A fortnight ago, Chiltern - town population 1200 - had decided to close its footy club in the face of almost certain bankruptcy over a lawsuit after an on-field dust up. Lawyers told the club court action by former Moyhu player Shane Wohlers would cost it $80,000, after insurance company Jardines refused to accept liability for payments arising from the assault.

Now, a week before the due wind up date, Melbourne legal representatives have offered their services for free.

Former Chiltern Swans assistant coach Paul Hodgkin had pleaded guilty of assault and was fined $7000 in a 2001 court case after Wohlers had had his jaw broken in an Ovens and King Football League match in May, 2000. Wohlers then pursued damages against Chiltern.

At the time of the decision to close the club, secretary Daryl Harwood said, ''As in most rural communities, the football club is the centrepiece of the town. The young boys play footy, the girls play netball - my understanding is that the netball club will probably fold [as well].''

Harwood rightly pointed out the situation should be a worry for all Australian sport.

The end of any sporting club, anywhere and any time, is a shame, for both its players and its supporters. What made the Chiltern case seem all the worse was that the club has existed since the turn of the century.

Sporting tradition such as this cannot be bought at any price. Chiltern, 1km off the Hume Freeway halfway between Wodonga and Wangaratta, was once a gold-mining boom town with 14 suburbs. Many of its surviving buildings are National Trust-classified.

The Famous Grapevine hotel has Australia's largest grapevine (planted 1867) and Lake View on Victoria Street was once the home of author Henry Handel Richardson (The Getting of Wisdom). This is a place where Australian history abounds.