History of AFL in Hay, NSW
Above left: Hay Football Club in 1885. Image curtesy NSW Football History.
Above right: The Hay Football Club in 1920. It is believed that the coach is Alf ("Fat") Rawnsley. Image - History in Photos via Flikr.
By Krista Schade
The Hay Football Club was founded in 1876 at a meeting at the Royal Hotel.
The new club was duly formed with “…fourteen members subscribing names, and there is hearty prospects of play this present season” (The Riverina Grazier, 24 May 1876)
The new club initially played matches between its members just like in other country towns. The Riverina Grazier (31 May 1876) reported of a football match arranged for the Queen’s Birthday “… a good romp outside will do both old boys and young boys much good”.
White settlement began in 1840 with a coach station and a town was established in 1859. The area on the Hay plain soon became renowned for its fertile grazing land and pastoral runs were taken up for producing wool and fat lambs for the Victorian goldfields. Hay became a major transport hub with the main form of transportation the paddle steamers that conveyed the wool down the inland river systems to Echuca on the Murray River and returned with stores for the town and district pastoral runs.
The NSW Land Selection Acts of the 1860s and 1870s unlocked land held by the squatters for closer settlement by new arrivals to the area mainly from Victoria who bought their recently established football game with them. In 1882 the railway line was extended to Hay from Narrandera thus connecting the town to Sydney, and this facilitated inter-town challenge matches with Hay travelling to Narrandera.
By 1885 Hay had regular challenge matches in town and district from teams called the Snaggers (shearers), Half-Holiday Association (shop-keepers and retail workers), the Golden Templars’ Lodge, and the Eli Elwah sheep station (shepherds/farm hands).
The Riverina Grazier reported that, “…200-300 attended the football which is fast gaining popularity in Hay” (25 July 1885).
In 1895 the Hay Football Council was formed to administer the local competition. The rail connection to the east enabled Hay association to play in a round-robin tournament against the Wagga and Narrandera associations in 1899 that attracted a crowd of 700-800. Hay teams continued to use special trains to travel east to play in Riverina knock-out carnivals at Leeton, Whitton, Narrandera and Ganmain right up until the mid-1950s.
“A special train to the football at Leeton will leave Hay at 8:00 am and return at 8:15 pm” (The Riverina Grazier, 1 September 1939).
From the turn of the 20th century until the advent of WWII, Australian Rules Football (AFL) in Hay revolved around a local four-team competition and inter-district challenge matches against near-neighbours Moulamein, Balranald and Deniliquin as well occasional forays east by train to play in Riverina “knock-outs”.
The local teams were Federals, Imperials, Suburbans, and Gymnasiums (from Hay Gymnasium and Social Club). The Hay Association played under the rules of the South-West District Football Association based at Narrandera.
Upon reformation of the Hay footy club after the end of WWII, there were concerted attempts to participate in inter-district games to heighten interest in the game in the town but again the problem of distance frustrated the club’s efforts. For the 1950 season the Hay Rovers (as the club had become known) joined the Leeton & District Football League which comprised of teams from Darlington Point , Beelbangera (near Griffith), Leeton Ramblers and Yanco (near Leeton). This morphed into the western zone of the South West District Football League reserves competition from 1951 to 1955 that ended when that league decided that reserves teams would play with the seniors on a Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Hay club had decided to move in another direction, and in 1952 went south to the Edwards River Football League based around Deniliquin made up of Blighty, Conargo, North, East and West Deniliquin to save travelling. However, this competition folded in 1961 when the Murray league required Deniliquin to field a reserve grade side.
Hay moved on again in 1962 – going east again, this time to the Barellan & District Football League. Hay Rovers made the finals in 1963 and the grand final in 1969 under captain-coach Rural Bank officer Ken McGowan (ex-Leeton) but went down to Yanco, 8.11.59 to 10.17.77. The demise of the Barellan league in 1971 as a result of Kamarah-Moombooldool, Sandy Creek and the Barellan-Binya football clubs amalgamating to form Barellan United, Coleambally moving to the Coreen league as well as Yanco and Darlington Point folding, forced Hay to look for yet another competition.
All approaches to play in leagues to the east and south were rejected on the basis of distance – “too far to travel for our clubs”, was the response from the South West league (Narrandera-185kms/Wagga 270 kms) and the Echuca (200 kms) & District league which included three teams north of Echuca based in NSW viz. Mathoura, Bunnaloo and Moama.
The Hay Rovers were left with no choice but to start a local competition once again; this time with four teams of sixteen players played on a Saturday afternoon on the Hay Park Oval. The teams were named after clubs in the VFL – Hawks, Tigers, Bombers and Saints. Players were graded and drafted to the respective teams.
“The games were played in a really good spirit, although some matches became heated, but after the game we’d all have a beer together at the Caledonian (Hotel),” said Robert “Buck” Howard, who played for the Saints.
“It did overcome the problem of travel but we all wanted to play against teams from other towns, and we needed to have under-age competition for the younger boys.”
Hay have found a home in the Golden Rivers league, (as Hay Lions) of which they have been a member since 1981, the longest period the club has spent in a competition outside the town and district.
In 2023 Hay Lions contested the grand final in three grades - senior’s football, B Reserves netball and under 17s netball - bringing home premierships in the Club’s most sucessful season in decades.
Excerpts: Dr Rodney Gillet “Footy in Hay NSW - In play since 1876”
First published in The Riverine Grazier on February 16, 2022
The origins of AFL in Australia
In the mid 1850 Melbourne cricketer Thomas Wentworth Wills (1835–80) proposed a winter game to maintain the fitness of player in the cricket off season. Concerned about injuries gained from playing tackle heavy games of rugby, Wills headed up a committee, tasked with deciding the rules of a new Australian winter game.
It is believed that Wills grew up watching the Aboriginal game of Margrook in western Victoria, and from there the concept of the modern game of AFL grew. The first set of rules was agreed upon on May 17, 1859, and the game continued to gain popularity in Victoria, before spreading across the nation. AFL is now played Australiawide by men and women.
