Don't lose sight of the bigger picture. That's the mantra of Upper Murray footballer Ash Greenhill. The Border Walwa junior witnessed the demise of his beloved club at the start of last year. After a season with no football, he joined Federal as an assistant coach this year. He caught up with The Border Mail's BEAU GREENWAY to chat about footy, life and the future of the Upper Murray league.
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BEAU GREENWAY: It must have been gut-wrenching to move clubs having been at Border-Walwa your whole life?
ASH GREENHILL: It was the year before. It was between going to Cudgewa or Federal. My two sisters play netball at Cudgewa. It was a hard decision because they're both great clubs, but I had a few more mates at the time at Federal and that's why you play footy. It's different seeing the different clothes on the washing line and in the wardrobe.
BG: The writing was on the wall for the home club?
AG: The time was coming. Without junior football or netball, what's the point of trying to run a club? Without locals and trying to pay players, you're essentially running a club to pay someone money without a local base.
BG: Population is a big factor up there?
AG: If juniors aren't getting an opportunity at one club, because there's no numbers, they just go down the road to the next club. Eventually, there won't be enough numbers to have a couple of junior teams. The netball side of things is alright, it's just the junior football that seems to be lacking a bit.
BG: Ultimate success has evaded you thus far, has it been tough to keep fronting up?
AG: You've got to have an out on a weekend. I'm starting to question it, I know (laughs). When I was working in town, it broke up the week and you looked forward to it. I live at home alone, so it's good to go and catch up with the boys. They supply dinner after training and you have a few beers. To me, that's what footy is about. Times have changed as well, it's not like the olden days where each club was their own and wouldn't talk to the opposition. It's country footy, you have a beer after the game and you have to get along in the bigger picture to help the league survive, not just your club. It's a community thing more so. It's just a game at the end of the day and the bigger picture is the social side.
BG: Did you ever come close to a flag at Border-Walwa?
AG: Not in seniors, only junior footy. I think we won six out of seven. When I was playing juniors, Walwa was very competitive and I played in a few reserve grand finals. I think we played three or four in a row against Bullioh, but we never got one. Back then they were trying to juggle things to keep the juniors going as well and retain their juniors.
BG: Was footy sorely missed last year?
AG: COVID was probably a good thing after the fire in a way because people did need to refresh. The year off footy was a bit of a catch 22. There was a positive and a negative to it.
BG: Were you personally affected by the fires?
AG: We probably got close to half burnt out. We've got about 1500 acres, but we didn't lose any infrastructure or cattle. We were fortunate because there were people hit a lot worse than us. There's a lot more support around these days, compared to when dad got burnt out when he was my age down at Talmalmo in the 1980s. Times have come a long way, social media is phenomenal with the blokes that want to help. What goes around comes around too. Every community has their challenges and I that's what you expect when you live in a certain environment.
BG: Gerard Midson returned to coach Federal this year and got you on board as an assistant. Was it tough to finish the year without a win after the season was cancelled?
AG: It was difficult. COVID took hold and obviously when you aren't getting the wins on the board, trying to get blokes to training is hard when you don't know what COVID is going to bring. We played some good patches of footy, we just couldn't sustain it. I took training up at Corryong and 'Middo' ran training in Wodonga or Albury for the travelling boys. It makes it harder again when you're not all training together, but in these conditions you have to be flexible and adapt to keep clubs going as well. If you didn't do those sorts of things, it would be even tougher again.
BG: How can the club turn things around?
AG: It all comes down to a local base. You've got a couple playing O and M, Bailey McKimmie and a few are down at uni at Ballarat, and couple of boys, because you're not winning, have lost interest. When you're scratching for a reserves side it's hard work, so the more locals you have, the easier it is. Walwa was the same. You have Connor and Sascha Newnham playing at Raiders, the Daly boys (Alex and Cooper) and John Mitchell moved on. It's just life. You can't blame them if they have a better opportunity to play a higher standard.
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BG: Is it a common trend across the league?
AG: There's been two years where clubs haven't retained their juniors and it's starting to show for a few. Every club has their ups and downs, so hopefully Federal can do that too because it changes the whole culture of the club. You finish the game and walk into the clubrooms and there's local faces and not blokes who just jump in their car and leave.
BG: There was talks of the Upper Murray league amalgamating last year, what did you think of that?
AG: If we did amalgamate and went to the Tallangatta league, you might have had a chance to recruit those boys back to play a higher standard too. It's a catch 22. I was all for it. Maybe not because of some of the older locals that would miss out. There's a few of your reserves and guys that just want a kick that probably aren't the most skillful, but they come up to play reserves. But for the junior future, I'm absolutely all for it because without juniors, in five or six years time you won't have them because they'll be playing footy somewhere else. You're stuffed without juniors.
BG: Do you think most people would get behind it?
AG: There's different ways to look at it. You might get more people in the community interested because it's one a one-team town instead of three different clubs fighting for the same thing. Obviously you might lose some of the older generation, but you'll gain some elsewhere. Everyone has got a different opinion on it and there's no right or wrong.
BG: Is it getting harder to attract kids to the game?
AG: Kids are playing sport less and if they don't want to, it probably suits mum and dad. When I was a kid, the best time was footy and you'd make it a day out. But as with everything, it all costs money. As soon as you leave home it's money in the gate, canteen. Unfortunately that probably comes back to having to pay players as well.
BG: Would country footy be in a better position without player payments?
AG: It's cream and butter for a lot of blokes. They work during the week to pay their bills and a few blokes get paid on the side to do a few jobs. Everyone is living the high lifestyle, so that little bit of extra money does go a long way for some people.
BG: So you wouldn't put yourself in that category?
AG: As long as the beers are cold, that's all I care about (laughs).
BG: What do you do for work?
AG: I live on a property, mum and dad live on the other and we've got two or three little ones in between. Dad and I do everything from fencing to stock work. I was a mechanic in Albury for seven years before I came home. Dad made me go and get a trade and I've always been taught 'don't burn your bridges' because it might come in handy one day. We bought another couple of properties and the timing was right to come back.
BG: You're still a spring chicken at 26, surely you'll be going around again?
AG: I'll re-evaluate after this year because work is getting busier. It takes up your whole Saturday and you're that sore on Sunday you can't be bothered to do anything (laughs). First game back you may as well put a line through the next week. I'll try to help out where I can behind the scenes because more numbers make lighter work. It's a bit like every club, you get the poor half a dozen volunteers that get stuck doing the same job every week.
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