Mallacoota Soccer Club return to play after longest offseason
The tiny town of Mallacoota, nestled in the far eastern corner of Victoria, welcomed back the world game for the first time since 2019.
The draw saw the mighty Mallacoota Blues host Eden Killer Whales in what can be considered a local derby with just 80 kilometres separating the two Far South Coast Football Association clubs.
Devastating bushfires tore through the region in late December of that year with images of Mallacoota’s shores in the nation’s media leaving an indelible mark on this writer’s mind.
The natural disaster left the already isolated coastal community of a little more than 1000 people even more so with access to the main highway cut off for more than a month.
While the bushfires were horrendous, Mallacoota Recreation Reserve was left relatively unscathed with the 2020 season only a couple of months away.
However, in a further cruel twist, the Covid-19 pandemic squashed the chances of the season going ahead with Mallacoota blocked from crossing the border into New South Wales to face the seven other FSCFA clubs.
The Blues not only regathered themselves for the 2021 season but bolstered their registrations from 47 players in 2019 to more than 100 across five teams competing across under-8s, under-11s, under-13s, women and reserve grade men.
Colin Morris has been the president of Mallacoota Soccer Club for seven years and he was delighted to see the teams return to the field after a difficult 18 months.
“It’s great to have the first game back,” Morris said.
“It’s against Eden so it’s not too far for them to travel and it is great to see all the people back out here and it’s a beautiful day for it.
“The bushfires put a real damper on things but we managed to keep the club alive and it’s good to be back. We started to ramp things up [last year] but it was obviously cancelled because of Covid which was disappointing.
“It was disappointing for the town. Mallacoota is a small town, it’s very social and the soccer club is the biggest sporting club in town — there’s the fishing club and the cricket club but with the junior, the soccer club has the most members.”
For Morris, soccer is very much a family affair with his wife and four children all playing for the Blues and he said the club was Mallacoota through and through.
“The players are all local,” he said.
“We don’t have any players from out of town at the moment. The furthest come from Genoa about 20 kilometres down the highway, but I do believe we have two Kiwis coming to play for the team in a couple of months.”
Mallacoota local Kerri Warren volunteers at the club, but she is also the president of the FSCFA which traces nearly 150 kilometres of the coastline from Bemboka to Mallacoota.
Warren admitted it was disappointing the 2020 season had to be scrapped, however, she felt it gave the people an opportunity to recompose themselves.
“We couldn’t go ahead because we were still suffering from the fires, but also [because of Covid-19 and the border closure] not all of the clubs could be involved,” Warren explained.
“I think for Mallacoota there was a sense of relief. Even though there was some excitement to get back on the field and to be doing something, I think we were all quite exhausted.
“Since the season didn’t go ahead we could all take a minute and have a breath. The mood was different up the coast with some clubs not agreeing with the decision and wanting the season to go ahead but they didn’t seem to understand Mallacoota do make up a part of the association.”
Despite being the hometown of AFL premiership winner Sean Dempster, Mallacoota is a rare example of a Victorian town without an Australian Rules side with the Mallacoota/Cann River Tiger Sharks only playing for a handful of seasons in the Sapphire Coast League in the latter years of the 20th century.
In fact, Warren explained how ‘Coota has a rich footballing history with the Mallacoota Cup one of the town’s marquee events.
“We’ve had soccer going here for over 45 years,” she said.
“I believe we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Mallacoota Cup later this year.
“The Mallacoota Cup is a senior tournament that’s held over the long weekend in October. We’ve got clubs coming from as far as Sydney and Melbourne to play over two days at this field we’re at now — it’s a great weekend.”
Sunday’s final match was the reserve grade men and it was the first time Mallacoota were competing in a senior men’s division in five years.
The Blues’ women’s side came about after the last men’s side ceased with the women associated with the club pulling on their boots and shin pads to maintain the club’s senior presences within FSCFA.
Mallacoota also got to use its new clubhouse for the first time with the government-funded facility helping cater for the extra teams with proper changing rooms.
The Blues volunteers had to be up early to prepare for the round-one fixtures, but Warren admitted it was worth it to see the town supporting their club.
“There have been a lot of families out here today and there’s been a really good turnout,” Warren said.
“We have been here since 7.30 this morning and we had the first lot of games starting at 9 o’clock and there were lots of parents and grandparents out with their children. It was good to see everyone really getting involved.
“Regardless of the results, it’s great to finally be on the field after almost two years and playing the game we all love to play.”
The day finished on a high for the Blues with Harry Preston scoring a second-half goal to secure a 2–1 win for Mallacoota.
