Latest news on the flood impact on club, school sport - including GPS and AIC sport
What is the latest on the GPS swimming championship, along with GPS and AIC sporting fixtures after more flooding chaos? Revealed here.
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The annual GPS swimming championship scheduled for Friday has been postponed.
It followed a decision earlier in the week by the QGSSSA to postpone its championship to March 16.
A new date for the GPS swimming event has yet to be finalised, while the association is also yet to decision on whether the famous Head of the River rowing regatta goes ahead next weekend.
In addition, the GPS and AIC organisations cancelled another full round of sport scheduled for Friday night and Saturday. This followed last weekend’s washout.
As reported earlier in the week, club and school sport has been thrown into chaos in the aftermath to floods in Brisbane, Logan and Ipswich.
The Sheffield Shield cricket match at the Gabba between South Australia and Queensland will not start on Wednesday time while cricket competitions - junior and senior - have been cancelled or postponed.
Football Queensland, which has one of the largest junior and senior sporting participations in the state, will not have fixtures in SEQ this weekend. Senior competition was set to start last weekend, while juniors were to play trials.
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“Football Queensland has today confirmed the further postponement of all junior and senior fixtures in South East Queensland (SEQ) and Wide Bay due to the ongoing impact of wet weather and flooding in the regions,’’ said Football Queensland CEO Robert Cavallucci.
“The postponement includes all fixtures and carnivals scheduled to be played in SEQ and Wide Bay (until March 6).
“The postponement will provide more time and opportunity for Football Queensland to assess damage to clubs, lights, fields and change rooms that may further impact the season ahead, and to determine if additional postponements are required in the coming days.’’
Robert Cavallucci said the “the safety of our participants and volunteers remains paramount’’.
“Therefore the postponement includes all fixtures scheduled to occur across the following Football Queensland regions - Metro North and South, South Coast, Sunshine Coast, Darling Downs, and Wide Bay.’’
Football clubs such as East Brisbane FC is one of hundreds around the region to be impacted by flooding, while Mitchelton FC - home to almost 1200 playing members - was hard hit.
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Cricket Queensland fixtures were highly unlikely to proceed this weekend, with Premier grade clubs Wynnum Manly, South Brisbane District Cricket Club and Sandgate-Redcliffe hard hit by flooding.
Souths president Brendan Gibson said the club’s grounds at Fairfield went 2m under water.
“We were lucky on Saturday that 10 volunteers were able to get ground equipment to higher ground,’’ Gibson said.
But the ovals have been inundated. “We are 4-5 days away from assessing (damage to ovals) but we are a tough club and will get through it.’’
Historic rugby league grounds Langlands Park at Coorparoo and Bishop Park at Nundah were flooded, with veteran Devils rugby league official Peter Fraser saying “I have never seen any volume of water like that in all my years.’’
“I have been involved with the club for 50-60 years and I have never seen anything like it in my life,’’ Fraser said.
However while all the fields were flooded, the clubhouse, dressing room and equipment rooms were not.
Norths were not scheduled to host fixtures for the next four weeks, although training has been cancelled on the grounds for the rest of this week.
The QRL’s elite junior competitions, the Connell Challenge, Meninga Cup and Harvey Norman under 19 women’s competitions were cancelled last weekend but may proceed this weekend as planned given grounds at Redcliffe, Ipswich, Wynnum and the Sunshine Coast were playable. A decision by the QRL is pending.
Club rugby was not scheduled to start until April 23, so only training and pre-season trials will be affected.
The ovals at Norths Eagles alongside Kedron Brook at Kalinga were hard hit, but the clubhouse was high and dry.
“It is messy but with our clubhouse, storage areas are up, we are fine. We have had lots of offers from the community to help. Things have been really positive,’’ said Norths official Glen Barron.
The Queensland Reds squads has been forced to train away from Ballymore due to flooding.
The club and GPS rowing seasons have been thrown into chaos, with most club and GPS school sheds flooded.
“Most of the boat sheds in Brisbane have been affected,’’ said former Australian rower and UQ Boat Club member Richard Powell.
“It will take a number of weeks for the rowing community to be back and participating,’’ Powell said.
He said the national titles were to be held in two weeks in Sydney, but preparation by crews had been halted due to river flooding and ongoing debris.
“That (the river) is our playing field,’’ Powell explained.
“The tail is longer for us because of the debris and condition of the river.’’
It is for this reason the GPS association famous Head of the River, scheduled for March 12 at Wyaralong Dam, was in doubt.
Crews simply will not be able to train and sheds have been impacted, although given the rowing fitness of crews late in the season the famous Head of the River competition may still be salavaged.
Despite half of the GPS cricket venues impacted by flooding, there are still hopes that by March 12, Firsts and A fixtures may proceed - even if colleges like Terrace and Churchie did not host home games again.
The QGSSSA has postponed its swimming carnival which was scheduled for Wednesday. It will now be held on March 16 at Chandler.
St Margaret’s Anglican Girls’ School’s rowing pontoon in Breakfast Creek was lost to the floods.
Well known western suburbs community hub, The Sherwood Magpies AFC, was not as badly hit as during the 2011 floods.
“We were proactive in getting stuff out,’’ said Magpies president Andrew Thomson.
“We got into the kitchen and removed the kitchen equipment. We had 60 people there at a moment’s notice (before flooding). The club was a shell.’’
He said the playing surface “we will be fine’’ but the club had taken a financial hit given it had a big season launch scheduled for last weekend.
“We won’t have revenue for the next month because we have to get everything back in and set it up again. And we were meant to have our season launch on Saturday and had brought more food that we normally would.
“But we will be right.’’
Neighbouring western suburb sporting venues - Western Distrcit Netball Association at Graceville and Graceville Hounds - have been flooded.
Trisha Squires, Head of AFL Queensland, said it was fortunate the AFL Queensland community football season in southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales had not yet started.
“At the moment, many football grounds across southeast Queensland and Northern New South Wales are closed due to the severe weather event,’’ she said.
“Our thoughts are with all footy clubs and communities in Southeast Queensland and Northern New South Wales who are impacted by the flooding disaster that’s still unfolding.
“We acknowledge this unfolding event has been devastating for some football clubs and communities in Southeast Queensland and Northern New South Wales and appreciate the full impact won’t be known for days, if not weeks, yet.’’
Downey Park, a hub for netball and softball, has been badly hit and cleaning will start once flood water start to go down.
Softball Queensland CEO’s Ross Symonds said the two main diamonds at Downey Park had been flooded.
“The Ipswich grounds were also underwater and I assume Redlands were as well.’’
He said the season was about to finish. “They will have to wait (for the finals) to get back into their facilities again.’’
A decision will be made about whether to extend the season or repair the venues and push with the finals.
Alison Lyons, Hockey QLD CEO, said: “The extraordinary rain event to recently hit South East Queensland has once again demonstrated the tenacity and resilience of the Queensland hockey community.
“So far reports indicate major damage to the BWHA club house, along with equipment sheds at Sunshine Coast Hockey.
“To date all artificial turfs have held up, with flood walls doing their job. The biggest impact has been to the grass fields across the south east, which will take days to dry out.
“With season openers planned for this weekend the call for volunteers is being answered and we are seeing the community come together to support one another once again. “
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