Fire ravages sports clubs

THE Murwillumbah junior Aussie rules club was looking forward to boosting their coffers with a barbecue this weekend after being ravaged by wet weather and ex-Cyclone Debbie flooding in the past two months.

Now officials have to scour through what is left of their clubrooms after fire destroyed their sheds at Les Cave Oval and $2500 worth of equipment on Tuesday night.

The Murwillumbah soccer and cricket clubs also have been badly affected by the fire, allegedly lit by vandals.

“It sets us back a bit,” said Murwillumbah Vulcans president Dominic Tvbuaskis. “The fire takes away our ability to raise money.”

He said the floods had caused $5000 worth of damage to canteen equipment and stock.

“It’s happened while (the town) is still rebuilding from the floods,” Mr Tvbuaskis said.

The club was looking forward to a strong gathering this weekend after missing the past three weeks through bad weather.

Club junior director Chris Shapland said he didn’t know how the club would be able to run games this weekend.

“This place is usually packed with 150 kids,” he said. “We’re having a meeting to see what we can do,”

Murwillumbah Football Club president Darren McKay said much of the burnt equipment had been saved from the floods.

“But there’s not much you can salvage when it’s all melted,” he said.

Murwillumbah Cricket Club, which fields teams in the summer season, lost about $5000 worth of equipment.

Police said the fire was being treated as suspicious.

Tweed Shire Council recreation services boss Matt McCann slammed the fire as an act of vandalism.

“The building will be replaced and the clubs will no doubt keep going but what’s the point in this senseless act of vandalism,” Mr McCann said in a statement.

“We’ll be doing all we can to work with police and clubs to find out who did this and hopefully, that may lead to a prosecution.”

The buildings owned council were insured. by