The final act of the Tarpeena Football Club has recently taken place 20 years after the club played its last game.

In line with legislation, a statement was published in the Government Gazette saying it had lost its incorporated status and had been de-registered.

The club dates back to the post-war years and continued with the Canaries as its mascot until the late 1990s when it went into recess for the first time.

It re-emerged for three seasons from 2001-03 and was known as the Tarpeena Kangaroos.

Once again, success was elusive with only eight wins in that period and the second recess proved permanent.

The reasons included a declining population, lack of on-field success, financial challenges and a shortage of volunteers to do the many jobs week-in and week-out.

Of course, Tarpeena still remains very much in the record books of the Mid SE including the A Grade premiership years of 1961 and 1974.

The remarkable Mansell brothers played over 1000 games in the “brown and gold colours” and are life members of the Mid SE.

Ken and Dennis have proudly presented the Junior Colts Best and Fairest Medal which bears their name each year since 1978.

The third Mansell brother, Peter, died a few years ago.

Arguably, the best home-grown player from Tarpeena was Darren Mansell who went on to play more than 100 games for Glenelg in the SANFL.

Darren played one season with Penola and he was invariably referred to as “the ex-Penola boy” in the write-ups by the city press.

Over the years, Tarpeena had some high-profile coaches including Footscray legend Gary Lazarus, ANZ banker and former Sturt player Mark Heinrich, Tim Brennan and Michael (“Whale”) Timms.

Even long-time Nangwarry Football Club president Shane (“Plugger”) Ploenges was at the helm of the Canaries in the mid-1980s.

There are a few ex-Tarpeena players about the footy fields of the Mid South East and Western Border such as ex-Nangwarry coach Luke Thomson but their number is dwindling.

Most have long hung up their boots.

In the years following Tarpeena going into recess, the town’s oval was used for an annual past players match against Nangwarry.

The town of Tarpeena lost a number of other facilities in the wake of the football club demise including its primary school, church and retailers.

The withdrawal of Tarpeena has been the only change to the Mid South East Football League in almost 60 years.