Irrewillipe Recreation Reserve in south-west Victoria is normally soft underfoot and thick with grass.

This year the Western Eagles Football Club club’s home ground looks green from a distance but up close the drought’s impact is obvious.

The surface is cracked and dry, the centre circled is bare and dusty, yellow stains spread across the flanks, and thin patches of dirt replace lush turf.

The ground is brittle and baked hard by months without decent rain.

Irrewillipe is a short drive from Colac which has experienced record low rainfall, along with much of south-west Victoria.

For more than a year, farmers have struggled with the lack of rain.

But the longstanding drought is having an effect on the wider regional community.

The Eagles were forced to move games away from its home ground at the beginning of the season due to the unfit nature.

But Dan Casey and his men were thrown a lifeline in March when nearby dairy farmer Josh Parsons offered to pump water from his own dam into Irrewillipe Recreation Reserve.

“We don’t have access to town water or anything like that,” Casey said. “We used water from Josh’s dam; he donated that for us this year.

“If we didn’t have that, I don’t know what it would have looked like to be honest.”

Western Eagles coach Dan Casey said Saturday afternoons were more than just chasing four points; they provide an opportunity to give back to those who had shown support.

“I look at footy now and everyone wants to win the flag, but I think there’s a bigger picture,” he said.

“Saturdays are where farmers and the community can get together and forget about what’s happening during the week, all their troubles and just catch up with people.

“I’ve just seen that they probably need us more now than ever, it’s just becoming so hard on everyone.”

Casey said in previous years the ground would be like a “mud pit” and “chopped up” from football boots.

But the yellow and barren fields surrounding the oval offer a glimpse of how the ground might have looked without serious intervention.

Parsons, who manages 300 dairy cows on his 600-acre property said, last autumn and winter was tough, but this year has been even harsher.

He started summer with enough feed to cover more than a year, yet the dry conditions stripped it away by the end of August.

Winter in south-west Victoria usually delivers steady rainfall, but the region has now endured a second straight year of prolonged dry weather.

The Bureau of Meteorology reports that Colac recorded its lowest rainfall for any 18-month period ending in Aprill.

Local water storages have dropped to around half capacity, and from Warrnambool to Cape Otway, rainfall over the past two years has been the lowest ever recorded.

Irrewarra-Beeac Football Netball Club president Anthony McDonald says the drought has pushed the club’s home ground to breaking point.

“There were clouds of dust rising off the ground,” he said during home games this season. “The grass looked like it was dead or dying.”

Player safety became a serious issue.

Two Irrewarra-Beeac players, Charlie Morrissy and Hudson Dewar, suffered concussions earlier in the season after head knocks on the hard surface.

McDonald said the club was continuously forced to pump water onto the oval.

“We were able to put more water on, but it was another job that had to be done. It was the cost that was problematic for us.

“We pay the full rate for Barwon Water and spent close to $6000 on water alone – that’s a lot more than normal.”

Rural Financial Counselling Service (1300 735 578)

This story is part of a project exploring regional Victoria and the issues farmers are facing. See the whole collection here.