Mid Gippsland: Fish Creek Football-Netball Club rocked by clubrooms fire and memorabilia lost

Fish Creek Football-Netball Club is being flooded with donations following a devastating fire that destroyed its clubrooms.

The devastated Fish Creek Football-Netball Club has surpassed its target of raising $100,000 to assist in the rebuild of clubrooms destroyed by fire early Saturday.

Donations to a GoFundMe page launched in the wake of the fire that not only gutted the building, but also saw priceless memorabilia dating back 100 years lost, have flooded in from all over Australia.

An initial goal of raising $100,000 was set and achieved early Tuesday.

The Mid Gippsland league club, which won the senior premiership this season, has vowed to rebuild.

The Fish Creek Football-Netball Club clubrooms were destroyed by fire last weekend.

But it is almost certain to be playing out of temporary facilities next year.

The fire broke out about 5am on Saturday and is being treated as suspicious after the clubrooms were broken into and the canteen vandalised in the days leading up to the blaze.

Club president Ray Stefani said the fire was “absolutely heartbreaking”.

Barry Standfield, centre, playing for Adelaide against Essendon in 1997. Standfield started his career at Fish Creek.

In addition to winning 37 senior flags, Fish Creek has produced AFL players including Barry Standfield, who played for Footscray and Adelaide, and Wayne Weidemann, who also played for Adelaide in the club’s formative years in the AFL in the early 1990s.

Sam Flanders, who presently plays for Gold Coast, also grew up in the South Gippsland dairy farming town.