Two years ago, the Shepparton Swans Football Netball Club’s clubrooms and facilities were destroyed by Victoria’s 2022 floods, which the club president said left the community devastated.
“The long-term future of the club was still in doubt at the time because of viability – without having clubrooms and to raise funds and whatnot through that – but once we had those rooms, we were able to play the sport on that ground and the netball courts,” said Sutherland. Since the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires, the league has helped 109 Victoria-based clubs, with 42 getting immediate relief payments and 67 receiving infrastructure or project-based funding support.Brian Walsh, the general manager of corporate affairs, government and communication at the AFL, said it was important to help local clubs affected by weather events get back on their feet, especially as football clubs are often an epicentre for communities in regional areas.
“98 per cent of our staff wants us to do more and play our role ... And we know that our supporters think this is an important issue.” The organisation, co-founded by St Kilda’s Tom Campbell and former North Melbourne player Jasper Pittard One of the main efforts of Footy for Climate, which in 2021 found 92 per cent of players were concerned about the effects of climate change on the environment and the implications that would have on their sport, was to help community clubs invest in renewable energy.