NATHALIA Football Club president Laurie Hicks will never forget the scene that greeted him when he went to check the state of the Purples' home ground a couple of days after it was engulfed by floodwater in early March. Hicks found the oval under almost a metre of water. He could see only the top of the fence surrounding the ground.

''I probably used a word you wouldn't print,'' Hicks says of his initial reaction. ''I'm a dairy farmer south of Nathalia, and the flood hit us about two days before it hit the town. I'd already experienced the height of it and the seriousness of it, so seeing the oval didn't come as a shock. But I had a lot of sadness, knowing the workload ahead of us to get the oval back up and running.''

The Nathalia Showgrounds, in which the footy oval is situated, are located on the inside of a horseshoe-shaped bend in Broken Creek. The creek had lived up to its name by flooding the showgrounds a few times in the past, but never to such an extent.

''Our last major flood was in 1993, and that was the record flood at the time, until this old girl came along,'' Hicks said.

Nathalia's changerooms emerged unscathed. That was thanks to a sandbagging effort backed by soldiers, and the fact the rooms were rebuilt on higher ground after the '93 flood. But the footy ground has been rendered unusable for at least the first half of the season.

The Purples, who spent the past three seasons near the bottom of the ladder after winning four consecutive Murray Football League flags from 2005 to 2008, had enjoyed a great pre-season before the flood hit. Over summer the club had been boosted by the return of many premiership players, including Nathan Ryan, Matt Davies and five-time club best and fairest Nathan Gemmill, who was best-on-ground for Shepparton United in last year's Goulburn Valley league grand final. Nathalia also signed star Kyabram onballer Chris Atkins. ''We'd had probably the best pre-season the club had ever had, in terms of the spirit around the place and the numbers,'' Hicks said. ''There was a huge buzz around the club. I think we've got 56 or 58 players on our list, which is far above what we've ever experienced before.''

The Purples were expecting to start the Murray league season with a home game against Tongala on Good Friday. The match will still go ahead, but will now be hosted by Tongala.

As for Nathalia's other home games, a meeting will be held tomorrow night to work out a strategy. Hosting matches at another club's ground shapes as the likely outcome.

Members of the Purples' committee are reluctant to reverse all their early home games for two reasons: even if they bank the home games, their ground might still be unplayable come July and August; and they rely on the money generated by home games to keep the club afloat.

''The bills keep coming for all of our medical supplies and those sorts of things,'' says Hicks. ''And we've got to pay a user fee to hire our ground whether we use it or not.''

Hicks and a turf expert from the AFL inspected the playing surface on Tuesday. ''The bloke from the AFL said there's a chance we might get on it by June, but we just don't know,'' Hicks said. ''A lot of people are coming down for a look and just seeing this big oval of brown silt. It sort of leaves them in a bit of despair. Once we get even a green tinge happening, people will be much happier.''

Meanwhile, Nathalia's footballers are planning to train on a cricket oval within the showgrounds, which was relatively unscathed by the flood. The ground doesn't have lights, but the AFL has pledged to cover the cost of hiring portable lighting.

''The netball courts are fine, so the biggest thing that we want to do is try and keep everyone in the club together,'' Hicks says. ''We want to keep the footballers and netballers training in the same area. That way we can keep having our family teas on Thursday nights. That will keep everyone's morale up.''

Grants will also be made to a number of other clubs whose seasons were thrown into chaos by the flood. Picola league side Tungamah came off worst. Its ground is OK, but its club rooms suffered major water damage and may have to be condemned. Nathalia's nearby rival Numurkah is back in action despite its ground spending five days under water. ''We played a practice match on it a couple of weeks ago,'' says Numurkah president Ross Gledhill. ''It's as green as. It's never looked better. The flood actually gave our ground a nice watering.''

The hardy folk at Nathalia, meanwhile, are confident that their lot will turn around in the months to come.

''It's a terrific community to be in,'' says Hicks. ''There's a lot of spirit here, and a lot of fight. I think that will be reflected in our on-ground performance.

''A lot of the footballers have done a lot of the sandbagging work. Some were at a player's mother's place and they built this huge levy bank around, then they had to keep adding to it. Some of those guys put two days and nights together without sleep. It was like being in the trenches in the wars. And I think that is going to be a huge thing for them to carry through the year. I really think the camaraderie and spirit will be reflected in our games.''

By Adam McNicol

Article first appeared The Sunday Age April 1, 2012