Drought impacts Booleroo Melrose Wilmington Football club

Even though it’s a winter sport, football clubs aren’t immune from ongoing pain caused by SA’s record-breaking drought. Find out how one country footy club is looking to beat the heat.

You certainly get good value for your shots if you’re a batsman at Melrose Showgrounds oval – there’s not a blade of grass to stop the ball racing to the boundary line.

But the parched, dusty ground, where the carpet cricket pitch provides the only speck of green, is unusable for football and the Booleroo Melrose Wilmington Lions face a watering bill of tens of thousands of dollars to prepare for the 2025 season.

The Lions rely on rain to keep the oval green and during drought times such as these are forced to revert to mains water – a process that can triple or quadruple their annual water bill.

And so the club has applied for a SANFL grant to help pay for a $120,000 project to connect the oval to a nearby bore. If the money comes through, president Joe Koch says the club will move heaven and earth to get the job done this year.

Joe Koch farmer and president of the Boolaroo, Melrose and Wilmington Football Club on their once green now dirt oval at Melrose. Picture: Mark Brake

Joe Koch, farmer and president of the Boolaroo Melrose and Wilmington Football Club at the Melrose oval. Picture Mark Brake

Mr Koch said the drought has gone from “disastrous to worse” in the past couple of years but sporting clubs, especially football and netball, provided a vital distraction in tough times.

“It’s a good family atmosphere and gives people a chance to come out and spend the day with the family, get away from the farm and get their mind off it,” he said.

SANFL head of infrastructure and facilities Belinda Marsh said BMW had applied for a facilities grant jointly funded by the SANFL, AFL and state government from money injected into the state through the AFL’s Gather Round.

Ms Marsh encouraged other drought-affected clubs looking to upgrade their playing surface, change rooms or lighting to apply for the $8m fund.

“Football is just the heart of communities, so it’s really, really important that we at least try and get some sort of playing surface that they can all still come together on the weekends,” she said.

Originally published as Drought impacts Booleroo Melrose Wilmington Football club