The Coodabeen Champions have been a part of the Victorian footy landscape for almost 35 years.

Since a couple of young uni students decided to give the fan’s perspective on 3RRR in mid 1981, the Coodabeens have been the champion of the footy fan through thick and thin.

And not just the AFL footy fan – the show has always been a great supporter of grassroots footy too, and therefore, in 2007, they decided to act that support out.

The boys upped stumps and set up at the Cora Lynn Football Club in the Ellinbank and District Football League for a show in July of that year, a broadcast that was so successful, it has morphed into an annual event.

The Coodabeens have since travelled to Gordon in 2008, Maldon in 2009, Mitiamo in 2010, Donald in 2011, Rokewood in 2012 and Tarrawingee in 2013. With another couple sprinkled in as added bonuses, and a pair of historic shows from Victorian Women’s Football League matches in 2011 and 2012

All of these shows were intended to show country football supporters that they weren’t being forgotten and to give the Melbourne audience a taste of what it is like to be involved in good old fashioned bush footy. It was an attempt to tell the stories that weren’t being told elsewhere – and every one of these shows proved that every footy club, everywhere in Victoria, has characters, tireless workers and an infinite number of great stories.

And this is also true of the Coodabeens Footy Show every week as the boys catch up with a footy identity from around the state each Saturday at 10:30am.

Jeff, Ian, Greg, Billy and Torch take the responsibility of providing a mouthpiece to country footy very seriously, and take an enormous amount of joy out of the appreciation they feel from locals every time they hit the bush.

Below image – (from left): Ian Cover, Billy Baxter, Jeff Richardson and Greg Champion.