Pre-season training looked a little different for the Seymour Lions on Monday, with the club’s footballers spotted running around town following last week’s heavy rainfall and flooding.
Thankfully, the town did not see a repeat of the October 2022 floods, with businesses and homes in evacuation zones sandbagged and well-prepared.
Following the Goulburn River returning to below flood level, people across town were left with sandbags and no means to dispose of them.
That’s where the Seymour Lions stepped in, with pre-season training turning into a town-wide clean-up job, picking up and disposing of sandbags at the SES centre.
“We’re thinking of everyone that was impacted by flooding and are incredibly thankful the river didn’t rise to the predicted level,” Seymour Lions President Gerard O’Sullivan said.
“Once the waters receded, we identified as a club that a lot of people had sandbags they didn’t know what to do with.
“Rather than a normal pre-season training session we thought it would be a great idea to get the footballers out in the community and help people dispose of their sandbags.”
The Lions organised tipper trucks for Monday night and got to work.
“A few of the great tradies associated with the club took the time to get their heavy vehicles into action and watched the footballers get to work,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
“Not only does the town look a lot tidier following the clean up we put some extra miles in the legs of our players.
“The players split into two groups and ran roughly eight kilometres each, picking up bags from businesses and homes across town.
“Everyone is looking forward to a new season of football and netball and we’d like to thank the Seymour community for their ongoing support.”
