THE sole attention of the football fraternity across the region turns to Robe on Good Friday as the third round of the Mid South East Football League gets under way.
The reigning premiers will host the Tantanoola Tigers before the probable largest home-and-away crowd of 2019.
The Good Friday scheduling has raised eyebrows in many quarters and comes almost 160 years to the day since the laying of the foundation stone of the neighbouring St Peter’s Anglican Church.
It is anyone’s guess what the crowd might be and it will rely heavily on the weather.
However, as many as 2000 might turn up and this far exceeds the attendance at many SANFL games played in Adelaide.
After resembling a rice paddy field late in the 2018 season, the surface of the Robe Oval is again in top condition.
Football and netball for premiership points has only been played on Good Friday at Robe on one occasion in the past and that was four years ago when Mount Burr paid a visit.
Last year, Robe, Millicent and Kybybolite footballers and netballers staged round-robin competitions which attracted strong crowd support.
With the blessing of league officials, the Roosters have since repeatedly issued an open invitation to the eight other MSEFL clubs in the competition to play at Guichen Bay on Good Friday.
Tantanoola finally embraced the concept along with the $3000 cash incentive as well as the gate raffle proceeds and it is “game on” tomorrow.
The first Good Friday match in 2015 attracted a measure of controversy from the Christian churches, but was an indication the host club was open to innovative measures.
It was staged under the leadership of new Robe Football Club president Trevor Ling.
At the time he said Robe attracted 10,000 visitors each Easter and a Good Friday game offered the opportunity to showcase the league to sports followers across the region.
Ling joined the MSEFL executive committee earlier this year.
The home side will come into the contest as red-hot favourites and against a team which also wears the red-and-white colours.
The pre-match preparation for this Easter fixture has not done the Tigers any favours.
After nine seasons the MSEFL abandoned its pre-season cup and this was one less opportunity for a match hit-out.
Tantanoola has had a big loss at Tigerland to Kalangadoo and then a bye in round two.
This compares to the Roosters with victories in two pre-season trials, followed by wins over highly-ranked Mount Burr and Kalangadoo.
The timing of the Good Friday game means Robe players will have only had six days to recover from that bruising match against the Magpies.
Robe coach Jack Kelly said his side would be close to full strength as Todd Lehmann has recovered from a hamstring injury and Alex Clements had returned from a commitment in Adelaide.
“Jonny Agnew received a knock in round one and I will leave it up to him to decide,” Kelly said.
“It might be that some of the players only play a half of footy, but it would be good to have a run as we then have the double bye.
“The size of the crowd will be weather-dependent and it has been beautiful here lately, but the club is really pumping up this game.
“We are not just viewing it as a promotion for our club and our league, but for country footy in general.
“So many of our friends and family come to Robe for the four days of the Easter break.”
Kelly said the Good Friday games in 2015 and 2018 had gone well and he commended the committee of the Robe Football Club for staging the games.
“It is fantastic the Tantanoola footballers and netballers are willing to come to Robe to play on Good Friday,” Kelly said.
According to Kelly, Robe had started well in its round two match at Kalangadoo and had booted the opening six goals of the game.
“They came back at us in the third quarter as we expected they would but we finished off well,” he said.
The Tigers were expected to finalise their 21 after training last night.
Tantanoola coach Josh Peters said the Easter timing meant some of his players were unavailable due to other commitments.
“Ben Chant has still not recovered from injury, but we might pick up a couple of players if their clearances come through,” Peters said.
“The Good Friday match will be good for us as it will provide exposure for our club.
“We do not play the Robe Oval too bad.
“We have to take some risks and make use of the opportunities.
“There is the challenge of taking on the best in the league as Robe are the reigning premiers.
“With the big crowd, it will be a finals-like atmosphere.
“This will be good for our younger players as only Hayden Brown, Braydn Reilly and Sam Haniford have played finals.”
Robe Football Club president John Fenton said he expected around 2000 through the gate on Good Friday going on past years.
“We will have a jumping castle for the kids,” Fenton said.
“We will have our post-match presentations after the game and the licensed clubrooms will close at 6pm.
“I think our volunteers will have had enough by then.
“It also means our supporters can go to other places in Robe which are sponsors of our club.”
Round three of the MSEFL will finish with three games on April 27.
