TOOLEYBUC-MANANGATANG SAINTS
Current Affiliation:
Central Murray Football League (CMFL) since 2004
Formed:
2004, through the amalgamation of the Manangatang and Tooleybuc Football Clubs
Colours:
Black, red and white
Emblem:
Saints
Formed prior to the 2004 season through the merger of Central Murray Football League club Tooleybuc and Manangatang of the Mallee Football League, the Saints have not been slow in establishing themselves as a force to be reckoned with. The seniors contested a grand final in their first year, losing to Kerang, contested the finals again in 2005 and 2006, and broke through for their first premiership in 2007 when they accounted for Balranald in the grand final by 45 points, 17.12 (114) to 9.15 (69). The side could scarcely have done any better in 2007 as, in addition to the flag, Ryan O'Sullivan won his second Jack Betts Medal as the league's best and fairest player, while Jarrod Arentz booted 143 goals to top the league list for the third consecutive time.
TOOLEYBUC FOOTBALL CLUB
FOUNDED 1903
GUERNSEY - Black and white vertical stripes until 1946; white with red V 1947-48; green with gold V 1949-57; green with gold TFC monogram 1958-2003
NICKNAME - The Bucs
PREMIERSHIPS - 3
1923 (Lines FA), 1935 (Mid Valley FA), 1965 (Mid Murray FL)
MANANGATANG FOOTBALL CLUB
FOUNDED 1914
(merged with Chinkapook in 1971 and known as Chinkapook-Manangatang Football Club until 1976)
GUERNSEY - Green with gold band until 1957; red, white and black vertical panels 1958-2003
NICKNAME - The Saints (from 1958)
PREMIERSHIPS - 9
1920 (Northern District FA), 1949 (Nandaly-Bolton FL), 1957 (Manangatang FL), 1963, 1967 (Tyrrell FL), 1989, 1994, 1996 (Northern Mallee FL), 2002 (Mallee FL)
CENTRAL MURRAY FOOTBALL LEAGUE IN 2004
- Balranald
- Cohuna Kangas
- Kerang
- Koondrook-Barham
- Lake Boga
- Lalbert
- Leitchville-Gunbower
- Nyah-Nyah West United
- Swan Hill
- Tooleybuc-Manangatang
- Tyntynder
- Woorinen
RECENT CENTRAL MURRAY FL PREMIERS
2003 Lake Boga
2002 Woorinen
2001 Nyah-Nyah West
2000 Nyah-Nyah West
1999 Tyntynder
1998 Tyntynder
1997 Tyntynder
1996 Lalbert
1995 Swan Hill
1994 Balranald
VFL-AFL PLAYERS FROM TOOLEYBUC AND MANNANGATANG
JOHN SHARROCK
VFL CAREER
Geelong 1963-68
GAMES 94
GOALS 109
A brilliantly skilled half-forward, he was recruited to Geelong from Tooleybuc in 1963. Sharrock played every game that season, including the grand final, which the Cats won. In 1966, he finished third in the Brownlow Medal but two years later he injured his knee in a state game and had to retire from VFL football at just 24 years of age.
CRAIG SHOLL
VFL-AFL CAREER North Melbourne 1987-2000
GAMES 235
GOALS 165
Although recruited to the Kangaroos from Horsham, Sholl started his football career at Manangatang, where he won the under-13s best and fairest in 1979. He won North Melbourne’s best and fairest in 1991 while also representing Victoria. Later in his career, he moved to the forward line and was an important contributor in the Kangaroos 1996 and 1999 premierships.
BRETT HUNGERFORD
AFL CAREER
Geelong 1990
GAMES 2
GOALS 0
Recruited from Tooleybuc, Hungerford broke into the very strong Geelong side in 1990 but couldn?t cement his spot.
The Long Journey Home
The Sunday Age
Sunday August 22, 2004
Adam McNicol
http://www.chub.com.au/chub-articles/2004/8/22/the-long-journey-home/
When Manangatang announced it would merge with Tooleybuc last year, Adam McNicol was shattered. He reports on his first visit home to watch the new Saints.
As I drove up to the entrance of the Manangatang football ground last weekend, it appeared little had changed since my previous visit almost 12 months ago.
Baz, Knocker, Skivar and Sam were still manning the gate, selling footy records and raffle tickets from an old silver caravan - as they have at each home game for as long as I can remember.
Out on the oval, which is situated inside the famous local racetrack, was an under-17s team wearing red, white and black, the colours worn by Manang since it entered the Tyrrell league in 1958.
The sameness was most reassuring.
Over summer, my beloved Saints finally buckled under the strain of a dwindling local population and merged with Central Murray league club Tooleybuc, located 50 kilometres east on the NSW side of the Murray River.
At times, it was a heartbreaking process. Since going kickless in my first year in the under-13s, I had slowly fallen in love with the Manangatang Football Club.
When I moved away from Manang in 1997 to study at university, the club's brilliantly unpretentious atmosphere and my desire to help it survive continually lured me home.
For five years, the obsession involved a weekly 800-kilometre round trip from Melbourne, often with a carload of college mates, who would run around with me in the reserves. Many of the boys went on to play in the seniors, often on the same day they had played in the seconds.
Our seniors won only five games during a horror run from 1999 to 2001. On one disastrous day, the team failed to kick a goal in perfect conditions at Woomelang.
But the return of many locally bred stars helped us win a fairytale Mallee league premiership in 2002. Manang again made the grand final last season, but it was unsustainable success.
Almost all our players lived at least an hour away. The thirds team contained only half a dozen locals.
Yet I still held out hope we could keep going. It was not to be.
