LIAM DURKIN
FOOTBALL
By LIAM DURKIN
DID you know Traralgon once had a VFL team?
The Maroons made the unprecedented step in the mid-90s of going from a country football club, to playing in a league only one level below the AFL.
The move coincided with a time of mass evolution that took the AFL from its suburban roots into a truly national competition, introducing teams such as Fremantle and Port Adelaide. With the major league expanding, the VFL looked to do likewise, approaching clubs from country areas to supplement the existing metropolitan base.
Traralgon, having dominated the then Latrobe Valley Football League, (now Gippsland League), at the time considered one of the strongest competitions in the state, were provided the opportunity to take part in the VFL.
To mark 25 years since the Maroons time in the VFL came to an end, here is a look back to what is arguably the greatest footballing achievement from any team in Gippsland.
SETTING THE SCENE
TRARALGON was certainly the team to beat in Gippsland League football during the 1990s.
The Maroons won four premierships, including three-in-a-row between 1990 and 1992, and made the grand final every season from the start of the decade up until 1995.
Such was their dominance, interleague sides were generally made up of a dozen or so Traralgon players.
While they were happily enjoying tasting flag success most seasons, things were happening in Melbourne that would lead the powers-at-be sounding out Traralgon to embark on a new challenge.
In what ended up being a perfect storm, the struggling Victorian Football Association was disbanded at the end of 1994 and turned over to the Victorian State Football League (VSFL), which had been established two years earlier by the AFL.
To add another component, the statewide Under 18 competition now known as NAB League was founded in that same year, with Gippsland Power inaugurating in 1993.
The VSFL sought to align each statewide Under 18 team with a VSFL club. Traralgon, being the powerhouse of the Gippsland competition, seemed the logical choice to partner with Gippsland Power (the VSFL was renamed VFL in 1996).
Talk of Traralgon entering the VFL gained momentum in 1995. In July of that year, the Maroons faithful were addressed by VSFL chief Ken Gannon, and asked if they wanted to vote on a potential move.
PROS AND CONS
UNDERSTANDABLY, debate raged on the issue of whether or not a country football team competing in a state league would be a viable prospect.
The Express dedicated two pages to the topic in its Friday, July 21 1995 issue.
Of most pressing concern was the need for Traralgon to maintain its local identity.
That meant fielding a VFL team with the best players from across the region, and also keeping its senior, reserve and thirds team to play in the Gippsland League.
“Traralgon is that strong that even without half the current senior team, they would be very competitive in our competition next season,” league president Brian Quigley said at the time.
The concept received support from the then Latrobe Shire and local MP Peter Hall, while Traralgon president John Cameron believed the club needed a new challenge.
“There is just a general apathy in the town when it comes to football,” he said.
“The people think, ‘What’s the point in turning up if they’re going to win every week’.
“What’s that going to do for the league? We need another challenge to get the interest back into football in Traralgon.”
Others however, like late legendary Morwell administrator Stan Morgan, weren’t so sure.
“To some extent Traralgon’s business is their business, but now it affects us all,” he said.
“I think this will be done to the detriment of football in the area.
“What the VSFL is saying is we want you (Traralgon) to round up your best colts and put them in the one paddock so it’s easier for us to have a good look at them.
“If the clubs at either end of the league find their best players gone, they have to start weighing up their options.”
GO AHEAD
AFTER much deliberation, Traralgon members voted overwhelmingly to join the VFL.
Members were asked to decide by postal vote, with 70 per cent voting in favour of entering two teams in the VFL and three in the Gippsland League.
The news was made official in early August 1995, and from there, it was all systems go.
Mark Seymour was appointed general manager of the Maroons, and the VFL provided the club some financial assistance to make the transition.
The Maroons selected a VFL list, which would share facilities with the local team. Those not selected for the VFL side would play for their nominated home club.
While all this was going on, there was still a Gippsland League flag to be won.
Traralgon made the 1995 grand final, but lost to Leongatha. The distraction caused by the incoming VFL team may well have played some part in the result, however, with that behind them, the Maroons set out on a journey no other team in Gippsland had ever undertaken.
A RUDE AWAKENING
TRARALGON appointed St Kilda 200-gamer Geoff ‘Joffa’ Cunningham coach and Greg Morley captain for its first season in the VFL.
Bairnsdale’s Peter Hopkins and Traralgon’s Martin Cameron were named vice-captains.
With a ‘Gippsland’ team now playing in the VFL, the opportunity was there for local players to test themselves at a higher level. For youngsters who had been overlooked in the draft, like Moe’s Matt Forys, the chance was also there to be put back into the spotlight.
The Maroons had 10 Traralgon players for its first game as a VFL club, against Frankston on Sunday, April 7 1996.
The Dolphins, coached by Norm Smith Medalist David Rhys Jones, showed the new kids on the block no mercy, winning by 112 points 22.18 (150) to 5.8 (38).
Those accustomed to playing local footy knew there would be a jump in standard – they perhaps just didn’t know how big a jump it would be.
