MILDURA might be located in the driest part of Victoria, but thanks to the mighty river that flows past the rapidly growing regional city, its 53,000 residents haven't usually come across as committed water savers.
In times past, it has been nothing out of the ordinary, even in the middle of summer, to see sprinklers lavishly watering nature strips, footpaths, parks and even the river bank.
But the drought finally has changed all that. Since July 2, Mildura has been on stage four restrictions. The locals can still look at the billions of litres of water gliding past them each day, but they can no longer use it for growing roses and lush lawns.
The severe restrictions, under which all non-essential household use is banned, are not only killing the city's many manicured gardens. They also have caused countless headaches for the Sunraysia Football League.
Despite a number of meetings, the SFL has been unable to gain any exemptions for its clubs. So, for the past month, all except Robinvale have had to forgo watering their home grounds. Making matters worse, very little rain has fallen in that time.
Things have got so bad that on Friday the co-tenants of the rock-hard No. 1 Oval, Mildura and Imperials, were forced to truck in 100,000 litres of recycled water to make the ground playable for the final two home-and-away rounds.
"It equates to around five millimetres of rainfall," said Imperials committee member Michael Hickey. "To get an inch in the old scale, we would need half-a-million litres."
Mildura Rural City Council donated the water, while the major sponsors of the Demons (Morello Earthmoving) and Imps (Forbes Wilson Group) provided the trucks and labour free of charge.
"All the grounds are in a very similar state at the moment, but the major reason us and Mildura are carting water is because we're both involved in the finals," Hickey said. "We would expect at least one of us to be in the grand final and that's six weeks away. We need a home base to train on."
Having the Murray River only a short distance from the oval makes the situation even more frustrating.
"If you go down to the weir, you can see water spilling over every day," Hickey said. "It's going past us, down to Lake Victoria to be stored for South Australia. So it is a little galling."
The dramas in Mildura are in stark contrast to Ballarat, where a number of previously drought-stricken clubs were forced to rest their grounds recently because they were too wet.
Due to the watering bans, the SFL has been forced to shift its grand final away from the No. 1 Oval for the first time in the league's history.
Starting on August 25, the entire finals series will be played at Irymple's Henshilwood Oval. The Swallows' home ground has been granted access to enough recycled water to keep it playable.
For league president Peter Congress, it's a relief the finals will be going ahead at all. At one stage, the Sunraysia league board considered calling off the season because the grounds were getting so hard.
"We were going sensationally," Congress said. "We had good grass cover and we were talking to the council about not cutting it too short so the grounds would get through. Then we had a week of frosts. That absolutely nailed them.
"Now that we've decided to finish the season, we're only just going to make it. Our clubs have been on restricted training programs since halfway through the season.
"When we made the decision to try and finish the year, we told our clubs they would not be able to train two nights a week. So most clubs have only been training one night and doing something like going to the pool."
The water issue has overshadowed the build-up to what promises to be a very competitive battle for the flag.
Irymple, which last year won its first premiership since 1976, headed into yesterday's penultimate round on top of the ladder. The Swallows, again coached by Brad Eaton, now have the added advantage of all their finals being played at home.
But with the top four teams tightly bunched, Imperials (premiers 11 times in the past 21 years), Mildura and Wentworth all loom as genuine rivals.
Coached by former Western Bulldogs and Essendon midfielder Mark Alvey, Wentworth recently hit the headlines when its burly
full-forward Jason Bell kicked 19 goals in a big win over bottom team Merbein.
Mildura, meanwhile, is aiming to break a premiership drought that dates back to 1982. The Demons are this season led by joint coaches Danny O'Bree, a rover, and Ashley Connick, a key-position player. O'Bree is battling a foot injury, caused by the hard grounds, that threatens to end his career.
Whichever teams make the grand final, it is unlikely many players will be disappointed the big game has been transferred away from its much-maligned traditional home, shared by football and the local harness racing club.
"No. 1 Oval's not much better than a cow paddock at the best of times," Congress admitted.
He said the water shortage had driven a renewed push for a stand-alone football complex to be built in Mildura. "We hope … the council's new recreation master plan will get us a new ground in the next 15 years or so."
Until then, Congress and all others involved with football in Sunraysia are hoping for plenty of rain in the Murray River catchments. If that doesn't occur, next year's footy season is in danger of not happening at all.
"Ideally, we need some money spent to get some irrigation water down to the No. 1 Oval," he said. "But that would be a big budget issue and needs backing from the council.
"Unless the restrictions are lifted, there's going to be no facilities for pre-season.
"We might have to limit our juniors. We've got unprecedented numbers playing junior footy. It would be sacrilege if we had to tell them they couldn't play."
Article first appeared: The Age August 12 2007
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|