By Tallon Smith

Happy Birthday to us, Happy Birthday to us, we love our bush footy, Happy Birthday to us!

Battlers For Bush Footy is celebrating two years since our foundation on August 9, 2021. 

After being plunged into a snap lockdown, and with my season (and most likely career, for good reason) coming to an end with the cancellation of the Group 9 competition that year, I decided to open a simple Facebook page and start a small, now defunct website.

Fast forward two years, and Battlers For Bush Footy is more than I ever imagined it to be, an outlet for my passion for footy, a go-to site for bush footy fans, and the voice of the country rugby league community.

We have grown from an idea on a cold August day in 2021 to a website with over 11,000 monthly readers and a Facebook following which ticked over 2,000 yesterday.

But this is only the beginning!

We plan to continue to expand, with the one core goal of providing bush footy fans with news and insights into their favourite local teams, free from the expenses of paywalls and subscriptions.

We are here for you!

So, to all my followers and supporters, I thank you! You are what give me the passion and drive to continue to work into the early hours of the morning, post-university study, to fight the good fight for bush footy.

Things were and still are heading south for many clubs and teams across regional NSW (and Queensland).

Someone had to stand up, and I’m glad everyone has supported me in doing so.

I hope I am making a difference.

Thanks for the continued support,

Regards,

Tallon.

Note: I’d like to especially thank the following people, who have been major supporters of this page over the past two years: Peter “Parra” Montgomery, Robert Nascimben, Brent Parsons, Krista Schade, Brett Harris, Shaun Lyons and of course my family and friends.