When 43 become one: Australia’s most merged footy club keeps the country spirit alive | Stuart Walmsley

Victoria’s rural-urban drift has forced mortal sporting enemies to join forces in Ouyen, diluting proud identities in the gradual contraction of rural football Norm Vallance is having a day out at Ouyen’s Blackburn Park in north-west Victoria during Heritage Round – held every season to honour one of the clubs in Ouyen United’s creation story. The 101-year-old moves through the crowd, resplendent in blazer and tie, and poses for photographs in front of the ground’s famous totem poles with the…