August 13th 2005: A Proud Tradition Dies; ODFA Clubs To Wind Up.
Today will sound the death knell for Oatlands District Football Association clubs Swansea and Mt Pleasant. With rival clubs Triabunna, Bothwell and Oatlands expected to join the SFL Regional League in 2006, Swansea and Mt Pleasant will be left with no competition in which to play.
James Bresenehan reports on the demise of two proud clubs.
It was like a scene from Dead Poets Society.
Everywhere, photographs of players past looked down over the Mt Pleasant Football Club's inner-sanctum, faces frozen in time.
You can almost hear them whisper "Carpe Diem" - seize the day.
Ornate frames surround heroes of glory days - unfortunately days that are numbered for the proud country club.
The team that has worn blue and blue through nine decades is now seeing red.
The pages of history are about to close on the club that started in 1921 when a bunch of farmers ran out onto the Barwicks' sheep paddock for the first time as the Yorkies, the forerunner to Mt Pleasant Football Club.
The Mounties are on top of the ladder as they head into the final round of roster matches today in the Oatlands District Football Association.
But after the finals, Mt Pleasant will join the dead club society.
"It tears me up to think the club is not going to be around anymore, but there's nothing I can do about it," said Mt Pleasant president Rupert Gregg.
Mount Pleasant's demise came out of the blue.
One of five clubs in the ODFA, the Mounties were shocked to learn that three clubs were pulling the pin to join the Regional League next year.
Bothwell and Oatlands will combine to form one team and Triabunna will be the other, taking that competition to 10.
The ODFA will be reduced to two.
Apart from each other, Mt Pleasant and its coastal cousins Swansea will have no one to play.
All the other teams in the area have died off over the last 20 years or so.
Teams such as Colebrook, Ross, Tunbridge, Parattah, Campania, Woodsdale, Tunnack and Kempton have all disappeared.
"We can't have a two-team competition," Gregg said.
"If there is anybody who wants to put a team on the park next year, we'll play 'em."
Other than that, the reality looks stark.
"I have to call a meeting of members and supporters and say "What do we do - throw our lot in with Bothwell and Oatlands, put the club on ice, or fold it up?" Gregg said.
"Once it's gone, it's gone."
"The 15 flags, and all the shields and trophies will end up in a box somewhere."
Mt Pleasant has survived through the ages on the goodwill of the locals.
"We have a group of players just playing because they want to play footy," Gregg said.
"They're not playing for big money, because there isn't any.
"We rely on stalwarts to run the club, run the kiosk, the Porky Triffet's who work for nothing but the satisfaction of keeping the club going."
On the East Coast, 66-year-old Swansea president Paul Wright makes no bones about how he feels about the impending demise of his club.
"Sh*thouse," was his reaction.
For Swansea, it's three strikes and you're out.
The rug has been pulled out from under Swansea in two other competitions in the past 12 years. It was on its last chance in the ODFA.
Wright has been involved with the club for more than 20 years, and his wife Narelle, 63, for more than 40 years.
"A lot of people around the place have been involved for a lot of years, and now it's all coming to an end," Wright said.
Swansea was due to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2010.
"This is the third time it's happened to us," Wright said.
"We were in the Fingal league until it folded in 1992, and then it was done to us in the Tasman league, which folded in 2001, and now it's happening all over again.
"But you can't blame the other clubs for trying to look after themselves."
Reality has yet to sink in.
"It's a shock to the system but it hasn't hit home yet. After the last game it will probably knock us around a bit."
Wright wished the ODFA's three defectors good luck - because he said they would need it.
"We don't hold a grudge against the other sides for doing it - good luck to them." he said.
"I just hope they're all right, they're going to find it hard, no risk about that."
ODFA secretary Todd Hill said the competition was already on its knees.
Swansea had given warning that it would struggle to form a committee next season, and that if it did go on it would only field a senior team.
"If we'd kept going next year and Swansea dropped out, the remaining four clubs would not be able to survive financially - not with four sides and no reserves," Hill said.
"We were the only rural competition left in the South of the state.
"We had a very strong seven-team competition four years ago. It's all gone down-hill very quickly."
Bothwell-Oatlands and Triabunna have yet to be accepted into the Regional League, but that seems a formality.
"The ODFA clubs will meet with the Regional clubs over the next month," said AFL South president Roger Viney.
"It's a nice way to meet those joining your company, if that's the future, and discuss all of the issues."
The eight-team consists of teams from Hobart, the Huon and Eastern Shore.
Kermandie is the farthest outpost in the flourishing league and the club likely to be most affected in terms of logistics.
It would be more than a 220-km round trip to Bothwell for the Kermandie lads, should the new side be allowed to play a game at home.
Most likely, they will be made to play at venues closer to the big smoke.
"Some of our players come from Southport, which is south of Kermandie, so a trip to Bothwell would be a long way to go to play football," said Kermandie Football Club president Greg Beechey.
A month ago if you had told Beechey his club would play a team from Bothwell next season, he would've thought you were a couple of biscuits short of a packet.
"I would've thought that was a dream. I wouldn't have expected it at all." he said.
AFL South will announce its decision on Bothwell-Oatlands and Triabunna on September 19.
And, to add insult to injury, that will be too late for Mt Pleasant and Swansea to organise a big bash at their finals games to send their clubs into history.
Nev Upset At Club's Finale
By James Bresnehan.
If premiership cups were made of gold, country football legend Neville Barwick would have one of the best rags-to-riches stories of all-time.
In his prime he was the Michael Voss of country footy south of the "Great Divide".
In 24-years with midlands club Mt Pleasant, "Nev" played 430 games and kicked 1320 goals.
He played in 8 premierships, coached three of them, and was named captain of the Mounties' Team-Of-The-Century.
No wonder he is so upset that Mt Pleasant Football Club will be nothing but a memory at the end of the 2005 Oatlands District Football Association season.
The Mounties will play their last roster game today, and after their campaign will have nowhere to play because the ODFA is going under.
"Im a very disappointed person, I've been here all my life, it's gut-wrenching." Barwick, 53, said.
"I've made a lot of fantastic friendships over the years.
And now, if the club goes under, I'll be devastated."
Barwick brought his skills to town in the mid-1970's when he had three successful seasons with New Norfolk in the TANFL.
In 1978 he returned to Mt Pleasant as captain-coach and took the club to the premiership.
"We played Oatlands and were absolute underdogs, and we beat them," Barwick said.
"Three blokes got reported for giving it to me and another bloke should have."
Another moment that stands out was the 1987 flag.
"We had a very young side, and during the season we never beat Ross, Kempton or Tunnack but we came out and won the Grand Final, that was a great premiership." he said.
Neville's son Nathan is a member of the undefeated New Norfolk senior team in the Southern Premier League.
