Facebook call for players saved a country football team

By Lauren Bordin

Topic:Australian Rules Football

Violet Town reached out to Facebook for players, and the response was immense. (ABC Sport: Lauren Bordin)

There are more conventional ways to fill a football side, but for a country club struggling for senior numbers, posting a call-out for ring-ins on Facebook may have saved its season.

Violet Town Football Netball Club is located two hours north-east of Melbourne. The town of around 1,000 people is most famous for its community market, birthing the band Killing Heidi and for streets named after flowers.

But at 2 Tulip Street, the address of Violet Town Recreation Reserve, there was concern for its reserves team after forfeiting round one.

This Facebook post helped Violet Town to field a reserve side for most matches this season. (Facebook)

The coach of the seconds, Ryan Lloyd-Williams, took the unusual step of posting on social media in a desperate attempt for numbers.

There was no offer of payment or petrol money, just a chance to pull on a jumper at a reserves side being beaten by 100 points each week in the Kyabram District Football Netball League.

The Victorian Metro & Country Football Recruiting Page on Facebook is littered with clubs looking for players and players looking for a game.

Each post might receive a handful of likes, but Lloyd-Williams's post went gangbusters.

It received more than 300 likes and comments combined, and Lloyd-Williams said without this response it was likely season over for the Violet Town twos.

"In October last year numbers were looking good and I was quite chuffed," he said.

"We got to the start of the year and they dwindled off, and it got to round one and we had about eight to pick from. So I did this post on this group.

"I thought if we get one or two it's worth it but it blew up. I think it had a couple of hundred likes in a couple of days. I think the next game was three days later and we got eight from that post.

"They brought friends, so I reckon in and out we've had fourteen or fifteen players from it and quite a few of them have played seniors as well.

"We've had to forfeit one other game, but I reckon we would have had to can the year straight away if that [Facebook post] didn't happen."

Violet Town reserves coach Ryan Lloyd-Williams addresses the team before its round 17 match against Longwood. (ABC Sport: Lauren Bordin)

One family from Bendigo provided three brothers, a father-in-law and even a grandfather, while others have travelled from Kinglake, Melbourne and Shepparton.

"They're spread from everywhere. None of them knew anyone so on the first day it was interesting," Lloyd-Williams said.

"I met eight new blokes, they all met new blokes, there were a lot of handshakes."

One of those recruits, aptly named Bailey Smith, is still in high school, but he and his father Brad travelled from Melbourne to play because, according to Smith, "Dad's cousin is married to the ressies team manager."

It is a valid enough reason to pull on the Towners jumper.

Violet Town co-president Lachlan McKinnon said this approach to finding players created a buzz in the community.

Lachlan McKinnon takes entry payment from a car at the gate of Violet Town Recreation Reserve. (ABC Sport: Lauren Bordin)

"It got a lot of chatter, a lot of comments around locally, and other teams [saying] 'what are you doing that for?'" he said.

"Well, we're needing numbers and it's better to field a team, even if you get kind of flogged, than to not have a team.

"So we put them in a jumper and send them out. A lot of them — I'm not sure how much football they've ever played.

"If I'm really honest it's a bit random. I look around and think 'my god I've never seen you in my life'.

"My happiest day at the club is when [the club room] is packed after the game and everyone is having a good time.

"A lot of these guys don't hang around as much and that's okay. You can't force them to. It's one of the things we try to drive in our senior program — we want you involved in the club."

From ring-in to acting captain

Lachlan Munn is an example of the player McKinnon would like to fill the Towners' senior sides with.

Violet Town's reserves team in action against Longwood in the Kyabram District Football Netball League. (ABC Sport: Lauren Bordin)

Munn said Lloyd-Williams's plea came up as a suggested post in his feed and he decided to get in touch, playing footy for the first time since under-17s in 2018.

He lives a 45-minute drive away in Mooroopna, so is committed to attending training and games, and plans on sticking around next season.

"I got in touch with 'Hyph' [Lloyd-Williams] and he was like, 'I don't care when the last time you played was, as long as you have boots, just come. Please just rock up, we need you, we've got a good culture, we'll make sure you're well looked after.'

"I got a day permit to play that first game and they've looked after me pretty much ever since."

In fact, in round 17 against Longwood, Munn was stand-in captain and tossed the coin dressed like Bruce Doull, headband and all.

The week prior, Munn promised his teammates if they defeated Merrigum he would shave his head in the style of the four-time Carlton premiership player, nicknamed The Flying Doormat, because of his locks.

Ryan Lloyd-Williams shaves the head of Lachlan Munn after a promise to play with a Bruce Doull hairstyle if the side won. (ABC Sport: Lauren Bordin)

The victory marked the club's first reserves win since round two last season, so Munn fulfilled his promise and let the coach shave his head in the club rooms prior to the match.

But not even a win can guarantee consistent player numbers, and Lloyd-Williams had to contend with 12 changes in the week following the victory.

Standing outside the club rooms ahead of the Towners' contest with Longwood he greeted some players with a handshake and a 'g'day, nice to meet you' as they filed in.

He had already received a text from one player with a position request.

"There's a 40-year-old Justin who's probably leading the best and fairest [vote] and he messaged me this morning saying 'forward please, my quad's yellow'," Lloyd-Williams said.

At Violet Town, knowing the names of all your teammates is discretional, warm-ups are optional, and fitness levels are not tested.

The home match against Longwood was played on a ground which more closely resembled nearby Honeysuckle Creek after a deluge of rain across the weekend.

The result is a respectable 31-point loss in a season which yielded one win, two forfeit,s and an average losing margin of 121 points.

The off-field effort putting players on the park

For all the jokes about functioning hamstrings and fitness levels, an extraordinary effort goes into pulling together the reserves side, one of 13 teams the club has across both senior and junior football and netball grades.

Lloyd-Williams said he had a list of 60 players he would contact in the hope of a handful being available.

Corbin Middlemas and Ben Cameron are joined by a rotating cast of AFL legends, including some of the sharpest minds in the game, to pull apart the biggest stories in Aussie Rules.

Players must be registered and all the necessary paperwork lodged with the league.

The feedback from players who arrived at Violet Town via the Facebook post shows fortunes could turn around next season.

"It shows we're doing something right as a club for them to want to come back to next year," Lloyd-Williams said.

"You can get beaten by as much as we do, but for them to stick around it shows it's not a club problem, it's maybe a personnel problem of who we've recruited in the past that we lack commitment. So it's been promising to show the club's not damaged.

"We've got all these junior grades of football and more netball grades than we've ever had. It's just the two senior grades that are struggling.

"At the end of the day, if you don't get a team in those two grades you probably can't have a football club."

Violet Town competes for numbers with Euroa, Benalla and Shepparton, who play in a higher league, as well as clubs like nearby Longwood.

McKinnon said building numbers is a juggle between a focus on winning as well as building a reliable playing cohort.

"You have to make it a fun place to be and part of that is being competitive," he said.

"Next season we're going to take a slightly different approach and try and build a more grassroots team which is heavily focused on as many grassroots players that we can get and less what I'd call payments, and high-profile payments," he said.

"If we do that in the seniors the seconds will flow from that.

"The seconds are very much dependent on what the seniors are doing. If the seniors are really good and strong then the seconds typically, not always, will be."

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