FOR over two decades residents in the small town of Ilfracombe in Queensland’s Central West have rallied behind the local rugby league squad the Ilfracombe Scorpions, unfortunately the prolonged drought and water restrictions that followed had the club on the ropes with the very real possibility that they might have had to throw in the towel, but thanks to the generosity of many from around the state the club now has a fighters chance at playing out the season, and surviving well into the future.
Nadia Wakefield has a long association with the club having formerly been treasurer; she now works in the canteen while her partner Trent is the teams coach.
She said at present the Scorpions home field is pretty much a dust bowl and the town is currently on its last legs with water levels reaching dangerously low levels.
“Just around the time the drought set in we were having the field returfed, and once water usage was prioritised the sprinklers were turned off which has left the field bare and hard as concrete,” Nadia said.
“Until we get heavy rain for a prolonged period there is no way we can get it to a playable state,” she said.
She said Council has promised the club that the surface will be returfed the field once water is readily available again.
“But it’s not just us suffering, all the shop owners, graziers and other residents in the Central West are in the same predicament as we are, so we can’t expect special consideration.”
She said being situated in a small town the club doesn’t have a lot of options to accrue revenue.
“In a normal year the money we make is enough to cover the cost of uniforms, and that revenue is raised through our gate takings at the six or seven home games we have per season.
“In our current situation all that revenue has gone out the door.”
She said with the home field classed as ‘unplayable’ the Scorpions home games are being played at either Longreach or Blackall.
Without the local support they normally enjoy on their home turf and the financial struggles the club is facing the season has started off on a real low.
Everyone’s morale is down, so it really has been incredible to receive so much support from so many people.
General Manager – Football for the North Queensland Cowboys Peter Parr said it was Ilfracombe-bred Cowboys co-skipper Matt Scott who came to him with the news about his home town initially.
“Matt and I have been having many discussions about the drought in the state, and after he realised the predicament Ilfracombe was in and the condition of the footy grounds in particular I think he was a bit taken aback,” Peter said.
He said to make matters worse even if they had access to water at present, any grass that grew on the unfenced field would just end up becoming lunch for the fellow drought-affected kangaroos around the area.
"The town was to play host to the Junior Rugby League Under-12s carnival this year which would have provided a great boost for the local economy but that had to be cancelled due to the clubs current predicament.
“Matt really wanted so do something for the club, and after some long discussions’ we decided that as well as sending through signed items and memorabilia that can be sold off at auction, the best way we could help out was to supply the club with equipment and gear until the club can get back on its feet,” Peter said.
Matt got in touch with Tropic Petroleum and related the story of the Scorpions situation to Managing Director Jeff Regan and his son and CEO of the company Jamie Regan who sponsor the Cowboys among their many other charitable endeavours to see if there was a way they could help out with travel associated costs.
“With the amount of kilometres the team is having to travel combined with the high cost of fuel especially in regional areas, we saw the situation as something we definitely wanted to be involved in supporting,” Jeff said.
“We have a lot of customers around the Ilfracombe region, our trucks are travelling through there on a daily basis, so we saw it as a small way to give back to the community that has supported us throughout the years,” he said.
Jamie said the Scorpions were set up with an account and a fuel card, with Tropic picking up the tab for all fuel related travel expenses.
“We’ll keep the credit line open for as long as it takes for the club to get their home ground up and running again,” Jamie said.
“It really is a great feeling to be able to give back to the community in this way, while cooperating in unison with the Cowboys and Sportscene to make it happen,” he said.
Ms Wakefield said the club will soon be sent a signed jersey from the Cowboys to auction off and that they’d also recently been sent through boxes of balls, wrapping tape and kicking tees from the club.
“We’ve also had the Brisbane Broncos send us a signed jersey and the Mackay Junior Wanderers squad got together with their local SportsPower outlet to send us equipment,” she said.
She said the Drought Angels group has been advocating for them on social media for people to lend their support.
“Also, the Blackall Rugby League Club said they are trying to work out a way to donate a percentage of gate takings to us, which is very generous and most appreciated.
“The main impediment we faced going forward was finding a way to raise the necessary money to pay for fuel to get to and from our games, our bus isn’t big enough to take the entire team plus officials and others, so it really is a godsend that Tropic have offered to pay for match related fuel costs, it’s the difference between us playing this year and not.
She said looking forward the club is hoping to fence-in the field and purchase a holding tank to mitigate the problems that would be caused if another long dry occurs.
“We want to be able to maintain our club ourselves in the future; we don’t want to have to rely so much on others if this scenario plays out again.”
Nadia said on behalf of the club she’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone that has taken an interest and helped in any way possible.
“Sometimes just a phone call and a few kind words really mean a lot.”
