John Harms
Murtoa, winter, 2014

We are in the community rooms in Murtoa which double as the club rooms for the Minyip-Murtoa Footy Club when the games are in Murtoa.

A huge cold front is whipping through and the sideways rain is hitting the windows and the roof. It’s the night they’ve turned the new ground lights on and the Burras have gone down to the Horsham Saints by less than a kick.

The party is on though, and three blokes form the local band: two guitarists and a singer doing covers from a folder on the floor in front of them. It’s brilliant. The joint is rocking.

Everyone is singing and dancing and drinking and talking loud (to be heard).

The band plays the Countdown playbook and beyond. Their version of To Her Door gets everyone going.

It’s why the talented like Paul Kelly write songs – so keen musos in the far flung places of the countryside can lift a room.

© John Harms

 

 

 

John Harms is a writer and broadcaster. He is the publisher and contributing editor of The Footy Almanac and footyalmanac.com.au He has written many columns and features for numerous publications. His books include Confessions of a Thirteenth Man, Memoirs of a Mug Punter, Loose Men Everywhere and The Pearl: Steve Renouf's Story.