‘It’s just devastating’: Aldinga Netball Club destroyed in deliberate fire
Shocked club officials are reeling this morning after a deliberately-lit blaze destroyed their clubrooms, uniforms, equipment and even the food for tomorrow’s finals.
A southern suburbs netball club has “lost everything” in a suspected arson attack at its clubrooms overnight.
Police and fire crews arrived at the Aldinga Netball Club’s Quinliven Rd headquarters about 2.30am on Friday morning to find the building engulfed in flames.
CFS firefighters extinguished the blaze but not before it destroyed the premises.
Police believe the fire was deliberately lit.
Aldinga Netball Club president Samara Bryant has spent the morning at the clubrooms, trying to make sense of what happened.
“The outside of the building looks intact but … inside is just gutted,” she told The Advertiser.
“All our equipment, our uniforms, all our balls (are destroyed). We’ve lost trophies. We’re lost history. It’s just devastating.”
Ms Bryant said food stored in the clubrooms, ready to be transported to Southern United Netball Association courts where the club was set to host a final on Saturday, had been smoke damaged.
She said authorities told her they believed someone had used tin snips to try to break into the clubrooms and it was suspected that whoever did this may have sparked the blaze.
Ms Bryant said past and present members of the club had flocked to the clubrooms on Friday morning to see the damage for themselves.
“As they’ve seen it, they’ve just started crying,” she said. “We’ve lost everything.”
While the clubrooms were insured, Ms Bryant said the insurance won’t cover the cost of everything that was destroyed in the inferno.
“It’s just something that we’ll have to deal with,” she said.
Aldinga Netball Club A-grade captain Amy Mathewson said the incident was “devastating”.
“It’s all a bit of a shock and I can’t (understand) why anyone would want to do something like this,” she said. “Everyone is pretty upset by it.”
However, Ms Mathewson said offers of support from opposition netball clubs as well as local football, cricket and hockey clubs had been “overwhelming”.
“It’s heartwarming — we’ve got such a great community here,” she said.
A gofundme page has been set up for donations.
Police ask anyone who saw suspicious activity in the area or has any information about the incident to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
The fire at Aldinga was one of several overnight.
In Ottoway, a V-Commodore was discovered ablaze in the front yard of a Larsen Ct address at about 1:30am.
Two MFS appliances with breathing equipment managed to contain the fire to the vehicle. There were concerns the fire would spread to a nearby house due to its proximity to the car.
Meanwhile, in Banksia Park, a Holden ute was discovered engulfed in flames along Marsha Drv at about 1:50am this morning.
Two MFS appliances extinguished the blaze.
Police say the estimated cost of damages for each car would be the vehicle’s total cost of value.
Police say none of the fires are believed to be linked to the recent spate of bikie-related violence that has rocked Adelaide over the past few weeks.