BEHIND THE SCENES: When we spent a day at the Mitta United Football Netball Club

Having not won a senior football final since 2016 and spent the last three seasons in the bottom half of the ladder, the Mountain Men are 3-0 heading into a much-anticipated clash with reigning premiers Chiltern.

But one look around the Eskdale Recreation Reserve tells you the story runs deeper than that.

A new chapter is being added to Mitta's proud history right before our eyes, with the club fielding five football teams and six grades of netball for the first time ever.

Finding those junior footballers was as challenging as it was crucial but the tireless work of coaches Ben Baude and Nick Bowles is now bearing fruit in the form of a bustling crowd which has been building steadily for hours.

Lollies are flying off the canteen counter and there are as many kids scattered around the ground as there are cattle on the far side of the fence.

Four years since the club last fielded thirds, Bowles' eclectic crew have just played their third game in the Tallangatta & District League's under-17 competition.

"It's really satisfying," Bowles said.

"We had 15 or 16 of them come to our place to watch the Anzac Day game and while it's pretty hard on your eardrums, that's what you want kids to play footy for, so they make friends.

"You don't want to just be running around with 20 strangers so we're trying to build a bit of a bond between them.

"I've got kids in that age group so we decided to try to recruit some kids and get a side up and playing again.

"It's pretty hard because most kids that want to play footy are already entrenched in different clubs but we found a bit of a rag-tag crew of kids that had played up to U12s or were interrupted by COVID and we've managed to get 25 registered players now.

"It's taken a fair bit of work and my kids have done a fair bit of recruiting among their mates and cricket clubs.

"We're not going to be the best team in the league but I don't think we're going to be the worst either."

Baude's under-14s certainly aren't, having beaten their Chiltern counterparts by 20 goals earlier today.

I find Mitta's vice-president smiling behind the bar, with his parent's hat one of several to be worn when it comes to game day.

"I was born and bred local, played all my junior footy up here and most of my footy career was here so I didn't like the idea of driving my young fella into town for a run every Sunday," Baude said.

"We worked pretty hard and got under-12s up and going for the first time.

"Every year, we've been working on bringing new families and new kids to the club and trying to keep a group together and now they're rolling through.

"There's been a population drop in the valley - years ago, there used to be two or three dairy farms and now there's one - but this club remains the heartbeat of our community.

"We've had to fight pretty hard to keep it and it's going to be a slog; every year's going to be hard to keep our juniors up and going but we've got a good core group of people with the same thoughts as me on the importance of it."

Across the bar, Hugh Giltrap insists his role at Mitta is "not that much" in 2023 but I find that hard to believe from a man who's served the club as president and coach (senior and junior sides) as well as many years on the committee.

"We haven't got the facilities around here for kids to be playing basketball, soccer and other sports like that so this is a social outing for the youngest kid to the oldest person," Giltrap reflects.

"It's where people meet and it's not just about the footy, it's about connection because during the colder months, people get isolated and that's how important a footy club is.

"The valley would be decimated if we didn't have it.

"Every club is fighting tooth and nail to survive because it's so important for the fabric of the community."

Giltrap is on his way to the timekeeper's box for the reserves.

"It's a pretty easy job," he insists.

"I quite like it, actually, because you can watch the footy and no-one annoys you.

"I've been at the coal face for years and the people who really make it work are the ones that go above and beyond.

"People set up the day before and then the clean-up, no-one wants to clean up rubbish and sweep rooms out, clean toilets, it's a shit of a job but they're the people who are the real unsung heroes.

"Right, I've got to go!"

Evidence of Mitta's astonishing roll of honour - an unrivalled 22 senior flags - further strengthens the resolve to ensure the club not only survives into the future but returns as a TDFL powerhouse.

"We're very proud of that," club president Lawrence 'Flo' Hodgkin said.

"Winning premierships is something we base our whole footy careers on but our record over the last 10 years hasn't been real flash so that's something we're trying to turn around.

"Before that, we were winning a premiership every two-and-a-half years, which is where we want to get back to.

"I know it's going to be hard but that's what we play football for - we play to win.

"Loyalty has played a big part in our success down the years.

"It's pretty much like family here - I know that's easy for me to say, having four or five brothers play in the same team but this is a close-knit community and that makes for a close-knit club.

"Without sport in the community, what else have you got?"

