NEWBRIDGE Football Club president Ron Trimble still shakes his head in amazement at the destruction the Loddon River caused to his local recreation reserve when it flooded almost five months ago. Much of the fence around the footy ground was knocked over, the goalposts were pulled from the ground and a large section of the change rooms was demolished. Such was the force of the water, the scoreboard was washed into the river. During the early days of the clean-up, it was found more than 100 metres from its foundations. The nearby netball facilities were also badly damaged.

''You'll be down near the river and you'll look up and see a bit of trash way up in a tree,'' Trimble explains. ''You know that's where the water was, but you still can't believe it.''

A small town located 40 kilometres west of Bendigo, Newbridge had been flooded before. But not since the Laanecoorie weir collapsed in 1909 had the town seen anything like the torrent it copped in January. As the local recreation reserve was inundated, the corrugated iron building that the footy club called home disappeared under the water.

''Even though I was there at the time, and I saw it first-hand, I still can't believe the heights that it got to,'' says Trimble. ''It was staggering. Even when you go further to the north where the floodwater went, you see trash on the top wire of the fences and you're miles and miles and miles from the river. You know you saw the water there with your own eyes at the time, but 4½ months later it's hard to imagine how crazy it was.''

The damage bill was estimated at $1.4 million, and in the immediate aftermath of the flood Newbridge received support from near and far. Among the first people to offer support was Andrew Kelly, the president of the Kinglake Football Club, whose community was severely affected by the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009. ''It's been a great association,'' Trimble acknowledges. ''Andrew has offered us some really sound advice.''

Some of Essendon's players visited the town in February as part of their community camp, while Trimble was later invited to appear on The Footy Show and left the Channel Nine studio with $10,000 and the use of new Nissan ute for six months. But as the clean-up moved into full swing, it soon became clear that Newbridge's footballers and netballers would be unable to use their home facilities in 2011.

After canvassing options, the club struck a deal to play home games at the oval used by its Loddon Valley league rival YCW, which is in the Bendigo suburb of Golden Square. Initially, the plan was for Newbridge players to train at YCW's ground as well, but the idea was dismissed when it was agreed the oval would not be able to handle the traffic.

That setback was overcome by the resourcefulness of the Newbridge committee members. Using the proceeds from a grant handed to them by the VCFL, they organised for temporary buildings to be installed at Riverside Park. They also had the reserve's power supply reconnected so the lights around the oval and netball court, which was resurfaced, could be turned on again.

''We've hired two small shower blocks, one for the boys and one for the girls, and we've set up two new septic tanks,'' Trimble says. ''We also had our new goalposts put up two weeks ago and we've got the fence back up around the ground. Week-by-week we do a bit. Everything that goes back up is a bit of a milestone in my eyes.''

However, nothing has yet been done about removing the ruined clubrooms. Trimble wishes the building had been bulldozed by now, but ''we can't do any demolition work until the insurance company come to a settlement with the council. They're saying only 18 per cent of the building has been damaged and we don't believe that to be the case. We're at the point now where we have to get another engineer's report. Hopefully it's not that much longer and we can move forward with it.''

Since the footy season began, the on-field action has been a handy distraction from the frustrations that come with trying to rebuild after such a dramatic event. On that front, the club is battling along quite well. Last year Newbridge's senior side registered only three wins, but before yesterday's meeting with perennial finalist Calivil United, it had won two of its five matches. Meanwhile, the Maroons' reserves team has been in even better form, winning its first five games.

''The three coaches, in the seniors, seconds and thirds, have just been focusing on football,'' Trimble says. ''We haven't pushed the players too much to go out and work and help. There are some players who are on the committee, but basically we've allowed the players to concentrate on their footy. The worst part is that they don't know when the new rooms are going to be up. They keep looking at the old rooms every training night. If we can get through this bit of an insurance hiccup, and get the site cleaned up, reaching that stage will uplift everyone. If we can just get rid of that building it will make everyone a lot happier.''

Despite the current hold-ups, Trimble is steadfast in his belief that his club will be in a position to host games at Newbridge in 2012. ''I'm very positive that we're going to have the new club rooms up at the start of next season,'' he insists. ''There's a community there that's lost its home and it's pretty important for that community to get back to normal.''

In recent weeks the club has lodged a planning permit with the Loddon Shire for its new facilities. Discussions about where the $1 million needed to complete it will come from have also taken place with representatives from the local and state governments and the VCFL.

''In another five years' time you might look back and think the flood has done the football club and the community a favour,'' says Trimble, who was already fighting to have Newbridge's rundown club rooms upgraded before mother nature struck. ''The new building should be the centrepiece of our community. We've never had a social room before. But in the short term we're really hurting.''

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age, May 22 2011