Cudal is in rugby league heartland.
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Surrounded by powerhouse Woodbridge Cup teams like Manildra and Cargo, a stone’s throw from watching the Group 10 clubs of Orange CYMS and Hawks and close to rugby union sides Emus and Orange City, you’d think football jerseys should be a fair way down the list of tops being pulled on by kids in the town.
Well, you’d be wrong.
As of 2016 Cudal had a population of 553 and its primary school has just 80 students now.
Even so, Cudal and District Soccer Club has 94 players.
It has 10 teams taking part in the Orange District Football Association, with the under-12 outfit taking out the division one premiership on Saturday to the delight of the whole town.
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Cudal president Penny Challinor said “half the town” travelled into Orange for the grand final, including people without kids in the side or even at the club, and the main street was decked out in posters and flyers supporting the team.
It’s a testament to how strong the community feel at the club is, which despite drawing players from Manildra, Molong, Cargo and even Orange it’s still able to be a focal point for Cudal.
The whole club trains together on a Friday night, across a few fields at the club’s base in town, creating an “amazing” and “unreal” connection which travels anywhere the club plays.
“It’s terrific to see the atmosphere,” Challinor said.
“It was very, very exciting (on Saturday), it was certainly a very vocal crowd.”
The sides are looking to stick together, too – often under 12s is where the sides break away but Challinor said this group, the oldest in the club, will look to stick together for 2019 and beyond.
Challinor admitted to being surprised so many little Ronaldos and Messis were running around in Cudal instead of playing rugby, but said the NSW government’s Active Kids vouchers meant families which may have only had one child play sport now have all two, three or more children taking the field.
That said, another reason the side might not lose as many players to rugby codes is because the club has massive numbers of girls taking the field – half of this year’s under-12 group in fact.
That’s echoed the whole way through the club and while the ODFA is by no means a boys-only competition, Challinor said she thought Cudal has more girls than other clubs, which was a source of pride.
“A lot of the girls have been playing for years and years, and we’ve got girls in every side,” she said.
The club also won Cabonne Council’s community group of the year award in 2017, which Challinor said meant a lot to the club.
“It was a real win for the everyone at the club and the community,” she said.
The club’s looking to keep that momentum – and weight of player numbers – going in 2019 and beyond, and who knows, maybe in a few decades, Cudal will be a heartland for the round ball.