Reeling clubs put seasons on hold
LONG CLEAN-UP: Tom Lyne (right) and son Timothy (left) at the Souths Cricket Club, Yeronga, which was submerged up to the roof. Picture: Suzanna Clarke Source: The Courier-Mail
THE Queensland flood crisis has devastated grassroots sports clubs which now face an uncertain future with grounds and clubhouses flooded, often without the safety net of financial backing or insurance.
While dramatic images of a flooded Suncorp Stadium were a poignant portrait of a sporting industry in trouble, there are hundreds of clubs that have been left on their knees by the floods and may take months to recover.
The clubrooms and fields of the South Brisbane cricket club at Fairfield were submerged under metres of water, with officials visiting in canoes yesterday to survey the damage and destruction. Historic photos are lost forever, heavy machinery ruined and the clubhouse badly damaged.
Queensland batting legend and Souths cricket stalwart Sam Trimble could hardly believe his eyes. Vice-president Tom Lyne said the club faced an enormous battle to recover.
''We couldn't get insurance because we were in the 1974 flood zone ... a little while ago we spent $120,000 renovating the clubhouse and that has now been completely stripped. We will have to start again,'' Lyne said.
''The mud is almost 1m deep. We are going to get working bees coming in with shovels and wheelbarrows to try to clean up.
''We got the honour board out of the clubhouse before the floods and saved the bowling machine, which we walked out, but we have lost plenty of other things.
''We obviously won't have grounds to play on for many weeks but that is just the start of our problems.''
Queensland sports stars continued their terrific work to help out the flood crisis victims yesterday, with Brisbane Lions AFL and Brisbane Roar football stars turning up at evacuation centres to donate clothes and lend a hand.
Queensland Bulls and Queensland Fire cricketers were also out in the community, firstly helping former Test batsman Martin Love whose house at Fairfield went under water, and then offering a hand to anyone who needed it.
In times of trouble, Australians often turn to their favourite sporting pastime but that is going to be tough is some areas of the state where sport may not be possible for as long as six months.
Netball Queensland chief executive Cameron O'Hara said courts in Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Ipswich and parts of Brisbane had been inundated.
He said places such as Bundaberg, which had suffered a double drenching, were already discussing delaying the start of their season by three to six months in order to clean up and recover.
''The effect that it has on the sport, which has the highest participation rate in the country, as a whole will be huge and the flow-on effect will essentially be national,'' O'Hara said.
Rowing Queensland high-performance manager Chad King said the floods had highlighted Brisbane's need for specialist rowing facility not connected to the Brisbane River.
Almost every rowing shed in Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Brisbane had been inundated, with every launching pontoon (with a replacement cost of $250,000) destroyed or washed away.
King said that, with the polluted and debris-laden river now out of action for at least a month, the state's top rowers were madly scrambling to find alternate rowing venues ahead of national championships and World Cup trials in March.
Brisbane Second Division rugby league chairman Mick Tierney said that several clubhouses and fields across the city had been damaged by the floodwaters, with Brothers St Brendan's at Rocklea being one of the worst-hit.
''The water went into the top floor of the clubhouse, by about (40cm), although that was considerably less than the 1974 flood when all that was left showing was the rooftop,'' Tierney said.
''I haven't received formal reports yet but I understand clubs such as Graceville and Mt Gravatt also have been severely affected.''
The Brisbane Referees clubhouse and its training facilities at O'Grady Park, Fairfield, were inundated, but Souths Leagues Club on the river at Davies Park, West End, escaped unscathed.
''The water came up, into the carpark, and there was some on the playing fields, but we consider ourselves very lucky,'' said Souths chief executive Jim McClelland.
However, nearby houses and businesses were not so lucky, with McClelland joining other rugby league volunteers in the clean-up.
''There must be 400 people here helping, including some Gold Coast Titans players,'' McClelland said.
Easts Leagues Club at Stones Corner moved hundreds of poker machines to higher ground under armed guard.
But the floodwaters from nearby Norman Creek covered the Langlands Park playing surface without coming into the clubhouse.
Several bowls clubs around Brisbane face long hauls back to full operation, including Goodna, Toowong and Jindalee.
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