The recent lean years on the football field have been anything but on the netball court, Mitta having contested grand finals in five of the six grades last season.

Few people have either played a greater role in that drive or better articulate the club's position than A-grade playing coach Gabrielle Gray, who became Mitta's first premiership-winning captain back in 2011.

"I take an enormous amount of pride in representing this club," Gray said.

"To field netball sides in every grade and to have all bar one play in a grand final last year is unbelievable and I think it shows we're doing something right.

"The club is doing a wonderful thing in continuing to value and cultivate relationships with families who may not necessarily be here but have moved; you have to get real about that in a community like this where there's going to be fluctuations in the population.

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"To me, it's a testament to the people who have been around the club and how the downswing was managed that there even is an upswing.

"As soon as a club like Mitta falls off a bit, the chat that comes about folding or merging, the vultures are always sitting there, ready to start putting that into the mix.

"I'd like to think the success of the netball club over the last few years has galvanised and assisted in making sure that upswing happened."

But will there always be a place for Mitta United in country sport's ever-changing landscape?

"Yes, absolutely," Gray insisted.

"Some of the families here are like dynasties.

"They are prolific in their connection with people outside this valley and I can't see that changing any time soon.

"All we've got to do is get people over that hill and your job's done.

"They get here and it's a beautiful place to be and that's enough to keep them here."

Talking of family dynasties, there are six Hodgkins named on the senior team sheet, coach Luke having been joined at the club this season by brother and Morris Medal winner Jarrod.

Luke himself counts Heidelberg, Essendon Doutta Stars and Wodonga Raiders among his former clubs but, like so many others, has found his way back over the hill to pull on 'the big V' again.

"My grandfather won five premierships here and he's an ex-coach of the club," Hodgkin said.

"My Dad won four premierships, Mum coached the netball, and my uncles on both sides of the family have played at the footy club.

"My whole childhood was going to watch Mitta.

"I played in the fourths and the thirds out there and went away but it's great to be back.

"It's a privilege to coach a club with the history of the Mitta footy club.

"I've heard a lot of stories about my family members being a part of premierships so it's certainly something I want to emulate.

"One thing we talk about a lot as a playing group is the people who have come before us and the history of the footy club and how it's up to us to continue that on.

"It's a pretty big challenge.

"There's not many clubs in Australia that have been as successful as Mitta but it's a challenge I think is really exciting for us as a group, to get ourselves back to where we used to be, which is playing in finals and grand finals."

Only the Mountain Men have won four senior TDFL premierships in a row (2004-07), the last two of which were coached by Phil Packer.

"We used to love coming out here because you'd go over Lockhart's Gap and there was no phone reception," Packer laughed.

"No-one would know we were here and the missus couldn't catch onto you unless they rang the pub and you just wouldn't answer!

"But the last time I coached, three years ago, it was really hard because the younger generation don't like travelling.

"You've got to rely on those family connections to make it work.

"If you can get one and a couple of other mates, they'll drag a few other mates and it becomes more attractive.

"Mitta was pretty average as a team last year so they've gone and recruited heavily and that puts them in a position where the crowd's here, the canteen's rolling and that's why it's really important to have the 12s and 14s and thirds here because there's kids and families everywhere and it generates income to be able to recruit and stay relevant."

Netball at Mitta may be strong now but A-grade defender Kirsty Hodgkin recalls times that weren't so rosy.

"My juniors years were a little bit hard," she said.

"We didn't have as much opportunity to build our skills while having a couple of missed years here and there and then we went two years without winning a game.

"But it makes those hard times worth it when you have a year like last year.

"I moved into Wodonga for a few years but now my husband and I are back onto his family farm at Mitta.

"It's important for us to continue supporting the club because one day, when we have kids, we'd love them to play here like we have.

"You don't really get communities like this in many other sporting codes or different parts of Australia.

"There's people here who have known me since I was in a pram and now I get to chat to them as an adult.

"Your relationships change and it's pretty amazing to be linked in with people who aren't your family - but might as well be."

The senior footballers are running out so it's time to follow Shane Tobin up the steps to the timekeeper's box.

"You find things out when you're down the bottom," Tobin said.

"Nobody likes it, none of us do, so you work a bit harder next year to try to get something together.

"You're not going to win all the time but your mates will always be here.

"It's not compulsory to be here, I could go home if I wanted, but I enjoy it."

And it's easy to see why.

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