Despite the baptism of fire, the Maroons did not have to wait long to toast their first victory, which came in Round 4 against fellow country club North Ballarat, who had also joined the VFL for the 1996 season.
A photo of the winning side still takes pride of place in the foyer of the Traralgon Football-Netball Club social rooms, and shows the Maroons victorious 14.15 (99) to 8.8 (56).
Unfortunately, it was to be the only highpoint for the season. The Maroons did not win another match, and ended the year in last place.
AN UNTIMELY DEMISE
TRARALGON fared slightly better in 1997, winning three games and drawing one under the coaching of Geoff Hocking.
However, the financial pressure to remain in the VFL took its toll, and meant the Maroons time in the big league was over just as quickly as it started.
The Maroons had a few external factors to deal with, such as the makeup of its VFL list, which prevented emergencies playing with their nominated home club.
As one can imagine, the home clubs and the players themselves weren’t entirely pleased about missing a weekend of football.
Adding to the troubles was a somewhat bizarre directive from the VFL that prevented cars being parked around the ground, on the basis it “detracted” from the image the league was looking to portray.
While their time as a VFL club was short-lived, Cameron said it was still a wonderful experience.
“For my football growth it was awesome, I’m just so pleased I had the opportunity to do it, playing VFL while still living in your home town was great,” he said.
“It made us better footballers and people in general from having to work harder and play harder and train harder.
“It was an eye-opener, just a massive jump in standard for everybody and playing Sunday football because we were always Saturdays, most of the VFL was on Sunday.
“Playing in the backline the ball was always down there, and you would always play on the best forwards.
“It was good, every second week we would have a quality VFL side coming to Traralgon.”
Having come from a winning culture at local level, Cameron said the Maroons looked to bring that across, but were found out of their depth.
“You always want to play to win,” he said.
“We went out with the intention of trying to win every week, just being able to see other sides, we might have had 10 to 12 players that could play at the level well, where they (other teams) had 20. It was just overwhelming, but it was good, it was really good fun, a great grounding.
“The club went into it for all the right reasons, to give people a better standard of football to play, but unfortunately it didn’t work.
“Just the finances virtually … that was it. League affiliations were ridiculously high, it was just untenable for the club to keep going forward and it would have led to the demise of the actual footy club, so something had to give.”
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
ONE of the more popular theories surrounding why Traralgon’s stay in the VFL didn’t last long is simply to do with the naming of the team.
In the eyes of some, calling the team Traralgon automatically meant players who perhaps should have tried out refused to do so.
Like most things, context is needed, and as anyone who played football in Gippsland during the 1990s will be able to tell you – club rivalries ran very deep.
So deep, the task of convincing a Moe or Morwell player to even consider wearing a Traralgon jumper in the VFL would have bordered on sacrilegious.
Given the Maroons’ dominance of the local league before entering the VFL, players from other clubs more than likely saw the realistic chance of handing back some defeats once it became apparent Traralgon’s playing stocks were depleted.
Cameron understood the animosity-side of the argument.
“If it was called ‘Gippsland’ I think we would have got a lot more players wanting to try out, giving that whole-league feeling. I think having the name Traralgon … guys were a little reluctant to come over, especially the first year,” he said.
“It was a lot easier the second year but unfortunately financially just too hard for the club. If it had been a Gippsland team I think being able to get money from right across Gippsland would have made it a lot easier.”
However, former Gippsland League secretary Brian McKenzie wasn’t entirely convinced the name argument had many legs to stand on.
Speaking on a podcast with the author in 2020, McKenzie laid out his rationale.
“If you change the name from Traralgon to Gippsland would that have meant people go there? They are still going to be actually playing under the administration of the Traralgon Football Club,” he said.
“It was a totally Traralgon decision, it wasn’t a league decision.”
Ever the diplomat, McKenzie did not rule out the likelihood of people not choosing to play VFL because it carried the Traralgon name; only saying: “I suspect that would be the case”.
AFTERMATH
COMING back from the VFL, Traralgon picked up where they left off, winning the first of three consecutive Gippsland League premierships in 1998.
That meant the Maroons had won six of the 10 flags on offer during the 90s.
The only years they missed the grand final were 1996 and 1997 when the bulk of their side was off playing VFL.
Possibly the most overlooked fact is this: Traralgon’s local senior team still made finals in both years it was in the VFL. Talk about having depth.
Today, there are remnants from the Maroons’ days in the VFL. A couple of jumpers behind glass adorn an area above the social room bar, while the VFL logo is still fixed to a sign in the gym section of the Traralgon rooms.
The only known footage of Traralgon playing in the VFL comes from Round 9, 1997 against Box Hill. Those interested viewing can access via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEbB3K6aYlU
Although most people don’t associate Traralgon FNC with the VFL, the Maroons can proudly hold onto this piece of history for the rest of time.
The success Traralgon had some 30 years ago has meant the rivalry between them and the rest of the competition has been passed down through the generations.
Too many Gippsland League players and supporters, there is still no team you love to beat more than Traralgon.
