RECORD FEATURE: MARRAR BOMBERS
There’s a reason cars are built with big windscreens and small rear-view mirrors. It’s important to keep an eye on what’s behind you, but being able to see what’s in front is more likely to determine your fate.
It’s 20 years since Marrar’s last first grade premiership. The 1996 team is recognised with a low-key reunion at Langtry Oval his weekend, along with the successful senior side of 1966. Both teams were defending premiers and managed to go back-to-back. Those glory years were remembered last year with a huge double reunion at the club.
In two years, Marrar will celebrate a 100-year premiership anniversary in the same year it celebrates a centenary of existence. The 1918 South West League flag, in the club’s formation year, was no fluke – that team also mounted a successful defence the following season.
As ‘young’ Terry Langtry talks to the Record 98 years later, it’s as president of a proud club that – for all its history – is focussing on the future.
“You’ve got to, don’t you? Otherwise you die if you don’t keep trying to make improvements, getting better facilities for your players,” Langtry says.
“What was acceptable 20 or 30 years ago is not acceptable now, as far as the standard of your ground and the standard of your amenities and everything too.
“We’ve all got a wish list I suppose. We’d like a club rooms… Pull that old shed down and start there. That’s what we’re hoping anyway – that’s our dream in the next 10 years. But our main priority is another netball court.”
Langtry points to the southern end of the ground, behind the scoreboard and the current netball facility.
“We are trying to buy this back lane out here. Because we’ve had such an influx of netballers, we’re landlocked here. We’ve got to go and try and buy this back lane so we can build another netball court.”
Marrar currently boasts five netball teams – the four grades in the Farrer League and one team playing in the Wagga netball competition. There is also discussion about an under 17s grade being introduced to the FFNL next season.
As Langtry talks, the Bombers under 17s footballers have just had a comfortable victory over Coleambally. The Bombers are currently on top of the ladder, ahead of North Wagga on percentage, after seven wins in eight games.
It’s a point of pride at Marrar that – despite not having a junior club to draw from – they’re managing to field three grades of football as well as the five netball sides.
“We counted up the other day and we’ve got 110 people playing sport for Marrar,” Langtry says. “That’s with a population of 200 people so we’re pretty rapt in that.
“We’re lucky where we live, not that far out of Wagga. We’re like a lot of district clubs, they draw a lot out of Wagga. But there’s a lot of families out this way too and their boys or girls work in Wagga and so that’s a bit of a family thing too.”
Fielding a 17s team each week is not without its challenges. When the Bombers first grade side took on CSU two weeks ago, two players made their senior debut – Rhys Langtry and Jack Reynolds. But only after they and fellow first grader, Adam Wallace, all played in the earlier game with their mates, against Coleambally, first.
“It’s a battle to get a side week-in, week-out, but as long as they’re having fun together that’s the most important thing and that’s what we’re about,” coach Paul Jenkins says.
“The majority of them come out from Wagga. I’ve got a seven-seater car and I bring a full carload out to training each week and on game day. All the banter that the boys have in the back of the car, it’s quite funny, I don’t mind the trip! They’re all good mates and they get on well together.”
The 17s competition is down to five teams this year with East Wagga-Kooringal in hiatus for a season. Jenkins says they’re doing better for numbers now than they were last year — when they relied on the goodwill of rival clubs to help them out.
“Hopefully we’re going to keep getting stronger each year and keep getting numbers each year and we’ll be able to reciprocate in the future,” he says.
“We want to see as many sides getting teams in the comp – I know East Wagga’s coming back next year; I’d love to see The Rock getting a side together as well – they’ve got a junior club. And maybe even down the track a Barellan or someone like that.”
Marrar’s only loss in the 17s this year was against North Wagga.
“They were just too good for us on the day but we’re confident we’ll be able to match it with them next time and just see how it goes from there,” Jenkins says.
“As long as they’re having fun that’s the most important thing. They are having fun at the moment – they hang it on each other a bit, they muck around and whatever else, but when it comes to game time, they’ll turn it on.”
Playing at a community club like Marrar is a big attraction, according to Jenkins. A former Bombers player himself, he’s getting a kick out of coaching the teenagers. He says the town, the senior footballers and the netballers have all been supportive of the younger players, and their presence adds another dimension to the make-up of the club.
But just as importantly, they can play a role in shoring up the future.
“The big thing about it – if we can get two to four kids going through each year to play senior football, over 10 years, there’s your first grade side,” Jenkins says.
“It’s going to give us the depth we need. So that’s our goal.”
There it is – back to the future again.
Langtry says the club knows it has to offer the right environment and a good culture to keep footballers and netballers coming back. But it’s something they’ve been getting right for a long time now. You’ve only got to glance in the rear-view mirror to see that.
“In 2018, we’re 100 years old.. That’s a big occasion for us. To be a stand-alone club. A lot of clubs have amalgamated. We’re pretty proud of the fact that we’re a stand-alone club. That’s a pretty big thing for us, anyway.”
