primary rival Navarre? Because that's what happened, many of the Noo fold ended up on the playing list for the Grasshoppers in the Lexton Plains FL. Greater of two evils, if you ask me.
So, Marnoo ceased play, Rupanyup went back to concentrate on their own lot, and Navarre were the winners.
So why is it that the local Marnoo newsletter, 'Marnoo Community News' (I still remember it as the 'Sportsheet'), is now fielding training and recruitment information for Rup? There has been almost no reference to Rupanyup football in the newsletter for the last fifteen years. But now, without regard to snub received, their advertisements are clear as day.
With football no longer a major heading, do the Noo just need some padding for the winter editions of their tome? Or are Rup still after the one that got away? It seems clear that they still want a piece of the action. Is it a genuine offer, borne of affection, or is the attitude akin to birds of carrion? Where to, for the Noo?
Personally, I'd rather the Nooers engendered cahoots with Great Western, who are struggling for success in the HDFL, since swimming away from the wreck of the Ararat District FA.
From the Marnoo camp, they carry on regardless, commencing new fields of social entertainment to fill the hole.
From the den of the Blues it seems there is one more defiant cry : Vive le carpet bowls!
Way to snub!
- Based on hearsay reports from my hometown. Probably a substantial load of overly speculative bullshit
------------------
Hallowed be thy Roy
[This message has been edited by Mobbenfuhrer (edited 15 April 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Mobbenfuhrer (edited 15 April 2001).]
It was definitely a player issue - the Noo's financial status was by far the least of their problems. Supporter groups had kept the club flush with everything required ... except blokes on the field. A slow and painful population decline, exacerbated by a lack of industry alternatives to farming in the town, left Marnoo charging their teams with players from Donald and Saint Arnaud, and sometimes from Stawell.
When Marnoo decided to call it a tentative day, the question remained : What shall we spend all this dosh on?
Enter Rupanyup, close neighbour and Horsham District FL powerhouse. The twenty-two kilometres separating the two teams was not enough to dispel the waft of dollar signs that floated lazily from the east.
Rup have the players, but apparently they could always do with a bit more of the hard-earned (couldn't we all). Whether any official proposal was ever tabled is not known to myself, but Rup were definitely on the prowl for a merger.
Marnoo resisted, choosing instead to enter recess. Those hidings the Noo received at the hands of Rup, at staggered preseason practice matches, probably lent themselves to a bit of a sneer. For whatever reason, Marnoo abstained.
Which was worse : an alliance with this exercise in pomposity, or the loss of whichever players did come from home, to primary rival Navarre? Because that's what happened, many of the Noo fold ended up on the playing list for the Grasshoppers in the Lexton Plains FL. Greater of two evils, if you ask me.
So, Marnoo ceased play, Rupanyup went back to concentrate on their own lot, and Navarre were the winners.
So why is it that the local Marnoo newsletter, 'Marnoo Community News' (I still remember it as the 'Sportsheet'), is now fielding training and recruitment information for Rup? There has been almost no reference to Rupanyup football in the newsletter for the last fifteen years. But now, without regard to snub received, their advertisements are clear as day.
With football no longer a major heading, do the Noo just need some padding for the winter editions of their tome? Or are Rup still after the one that got away? It seems clear that they still want a piece of the action. Is it a genuine offer, borne of affection, or is the attitude akin to birds of carrion? Where to, for the Noo?
Personally, I'd rather the Nooers engendered cahoots with Great Western, who are struggling for success in the HDFL, since swimming away from the wreck of the Ararat District FA.
From the Marnoo camp, they carry on regardless, commencing new fields of social entertainment to fill the hole.
From the den of the Blues it seems there is one more defiant cry : Vive le carpet bowls!
Way to snub!
- Based on hearsay reports from my hometown. Probably a substantial load of overly speculative bullshit
------------------
Hallowed be thy Roy
[This message has been edited by Mobbenfuhrer (edited 15 April 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Mobbenfuhrer (edited 15 April 2001).]
