Last September, AFL Victoria Country handed down a review into the state of the Ovens and King footy league.
The key recommendation was that three of the competition's weakest on-field performers, Goorambat, Tatong and Swanpool, should merge into one strong club to represent the small communities that lie to the north and south of Benalla.
Goorambat has been accepted back into the Ovens and King league after failed attempts at a merger.
The new club was to be based at Goorambat but would play some home games each year at both Tatong and Swanpool.
However, in the words of Tatong president Felicity Munro: "The whole three-way merger was never going to be a successful concept, particularly when all three clubs initially wanted to remain independent."
Six months down the track, the clubs involved have experienced vastly different outcomes.
Goorambat, which supported the merger, has been accepted back into the Ovens and King league as a stand-alone entity.
In contrast, Tatong and Swanpool, which worked together to scuttle the amalgamation, are now essentially in recess.
The key objection made by the hardy backers of the Magpies and Swans related to travel. They felt it was unfair to run the club out of Goorambat, which is around 45 kilometres from both Tatong and Swanpool.
"If the proposal was for a community club based in Benalla, we would’ve been open to that," Munro said.
When the initial merger fell over, Tatong and Swanpool, which are just 15 kilometres apart, offered to undertake their own merger in the hope that they would be permitted to play in the Ovens and King league. They also made a last-ditch effort to gain entry, as a merged entity, into the Picola and District league's south-east competition.
Neither plan succeeded, meaning the Tatong and Swanpool footy ovals and netball courts will lie empty for much of this winter.
Things are far different at Goorambat, where the Bats remain in business and have simply added "and District" to their name in an attempt to broaden their catchment area.
"We were fairly keen to see if we could work out some sort of amalgamation so that we had one really strong regional side," said Bats president Mark Skilbeck. "We couldn't work on that well enough to get everybody happy with that, so we have just continued to work as an individual club.
"We are happy with the outcome ourselves. I can certainly understand that both Tatong and Swanpool probably feel a bit battered and bruised, but we were in exactly the same position that they were in. We just approached it in a slightly different manner."
The whole saga dates back to 2009, when the old Benalla and District league was wound up. New competitions were found for its five clubs, with Longwood joining the Kyabram and District league and Bonnie Doon, Goorambat, Swanpool and Tatong joining the Ovens and King FNL.
Of the latter four, only Bonnie Doon was reasonably competitive between 2010 and 2013, winning 27 senior footy matches. The other three struggled. Last year, for instance, Tatong conceded 46 goals against Milawa, while Swanpool had scores of more than 30 goals kicked against it on seven occasions.
But given the three-way merger has fallen over, where will the saga end?
Goorambat is getting on with the job of trying to build its playing list so it can compete with the big boys of the Ovens and King league – clubs like Tarrawingee, Moyhu and reigning premier Milawa.
The Bats start their season with a home game against Greta next Sunday.
"Now we've popped out the other side of the review, we've started to get some fairly handy recruits coming in," Skilbeck said. "We've appointed a senior coach from within the ranks, Travers Nolan, who has played around 250 games for us and whose family have a very strong connection to the club.
"We've played a couple of practice games already and the team is really warming to him, and he has really risen to the challenge."
Meanwhile, the passionate folk out at Tatong have accepted the fact their century-old club can no longer exist on its own. With that in mind, they have planned an "end of an era" party for the June long weekend.
In the meantime, they are committed to forming a new club with Swanpool.
"There will be a community meeting held in April to vote and formalise the club," Munro said. "It won't be a merged club, it will be an entirely new entity, and that club will move forward towards 2015.
"It won't play in the Ovens and King league. We will look to enter another league.
"But even if we're a football-netball club or a sporting club in name only, and even if it means that we just deal with those tough-nut kids who don't fit into the mainstream programs, then the purpose of the sporting club has been achieved."
BY - ADAM McNICOL.
20th March, 2014.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/benalla-clubs-revamp-ends-in-batty-overhaul-20140321-hvkv3.html