Club Spotlight: Harden Hawks (and an important fundraiser)

By Tallon Smith

Nestled in the Hilltops region, east of Temora on the road to Yass, are the twin towns of Harden and Murrumburrah.

Established in 1824 and located on the lands of the Wiradjuri people, the towns are home to the Harden-Murrumburrah RLFC, who were themselves founded in 1921 and are more commonly known as the Harden Hawks.

Formerly of Group 9, the Hawks won two premierships in that competition in 1962 and 1981, before the loss of the abattoirs in town saw the team move to the George Tooke Shield (GTS) due to being unable to field the four grades required in the Group 9 competition. They have since won titles again in 2009 and 2017.

Hawks President Jason Pollard says the club is in a “happy place” at the moment in the George Tooke competition.

“[We’re] in a happy place, we’ve got the three grades,” he said.

“We put a side on the paddock every year and just stay competitive.”

Many people familiar with Division 2 competitions would assume the three grades he is speaking of are Under 17s, Ladies League Tag and First Grade, however, the club actually only field one men’s side, in the Senior Grade, and two women’s sides, with one in the GTS League Tag competition and another in the Katrina Fanning Shield tackle competition.

In the Katrina Fanning Shield, the club competes against some of the big Canberra clubs, as well as fellow GTS stablemate, the University of Canberra Stars.

Pollard says the two ladies sides are incredible for the club, with both sides achieving great success in recent seasons, including their champion League Tag side, which has only been beaten a handful of times over the last half a decade.

“The Worhawks finished top of tier 2 [in the Katrina Fanning Shield],” he said of the tackle side.

“Tag are undefeated [again] this year.”

The club’s Men’s side is also still in great contention as the season wears on, with the Hawks entrenched in the top 4.

“The boys are running second, a win away from first.”

“They’re a very young and small side, a bit outsized, but they’re as good a chance [of winning the premiership] as anyone in the comp.”

Pollard explained that despite being only slightly smaller than many Group 9 towns including Gundagai, Tumut and Temora, one of the big reasons the club had to leave the competition in 2006 was the loss of much of the town’s major employment at the time.

“We lost a lot of jobs in town [including] railways and the abattoirs,” he said.

Despite this however, he said the club is as strong as ever in its current competition.

“We’ve got a good bunch of blokes, most from Harden,” he said.

“There’s probably only one or two from Yass.

“We’re doing well as a club, we’re well off financially, with a good group of sponsors and followers.”

The Hawks President also praised the standard of the George Tooke Shield competition, saying that the standard and following is quite high for a Division 2 competition.

“It’s a pretty good standard of football,” he said.

“The top five or six sides would compete in Group Nine reserves.

“Our game against [arch rivals] Cootamundra attracted a good crowd too.”

“Ellie’s Second Fight” Fundraiser

On a more important note, the club is also holding a massive fundraiser event for a local who is facing a second bout of a rare form of cancer during their Ladies Day against Crookwell on Saturday.

“On Saturday, we’re putting on our [annual] Ladies Day,” Pollard said.

“We’re charging $30 a head, and all the money goes towards Ellie’s fundraiser.”

“We’ve got some raffles and auctions on the Facebook page.”

“It’s been amazing, people from Harden, Young, Jugiong donating things.”

All of the proceeds from the Ladies Day are going to “Ellie’s Second Fight” as she courageously battles a rare form of cancer for the second time. Details can be found on the club’s Facebook page.