Whether he's in the maroon of the Blayney Bears, the blue of the Blayney Rams or the blue and black of the Carcoar Crows, Adam Lowe is a familiar sight on the football grounds around the Blayney Shire.
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With such a long and varied football history, it's almost only natural that Lowe has taken on the role of president of the Blayney Bears Rugby League Football Club.
Tim Smith is the secretary with Ben Pettit as assistant secretary, Damon Taylor is remaining as treasurer and Jesse Nixon will be his assistant. Adam Hornby will be the club's vice-president.
Even though Lowe's campaign for 2022 was cut short when he broke his arm in the first game of the season against the Mudgee Dragons, the gap has allowed him time to sit back and reflect on how he can help build the Bears into a side that will be a force to be reckoned with, in whichever competition the side ends up in.
Lowe said that the club's future is very much dependent on the outcome from a special October meeting on the proposed merger of Group 10 and Group 11 league tag and reserve grade competitions for season 2023.
"There is certainly the potential that if they do join we can still just field a reserve grade side where we play some of the group 11 teams," he said.
As a rugby union player Lowe is well aware of the distances that players will need to travel if the two competitions merge, with Nyngan being the most distant playing ground.
That aside, the lure of being able to take on other sides very much appeals to him.
"It will be good to play different teams, but it's just a matter of getting players again, that's the big issue, unfortunately," he said.
That quest for more players is one that Lowe believes is a long-term project that is targeted at locals only.
"Our main goal is to bring the locals back into it, the same as this year where we were really successful," he said. "As it stands just having a reserve grade full of locals makes a whole lot of difference with the camaraderie."
"Even with the grandstand as it was this year we think that the locals like to see other locals in their footy side and our numbers were just as good as when we had a first grade side."
Getting the community behind the Bears is one task that the new committee is taking on with new ideas being developed to bring in more sponsors and community involvement.
From special events at the Community Centre and sponsors days Lowe is confident that the club will grow, and he's keen on bringing in the junior club into the fold to help new players raise up through the ranks.
"There has been that bit of a division between the seniors and juniors over the years," he said. "Now though we have a few of the older players like Jake Mooney heavily involved in the junior league and they were happy to get back on board and help."
"If we don't have a good junior system, well that's end of the club."
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Mark Logan
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
Started working in newspapers in the 1990's in the darkroom of the Pastoral Times in Deniliquin before moving to Millthorpe in 2003. Soon after arriving I started as a photographer at the CWD. Now a journalist at the Blayney Chronicle.
