Yea to put on a show … country styleCAMERON NOAKES
February 27, 2010The Yea football ground where many people took refuge after the Black Saturday fires. Today the ground will host an AFL match between Richmond and Geelong.
The Yea football ground where many people took refuge after the Black Saturday fires. Today the ground will host an AFL match between Richmond and Geelong. Photo: Justin McManus
WHEN the micro-managed, uber-professional environment of the AFL rolls into a tiny, laid back, country town such as Yea there are inevitably some problems as worlds collide; for example, a dispute has already broken out between the local workers at the Red Cross and Richmond over the price of a plate of spaghetti … with the Red Cross winning that battle.
Do not mess with the "Red Cross ladies", said Rick Wall, who is project managing today's NAB Challenge match between Richmond and Geelong.
"Richmond quoted a certain price for the spaghetti bolognaise and the Red Cross ladies said, 'No, we don't think so' … the Red Cross ladies drive a hard bargain", he explained.
Just a tick over a year ago people flocked to the Yea football ground for refuge as the devastating Black Saturday fires licked around the edges of the town, but today the people are flocking there again to watch what the ground was designed for - football.
The tents that were once pitched on the ground's immaculate playing surface, temporary homes for many fire victims, have long gone, and today new tents have arrived, in the form of three large marquees, in which 1300 sausages, 700 hamburgers and 650 hot dogs will be sizzled and sold.
"And I'm not sure how many kegs there are but they are in the pavilion now and there is a stack of them," Wall said.
While the entire community is seemingly donating its time (from the people in the local chemist, Pollard's Pharmacy - who are ''rushed off their feet" selling tickets - to the CFA), Wall's job is to satisfy the demands of the football clubs. And when The Age called on Friday he was thinking about ice.
Each club requires about 300-400 kilograms of ice but Wall thought there was only 400 kilograms in the entire township.
"If worst comes to worst we might have to make a run to Alexandra in the morning," he said.
With the price of spaghetti sorted, a back-up plan for ice, next on Wall's to-do list was solve another minor problem which was providing power to the assistant coaches' laptops - all up about seven a club.
Yea's population is less than 2000 and today more than double that number from neighbouring, fire-stricken areas will descend upon the picturesque football ground that is adorned by a charming, heritage-listed grandstand and an oval surrounded by established oak trees.
And Wall thinks the trees could be useful.
"As of this moment we can't get power for their laptops. They've been told they probably won't have power but we're looking at getting a 'genny' in or somehow running a cord through the tops of the trees," he said.
There was also a complication with the changing rooms. The Yea Football Club goes by the nickname the Tigers so it was a natural choice to put Richmond in the home-team's rooms, however the visitors' change-room was too small for Geelong.
The umpires claimed those rooms (and "flush toilets" were installed in them yesterday) while the Cats were allocated the CFA rooms, despite the fact that when the game starts at 4pm the players will have to cross a road before they get to the ground.
"It's not a main road," Wall said. "The fire trucks come out at 8am (today) and they are going to have sit across on the other side of the main street.
"Actually, we're praying nothing happens because the CFA guys are on the gates so if anything happens between one o'clock and four o'clock they are going to have to pee off."
Yea Football/Netball Club president Tina McNab said to have the AFL roll into town was "humbling" and a "great treat" for the community.
"This is the closest many people will get to an AFL match so it really is a fantastic feeling. I think everyone is excited, even if they're not that into footy," she said.
Not only that, the profit made from the game will go back to the community with the CFA, the football and netball club, the cricket club, the pony club, the tennis club and the Red Cross all set to benefit.
McNab explained Yea was not directly affected by the Black Saturday fires but it had also endured its share of hardships over the years including two fire threats, drought and economic difficulties.
"And the Black Fires obviously touched so many people and just about everyone from around here knows someone who was affected by the fires," she said.
And indeed this is a day for those people as well and they will be acknowledged when Kinglake brothers, Kevin and Kane Smith (Richmond and Geelong supporters who lost their home in the fires) will toss the coin.
Wall said excitement and expectation had gradually been building over the past month as the AFL inspected the ground "once or twice a week". But it had been worth the fuss.
When the AFL rolls out of town it will leave Yea, and the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League, with "a provincial class ground" that now has a $50,000 irrigation pump and $12,000 goal posts.
"They were particular to a disturbing level, some would say," Wall said. "Things have to be perfect for them these days … and as you can imagine, there is a big difference between the culture that they're used to and the culture up here."
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/yea-to-put-on-a-show-x2026-country-style-20100226-p962.html
