As you would be aware the devastation of the flood in our area (Chelmer, Graceville, Sherwood, Rocklea, Corinda, Oxley, & Tennyson) has been massive with in excess of 5,000 families affected in our catchment area & their lives have been significantly altered with loss of both livelihood & personal property / possessions.
Many of these families have a direct link to our football club which has also been wiped out with damages to the playing surfaces, light towers, clubrooms , gymnasium & our sporting club.
You may be aware due to the publicity generated in the media, that the Sherwood AFL football club is also a struggling AFL club which proudly plays under the magpie emblem. The club caters for players from Auskick (5 year old to Under 8’s ) & junior football through to Under 18, as well as Senior football, Women’s football and Veteran’s football. In total over 600 people are catered for creating a pathway for both young & older footballers to further their football journey within a community environment.
Our social club and football club have been virtually wiped out. It was the magnitude of this damage and the impact on the community which led to our plight being referred to local TV channels & to the Collingwood AFL President Eddie McGuire.
The total devastation has left our club with no option but to totally rebuild, much of which has been able to proceed, however we are not a wealthy club & the enormous cost to rebuild & replace will be a long & ongoing struggle.
Amongst the damage we incurred were the following:-
- Loss of football equipment including jerseys, footballs, gym gear, medical supplies, tackle bags/mats and merchandise- conservatively estimated at $20K to $25K.
- Our gymnasium which was housed in an older building will have to be demolished.
- Our social club lost all 46 poker machines valued anywhere between $150K and $300k.
- All our furniture including dining tables and chairs, office desks and chairs, bar stools, poker machine chairs and outside tables and chairs worth approximately $40K were destroyed.
- All our floor coverings, tiles and carpets had to be thrown out at a value of around $25k.
- The internal walls had to be knocked down and will cost around $15K to redo
- We have lost bar stock worth around $5K.
- We have yet to get an appreciation of the cost to completely replace and rewire all our electrical fittings and circuits.
All of this damage has been compounded through complete loss of our revenue sources through not being able to trade at all.
However life goes on & we are committed to rebuilding our great community club so we can commence operations fully in 2011.
A side to this, a group of community minded people who have children playing at junior level have arranged a “major fundraising initiative”, this will occur on Wednesday 16th March 2011. It is expected that the proceeds raised from this event will assist in the rebuilding of the Sherwood Football Club.
The event is being patronised by current Brisbane Lions Vice Captain, Luke Power. Many other current & former lions will also be in attendance on the night as well as other sporting luminaries.
It would be fantastic if other community minded people from across The QAFL would be able to attend to assist with our rebuilding process.
Please RSVP to Prue Quelch on 0403067892 to confirm your attendance by 7-3-11
Last Modified on 18/02/2011 14:30