The following is an extract from Geelong defender Tom Lonergan's piece on country football as featured here on the AFLPA website.

People are always telling me how important Australian rules football is to Melbourne.

But you don’t have to tell me how important footy is – I grew up in country Victoria where it is the lifeblood of the community.

And I’m sure it’s the same when you get out of town in Tassie, or the Riverina, South Australia or WA.

For me as a kid growing up in Yarrawonga, life was football in the winter, mucking around on the river or the lake in summer.

I had a couple of older brothers who played footy, so as a young fella of 12 or 13 I’d always jump on the team bus and sit up the front as they ventured into hostile territory for games at Wangaratta or Albury or Myrtleford.

I’d be along for the ride and then to run the boundary in the Under 18s, and it was the perfect way to get introduced to that footy culture, the camaraderie and the team spirit.

I was born into a footy family. My dad, Bernie – “Stump’’ to anyone who knows him – played a lot of country footy in the Picola league, or the Tungamah league as it was known back then.

He was a full forward who bagged a lot of goals. He captain-coached Katamatite to a flag, then he came into Yarrawonga and played some senior footy for the Pigeons alongside my uncle John.

There was no better way to wile away hours as a kid than to jump on my bike and head down to local footy ground, which had the swimming pool on one side and the Murray River on the other, knowing it would either be footy training or knocking around having a bit of a kick with my mates until we had to be home for dinner.

The full story from Tom Lonergan continues here on the AFLPA website.