HUNDREDS of kilometres from home, Nangwarry Football Club president Shane Ploenges was shattered when he received a phone call in the early hours of Thursday morning advising him the clubrooms had been burned to the ground.
“I was away in Melbourne on holidays and the phone went off at 12.30am and I immediately panicked because that does not normally happen,” Mr Ploenges said.
“My daughter was pretty emotional on the phone and when she told me what was going on, it was pretty gut-wrenching.”
More than four hours away, Mr Ploenges felt helpless.
“Not that I could have done anything anyway, but it was just tough to see photographs and videos and not be able to be there to support everyone,” he said.
Despite seeing pictures, it was not until he returned to Nangwarry on Saturday the extent of the situation really hit home.
“When I got out of the car and had a walk around here Saturday morning it was pretty hard to handle,” he said.
The fire – which burned for around four hours last Thursday morning – is estimated to have caused around $500,000 worth of damage.
While the building can be rebuilt, it is everything lost inside, which has had it’s greatest impact on people involved with the club.
“It’s not just football flags and pictures, but we also used to have a cricket club here and there was some of that memorabilia held inside,” he said.
“Old photographs of presidents and coaches probably are not going to be able to be replaced.
“There were some special things in that club.”
Mr Ploenges also reflected on some amazing memories held inside the clubrooms over the years.
“When I first started playing footy here, the back of the canteen was the club on a Saturday night before we moved into those clubrooms,” he said.
“Our first premiership in 1993 was a long time coming and it was a special day in there when everyone got behind us.”
Not just a football club, the building had also served the community as a hub where people often frequented on the weekends.
“Nangwarry does not have a hotel, so if you want to have a drink and catch up with people this is where you would come,” he said.
“These days with mental health, if you do not have that interaction with other people it can really affect you, so it’s important we get somewhere temporary to go as quickly as possible.”
While Mr Ploenges and the rest of the Nangwarry community still come to terms with the events of last week, he said the support from the wider community had been overwhelming.
“The support has been tremendous – I was getting calls all through the night it happened from people just expressing their sympathy and offering to help wherever they could,” he said.
“All the football clubs have been in contact and they have all offered there support to us as well, which has just been fantastic.”
