The farming community has long been the lifeblood of country rugby clubs.
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On Saturday Gunnedah will be doing their bit to help tackle the drought and give back to the local community that has given so much to them, with their final home game against Scone to be a Drought Support Day.
“The rural community has been good to us all year, and is every year,” Red Devils president Bruce Hockings said.
“It’s about trying to give something back and lift the morale of the district.”
Entry will be free, and there will be a free sausage sizzle and refreshments, and entertainment later in the evening following what will be a full day of action with the Red Devils’ women’s, second grade and first grade sides all taking on the Brumbies.
First grade will be trading their traditional red and navy for special green jerseys, which will be auctioned off that night, with all money raised being donated to Aussie Helpers and Rotary 2380.
“We pride ourselves on being a good family club,” Hockings said.
“We want to look after our rugby family.”
“People become reclusive because of drought. We want people to come out and enjoy a day of footy, and when they leave they’ve had a great day and they feel better.”
The club is organising a bus to pick people up from Mullaley, Tambar Springs, Premer and Spring Ridge.
Anyone interested can contact Hockings on 0427 442309 or captain Matt Roseby on 0458 207599.
On the field the Red Devils will be looking to finish off their home season on a winning note after suffering a one point loss and draw in their last two home outings.
“Everyone’s pretty pumped,” Roseby said.
“Obviously we had a pretty disappointing loss down there (Scone) last time. We’re looking for a bit of redemption.”
He highlighted their defence as an area they need to be a lot better.
“Our defence was terrible last time against them,” he said.
“We spoke about that after last weekends game - our defence has got to be a lot better.”
Particularly in the first 20 minutes they need to work harder in defence.
“We’ve been starting too slow in a low of games recently,” Roseby said.
