The ASF survey reports that 70 percent of around 70,000 community clubs expect numbers to fall because of players losing interest or having health and hygiene concerns and 43 percent predict a decline in volunteers, the lifeblood of non-professional sport.

Most sources of revenue – memberships, sponsorships, hospitality and fund-raising activities – have dried up but the bills still have to be paid, for affiliation, rent, maintenance and utilities. Clubs either have had to draw down on meagre savings or go into debt.

“The survival of thousands of clubs is under threat if financial support is not provided quickly,” said Walker, “as responses to the survey also showed that community clubs have little in the way of capital or cash reserves … over half of all clubs reporting less than six month’s funds available and a quarter citing insolvency risk as one of their major challenges.”

Every sport is affected, but at least the mainstream sports have each other’s shoulder to lean, or cry, on. Melbourne locked down for the first time just as the tiny St Kilda Handball Club’s season was about to start, reducing it from 25 player-members to zero and robbing it of revenue.

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“The start of the season is the costliest, so we still had all the expenses coming out for that month, like paying for the court and the coach, but we had no income coming in,” said president Thomas Gertch. “We probably lost around $1200 that we won’t recover. Luckily, we were awarded a $1000 grant by the Victorian government which allowed us to keep paying the bills.”

Handball is a niche pursuit in Australia, but it is an Olympic sport. St Kilda is home to three national team players. When freed, the club improvised training drills, but the second lockdown has almost certainly wiped out their year and imperilled their future.

“Think about your community sports and clubs,” said Gertch. “A lot of them are run by volunteers and if there’s no money coming in, there might be a lot that disappear if we don’t get the right support.”

Higher up the food chain, Melbourne University Lightning Netball Club’s season is, like so many others’, a write-off. President Lindy Murphy says it has cost the Victorian Premier League club about $40,000 in revenue.

“It’s been so stop-start. You think you’re getting going and all of a sudden you’re shut down again,” Murphy said. A dozen coaches have accepted cuts to their honorariums, and Murphy is taking nothing for her two full days a week. “I don’t know how many versions of a budget we’ve done,” she said.

“We’ll survive. Our partner is Melbourne University. They’re very supportive.” But the flat feeling remains.

For others, it’s existential. The ASF’s Walker said the effort to preserve community sport would mean all hands on deck.

“Having highlighted the unfolding crisis and now quantified the scale of the problem, we want to work with Australia’s political, philanthropic and corporate leaders – and everyone who cares about the role community sport plays in our way of life – to help solve the issue,” he said.

“These clubs are about more than the sport itself – they are the lifeblood of communities all over Australia.

“They are made up of individuals who pay utility bills, shop at supermarkets and fill up at petrol stations. They are not the top end of town, but need support from this sector and the whole philanthropic community if we are to avoid the loss of thousands of clubs and the widespread social dislocation that would follow.”