McLean Oval February 5 2018, just after it was sown in preparation for matches between U16 and U18 Regional State Cup sides.

McLean Oval is now lush and it is still one of the best grounds to watch Rugby League and League Tag on. The Harden Hawkettes are continuing to be the premier side in the George Tooke Shield League Tag competition. They have played 13 games this season for 13 wins. Their for and against is 584 FOR and 12 AGAINST in the 8 team competition.

I was born in 1984, the same year that the Canterbury Bulldogs won the NSWRL Premiership. I love footy. Always have.

In 1984 Canterbury had a large number of bush kids make up their Premiership winning side. Andrew Farrer, born in Cowra, Chris, Steve and Peter Mortimer all from Wagga. Brian Battese from Lismore, Peter Kelly from Eden.

All from country areas and all great footballers. It’s a similar story across every great team in the NRL.

On Saturday we would venture down to Robert’s Park and watch the Harden Red Devils take on the other local sides in the South West Rugby Union competition. First and Reserve grades battling it out under the shadow of the trees as the western sun went down.

I like many kids in the small country town of Harden-Murrumburrah would head for the hill on Sundays and watch the Harden sides of the 1990s take on the other teams in Group 9.

4 grades of footy starting with Sullivan Cup (U16s) before Weissel Cup (U18s) and then onto Reserve Grade where we would watch some of our friends uncles, or dads, runaround towards the end of their career with the next wave of up and comers taking the field alongside the old hard men. Some players were a little too old for U18s and not quite ready for First Grade. That was Reserve Grade. Lunch was a sausage roll and a can of coke. If you were lucky you might get a bag of lollies.

It was a different time, not just because I was a kid and then a teenager. But because the town rallied around both codes. It was the focus. It was bush footy, where the roads out of the town weren’t that flash and the Hume Highway hadn’t been duplicated fully. People stayed in town and looked forward to the footy.

Sides were full of local and regional players and the players were like stars in each town. Many young men wanted to grow up and play for the Hawks or the Devils.

Group 9 was started at the Grand Hotel in Harden in 1923, not far off 100 years ago. The Maher Cup soon followed with some of the best country Rugby League played in Australia during this time.

Harden Murrumburrah once held the Cup for a full season and also won the Competition.

Although the make up of the competition has changed over the years it is sad to see club’s disappear or end up under the threat of having to merge.

Wagga Magpies and Turvey Park couldn’t go it alone in 2005 and merged to become South City. Harden-Murrumburrah were unceremoniously removed from the competition at the completion of the 2006 season.

Tumbarumba are not competing and Adelong Batlow have hung up the boots.

Well respected former footballer, broadcaster and Rugby League enforcer Mark Geyer, recently went into to bat for bush footy. It’s not the first time he has. Back in October 2017 when the NRL announced some matches would be played in regional areas. He said, “This is great start, about 54% of NRL players come from the country, we’ve got to nurture our biggest asset. At the moment, we are seeing teams go by the wayside on a weekly basis in the country. We need to help them.”

The NRL needs to have a look at the money it spends. Greenberg is reported to earn $1.5 million to run the show. 3 times as much as the Prime Minister of the country. Salaries for top end level officials need to be brought into line with community expectations.

The existing five-year NRL broadcast deal is in its second season and is worth $1.8 billion with Channel Nine and Fox Sports sharing the load across free-to-air and pay TV. The cash component is in excess of $300 million a season. Surely there is money available for the bush, where half the NRL’s players originate.

The game that started in England’s north and was played by coal miners needs to go back to its working class roots and history.

If country people support their team in the city and drive hours to be there, why doesn’t the NRL provide food and drink vouchers for them and show that their efforts to support their chosen side are appreciated after a trek that could be 400 or 500 kilometres for some. It might help fill up half empty stadiums.

While the city gets new stadiums we see bush sides disappearing.

The bush also deserves a slice of the NRL’s cream. As the nursery of so many NRL players, Rugby League must be investing back in these country towns all over the state.

It’s unsure if we will ever return to the glory days of the Maher Cup or the days which followed.

What is for sure is that we won’t have a chance unless the NRL starts properly funding and supporting country clubs. They need to start making it a part of the retirement process of NRL players to funnel some of our ageing stars towards the bush and not back to the north of England as romantic as it may sound.

The famous Gundagai Tigers are lining up for another assault on the Group 9 Premiership this year. They brought Parramatta star Maiko Siva to the town where the Dog sits on the Tuckerbox. Siva is setting the NRL on fire since being signed to the Parramatta Eels. Gundagai will likely finish in 2nd place behind the Tumut Blues who are having a stellar year with the Warner Brothers. Unfortunately towns such as Temora, Young, Junee and Coota are struggling towards the bottom of the ladder.

Towns which have produced names such as Barret, Mullins, McLean, Woolford, Hinchcliffe and Boyd to name but a handful, are under pressure.

If the NRL is all powerful and they are responsible for the future of Rugby League. It’s time they got out here and started helping these bush competitions. They need to work with local Councils, local employers and local football committees to ensure the future of the game they call ‘our game’ will continue for generations to come and continue to be our game.