Author(s): Gary Pleming (Appendix by); Thomson's Printing PL Tas Thomson's Graphipress (Prepared for Publication by, (various roles))

Sport

This Sequel is an adjunct to the original Maffra Football Story and focuses on the Rise and Rise of a Gippsland small town club which after 4 decades of obscurity in the football wilderness, has in the new millennium, risen to prominence as a powerhouse in the region.There are references to former illustrious past which will attract the interest of Maffra Eagle supporters and sporting foes like. The newly merged sport of netball is highlighted and granted the attention its competitive success justifies. The author has presented the renaissance of the club as a classic example of social entrepreneurship, whereby hundreds of unpaid helpers have combined to produce significant social and economic benefits for the community. The young sportsmen and women have repaid their community in spades. The well presented honour boards in the appendices are a glowing example of their on-field success.An outstanding characteristic of the success is its underpinning by a junior development program which creates line of graduates from the junior grades who are ready made netballers and footballers. The resort to overpaid. Fly in Fly out footballers is thing of the past at Maffra.There are lessons to be learned from the Maffra phenomenon which would be of interest to the many small town clubs struggling to retain their place in senior leagues around the nation.