Cameron Caine, President of the Kinglake footy club. Footy resumes today!

Thank you very much to all the sponsors and people who came out to support last weekend’s Bushfire Fundraiser & Match in Saigon which was co-hosted by the Vietnam Swans and Bali Geckos.

USD3,047.74 was raised and transferred to the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football Netball League (YVMDFL).

As it happens, Kinglake which is part of the YVMDFL, will kick off its 2009 season today.

Just 9 days after the Black Saturday fires claimed 37 of Kinglake’s own, a meeting was held at the oval (which had been a sanctuary during the fires) to decide the future of the town’s 3 footy and  netball teams and an Auskick program. As described in The Age today, “the earth beneath their feet that evening was still scorched. Light towers, a water pump and the netball clubrooms gone. The vote was taken: do we play on?”

“A hundred and fifty hands went straight up”, said the Kinglake President, Cameron Caine. “You can kick us in the guts but you can’t knock us over”. Caine had originally thought that there would be no football in Kinglake in 2009 as he “thought people would have more to worry about than sport” – yet it turned out that was exactly what they wanted.

At Thursday night’s training, Caine told the players, friends and families to stay strong and proud. “We ran from it (the bushfires) together. We hid from it together. And now we’re going to rebuild together”.

Last weekend in Saigon, we did something to try and help these communities rebuild. From the Vietnam Swans and the Bali Geckos, thank you again for your support.