Making it more than $670,000 for the 2019-2020 financial year.
And Moama’s football/netball and cricket clubs were on hand when Moama Bowling Club sales and marketing manager George Santos started handing out the cheques.
While summer sport has been able to dodge the virus at this stage, Moama Football Netball Club president Matt Lake said this type of cash support would be critical going into the 2021 season.
He said football and netball clubs across the Murray and Goulburn Valley leagues had been devastated by the loss of major fundraisers such as gate takings, canteen sales and sponsorship for 2020.
“No season means no money so to have this type of support from Moama Bowling Club, such a long-time supporter of local competitions, will be pivotal as we look to 2021 and getting our club back up off the ground and into gear,” Lake said.
“To have gone through pre-season only to find 2020 put on hold and then called off was pretty tough for everyone to take,” he said.
“The footy and netball teams are such a vital part of the community, and provide great outlets for our young people, so everyone was left very flat and in many cases at a loss in compensating for the cancelled season.
“We can’t thank George and the Bowling Club enough for sticking with us through all this mess.”
Moama Cricket Club president Kirk Teasdale agreed without sponsorship on this scale sporting clubs across the twin towns would flounder.
He said although summer sport is yet to find out what lies ahead, many cricketers are footballers in the winter and he knew how they felt.
“This has been really tough for everyone, not just sporting clubs and other community groups, everyone has been negatively impacted in some way,” Teasdale said.
“I know at Moama Cricket Club we have always been incredibly grateful for the support we receive from Moama Bowling Club and other businesses across the twin towns,” he said.
“But it really has that extra appreciation when you know the Bowling Club, all the clubs and the hospitality industry have been savaged themselves by lockdowns, restrictions and border controls and for any of them to still put their hands in their pockets to help out is an incredible contribution on so many levels.
“We may still have our own challenges ahead – summer is not that far away now – because no-one really knows where the governments in NSW and Victoria will take us for the next two or three months but at this stage we are hopeful we can look forward to an uninterrupted season.”
Santos said the downside of the donations was there could have been $1 million for distribution in the financial year just ended if it weren’t for COVID-19.
He said the other $300,000 was lost to the impact of the global pandemic and resulting restrictions on Moama Bowling Club’s trade.
“Beneficiaries in this latest round of ClubGRANTS embraced numerous community sporting clubs, with Echuca and Echuca United football/netball clubs included,” Santos said.
“But it was more than sport; other local organisations to benefit from these funds include those in the health sector, primary and secondary schools, charities, mental health, youth programs and festivals,” he said.
“We are just very disappointed we could not have that extra $300,000, just as we are disappointed at not being able to do more.
“But in these unprecedented times anything anyone can do to help hold our communities together will make a difference.”
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