Gympie Touch season slashed by ruined fields and clubhouse

Gympie Touch players will start their long-awaited season out of a marquee at Albert Park where at least two fields remain closed indefinitely. PHOTOS

The Gympie Touch Association is still scrambling to be ready for a second season after the first of 2022 was ruined by the February floods.

After losing its clubhouse and two fields at Albert Park, the club had no choice but to drop the Men’s and Ladies’ competition and start the summer season with only a mixed competition in place.

The touch clubhouse was completely submerged under floodwaters in the February, resulting in the ceiling needing replacement and rewiring.

Club president Kent Turnbull told the Gympie Times on Wednesday the association had never seen the building that far under.

Teams usually have access to five fields at Albert Park, shared among other sports club.

Now, with two fields out of action (one must be entirely resurfaced, and the second needs lighting repairs before any sporting events can be held), the club has been crammed into the remaining three fields.

The Gympie Touch Association lost two playing fields at Albert Park after the 2022 February flood disaster.

The repair costs for the fields alone could reach $150,000, Mr Turnbull said.

After partially recovering from the February flood, the club was on the cusp of starting a short season before plans were swept down the river with more flooding in May submerging the two fields again.

Now, they’ve decided to only run one competition starting this coming summer season, to avoid training sessions until late in the evening.

The training sessions occasionally overlap with other sports training sessions.

Mr Turnbull said organisers would love to run a junior competition and always want more fields or even a touch complex, but the association understood there were few funds and little space in a small city like Gympie.

“We appreciate anything we can get,” Mr Turnbull said.

The club is also grateful for Gympie Regional Council pointing the committee in the right direction for grant applications to save their fields and clubhouse.

The Gympie Touch Association have to replace their entire clubhouse ceiling after the building submerged in the 2022 February floods.

Flood-ravaged Gympie and Fraser Coast sports groups are being urged to apply for a share of $45m in recovery funding rolled out by the State Government.

The club members and committee have also put in “fantastic, unbelievable work” in cleaning up the clubhouse the day after the flood waters receded.

“Everyone that could help was there,” Mr Turnbull said.

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The committee is still working to recover from flood damage and plans to start the season in July.

The season will most likely be starting out of a marquee stand, as the clubhouse is still unusable.

The club had intended to set the year off with a big competition and more players after Covid-19 caused numbers to dwindle.

Now, the weather aftermath has impacted that too.

“It’s very disappointing to get a flood like that,” Mr Turnbull said.

“Everyone is disappointed that the clubhouse is gone.”

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