Last October, the Tooleybuc-Manangatang Saints were formed.
Until a week ago, work commitments had denied me the chance to be a part of the new club. Desperate to see the last of three home matches at our MCG for the season, I made the trek from Melbourne up the Calder Highway to see the Saints play Tyntynder, feeling a sense of excitement and trepidation.
Having made it past the boys on the gate, I noticed some subtle differences. The 'M' was gone from the scoreboard and had been replaced with the word Saints. I didn't seem to know anyone in the cars I had parked next to on the fence and the interchange players sported bright new tracksuit tops, a far cry from the old green dressing gowns that made you itchy for the rest of the day.
Soon I ran into Lindsay Plant, a local farmer who became Manang president after the 2001 season and dragged the club all the way up the ladder. He and his old schoolmate, Greg Rae, who was the last Tooleybuc president, were the architects of the merger. The two now head the Saints' board.
I vividly remember the day last year when Lindsay told me he had begun merger talks. I was shattered.
Last Saturday, he told me the communities of Tooleybuc and Manangatang had embraced the new club. Many now refer to it as Tooleytang.
"We wanted to merge with strength," Lindsay said, referring to the fact Manang could not survive in the long term, despite having made the past two Mallee league grand finals.
Tooleybuc was in an even more desperate situation. It was set to fold at the end of last season, the club having not won a premiership since 1965. But its supporters now have something of which they can be proud.
That Tooleybuc and Manangatang never played in the same league means there is no long-standing animosity between players and supporters.
The Saints are a genuine premiership chance in their first season and have attracted the biggest crowds seen at Central Murray league matches in many years. When Balranald visited Tooleybuc in round five, takings at the canteen alone topped $5000.
Yet, the merger is still sinking in with some people. Several club members from Tooleybuc paid the entrance fee at Manang last weekend after forgetting they were attending a home game.
"They were smart enough not to come back for their money," said Sam White, an ever-present gate attendant. "We treated it as a donation."
On the field, things went to plan.
The firsts, seconds and thirds all had big wins. Tyntynder's senior team was a shadow of the team that won more than 40 games in a row under Trevor Ryan in the late 1990s.
At three-quarter-time, the visitors had kicked only one goal.
Saints coach Ashley Connick, a well-spoken and measured leader, built the Tooleybuc-Manangatang boys up for the game.
In round six, when still undefeated, they led the Bulldogs by three goals at the last change before being overrun. Tyntynder coach Adam Kelly had inspired his players by telling them the Saints had no history.
"That was a slur on us and what we're trying to achieve," Connick said just before the team ran out.
Gun recruit Ryan O'Sullivan continued his brilliant form in the ruck, while full-forward Jarrod Arentz booted nine goals, taking his season tally to 82. Boasting tree-trunk legs and bucket hands, Jarrod has captivated local football fans since making his senior debut at just 15.
Such was the excitement when he came home from Sunraysia league club Wentworth for the 2002 season, signs trumpeting "Jack's Back" were plastered over the grain silos to encourage donations from farmers.
He didn't let us down.
After being left one-out inside the 50-metre arc each week, where he would battle up to four defenders, Jarrod finished the season with 150 goals, including 13 in the grand final against Ouyen United.
I often wonder how he would go at full-forward for the Brisbane Lions.
Big things will be needed from Jarrod and centre-half forward Joel Cullen, another product of the Manang juniors, if the Saints are to make an impression in this year's finals.
The top four Central Murray league teams are very evenly matched. Kerang and Swan Hill have strong running teams made up of mainly local players, while Balranald has recruited hard men from far and wide.
One of its players is being flown to games from Sydney each weekend.
The Saints have their own travelling contingent, including three players from Melbourne.
Their performances were closely monitored as I stood with former Manang full-forward Jim Barnes during last weekend's senior match.
Barnesy kicked 118 goals in 1989, when Manang finally broke its 22-year premiership drought. He was also the club president. Before that, the Saints lost five grand finals between 1979 and 1986.
I remember peering into the club rooms in the late 1980s and not being able to see the back wall through the smoke.
Barnesy watched on proudly as his son Jeremy mopped up across the back line and delivered the ball with precise foot skills, something not always achieved by the Melbourne boys.
He voted against the merger, yet admits there would probably be no football in Manang without it.
"It's not the same, but I'm warming to it," he said.
Laurie "Chub" Morris played in three premierships for Manang and was also initially against the union with Tooleybuc.
A veteran of more than 400 games, he told me last year he was gutted for two days after the vote.
Last Saturday, he watched the game from the social club while revelling in the 10-year reunion of the 1994 premiership team.
I went to the bar and was delighted to find Graeme and Noreen Morris still dishing out cold beer. Much of it seemed to be heading towards the "superbox", a semi-trailer that had been parked next to the boundary in the forward pocket.
There is talk Manang could get an extra home game next year. This has settled the nerves of some locals, who fear Tooleybuc's superior facilities, and proximity to Swan Hill, will eventually mean all matches are played there.
Plant is confident the Saints have a rosy long-term future. He points to a planned refurbishment of the Manang clubrooms as evidence the club is committed to playing football in both towns.
Only the water bill, which tops $10,000 each year, threatens the MCG's long-term viability as a football venue.
From two clubs with little future has emerged a powerful and professional major league outfit. And to my delight, it still feels like the old Manang.
Go the Saints!
After graduating from the juniors, Adam McNicol played about 120 games in the Manangatang reserves and was a part of the 1996 premiership team. He was voted best clubman in 2000. He is also the author of "Marching On, 85 Years of Football in the Manangatang District".
