FOR the first time in 25 years, Bathurst’s Paul Rossiter will not hold an administration role in rugby league come season 2009.
At the NSW Country Rugby League annual general meeting on Saturday Rossiter was voted out of the junior vice-president’s position, a role he had held since 2005.
After the vote Newcastle delegate John Anderson was elected to the junior vice-president’s role for 2009.
Parkes’ Jock Colley was voted in as the new chairman.
Rossiter, the man known as ‘Rocky’, said he was disappointed to no longer hold a position on the CRL executive but he was confident the new-look body would continue the good work.
“I stood and got beat,” Rossiter put simply.
“Maybe I wasn’t in touch with what was going on. That was probably the case and there was probably lots of lobbying going on for people to get positions as vice-president and, unfortunately for me, I missed out.
“They’re all competent people who have run their groups or divisions for quite some time. Country Rugby League will carry on as per usual and all is good.”
Rossiter said he had hoped to remain on the executive as there were a few things he wanted to work on in 2009.
He had wanted to streamline the registration process and give the regional area managers a greater role.
He also wanted to work to improve the process of handling development fees for when country players move to Sydney to play.
While disappointed to be leaving the CRL, Rossiter is still happy with what he was able to achieve during his time on the executive and committee.
He quickly shot down any ideas of returning to an administration role at Group 10.
“I’ve had my time,” he said.
“Look, there’s lots of good people still in rugby league and unless people actually do move on, you don’t get the opportunities for other people to come through. I was lucky. People moved on when I was starting off [in CRL].
“A full cycle takes place. I’m not happy with the result but I’m more than happy in my own self that I’ve achieved what I wanted to achieve, and happy with my involvement. [Group 10] went from massive amounts of payments being paid to players and we were on a self-destruct mode, to a competition that the grand final last year was as good as you want to see. It’s all credit to [Group 10 president] Linore Zamparini and his team.
“I walk away from the game with the legacy that we’re still a very vibrant and active sport. We still command the bulk of patrons when it comes to semi-final and grand final time because they know they’re going to get a quality product. I’m really happy with what I’ve achieved.”
Rossiter held his first administration position in the area when he became the Bathurst Railway secretary in 1984, a position he held through to 1988.
In 1988 he took on the Group 10 assistant secretary’s role through to 1991.
Rossiter then became the Group 10 president and held that position until he stepped down following the 2007 Group 10 grand final.
During his time as Group 10 president, Rossiter was also the CRL conference delegate from 1991 and in 1996 became a CRL committee member.
In 2005 he was elected the CRL junior vice-president.
Since 1998 Rossiter has also had roles as a selector at NSW Country and state levels.
He will continue this in 2009 where he will remain as a NSW Country under 18s and under 16s selector.
Rossiter will still be a familiar face at Group 10 matches.
“I still go to games now. There’s nothing better than a steak sandwich, a bucket of chips and a beer at the footy,” he laughed.
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