Southern Inland is set for a change of leadership with long-serving president Dave Adamson stepping down.
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Adamson has been president for the last seven years but has decided not to seek re-election at the annual general meeting on Sunday.
It sees his 12-year period on the board come to an end after previously serving as a vice-president.
Adamson is looking forward to having a life away from football.
“It’s very, very time consuming,” Adamson said.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being on the board and the support I’ve received while on it but I thought it was time to move on.”
Adamson expects to be getting out onto the golf course a little more and having the opportunity to watch a Brumbies game or head to the snowfields during the winter.
There has been many changes to the competition in his tenure as president, including the loss of Temora, Cootamundra and Young after the 2015 season, but Adamson is pleased with how the game stands in terms of participation.
“The major thing that has gone ahead is that we’re actually bucking the trend of a lot of other areas in Australia as far as our growth,” he said.
“Our women’s, juniors and men’s are ahead of growth compared to a lot of other areas of rugby.”
The women’s sevens competition has been another highlight for Adamson.
It came in during his first year as president and has continued to flourish and created a new pathway in the larger format of the game.
“It’s expanding and you only have to look at the number of girls, either past or present, that we’ve got in the train-on squad for the women’s Super Rugby competition,” he said.
One thing he’s hoping can be addressed is the current referee shortage.
There has been a significant drop off in officials over the past two seasons and Adamson hopes the new regime can help peak more interest to ensure there are referees.
“The biggest challenge we’ve got at the moment is getting more bodies on the ground to referee the games as without a ref you haven’t got a game,” he said.
A new president is just one of the many items on the agenda for at the AGM.
A draw featuring more byes throughout the regular season for representative football will be floated to the clubs as will changes to the finals eligibility criteria.
The will also be a discussion on having a women’s 10s competition instead of the current sevens, a previous bid was unsuccessful two year ago.
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