It’s a steamy Saturday morning in January and though it's not football season yet, Brian and Vicki Bugden are at the Rovers clubhouse in East Lismore preparing kit bags for the many junior teams returning to the pitch this year.

It’s a place and process they’ve visited countless times over the years, dedicating much of their time and energy, along with other family members and local volunteers, to keep the club chugging.

2021 marks Brian’s 50th year of involvement with Richmond Rovers and the club itself celebrates 60 years running. And this year much of Brian’s dedication will be directed at the pitch itself as he returns to the role of coach for the Premier Division. It’s a familiar role, his fourth season as Football Far North Coast Premiership coach over the last couple of decades, his first stint was back in 86. It’s a role that he humbly accepts though he has enjoyed a break.

“…the boys asked me if I’d come back and coach, I said well …I ummed and ahhhed. I hadn’t done it for Premiers for 5 or 6 years. I coached reserve grade since then. Then I had two years off. I didn’t mind the two years off. And also last year I coached my eight-year-old grandson. I thoroughly enjoyed it’.

Two years off didn’t mean time away from the club though. Word is that Brian is at the pitch every Saturday morning at 6am, with fellow devotees Carlo and Wally, setting up the field in preparation for the many juniors and their families who descend at 9am for the day's games.

“I’m lucky, I oversee but I don’t do the actual training drills. I see myself as more of a manager. I’ve never gone and done courses. We’ve got a heap of blokes here that know how to do it. Luke McQuade, he’s right into it, he does all the drills. I say for the first six weeks we do physical, but we’re using the ball, we’re not just going to run around the oval all the time. In my day we’d run and run and run .… it was boring.”

Brian’s role in management of the team has him dealing with selection, formation and game plan while Luke works alongside as trainer. The Prems train together as a squad with the Championship team and their trainer Scott Murphy.

With a succession plan in mind, Brian is hopeful that Scott Murphy may take over the Premiers role at some point.

”The club here we’re very lucky, we usually get someone from within the club to coach us. A lot of other clubs, they haven’t got the people available to them to do that.”

Somewhat reluctantly Brian admits that in some cases players may be drawn to certain coaches and may return to Rovers Prems now that he is back.

“It doesn’t happen much, not around here….but yes. But I don’t take coaching too serious. And I try to get the players not to take it too serious. It's great to win but they pay $500 a season to play, they got to come here with a smile on their face. We train hard, do all that, but we’ve got to have fun.”

Official training starts on February 2, two days a week, with some preseason Sundays already underway during January. Brian says he’s aware of the time commitment that players make which is not always practical throughout the season.

“Some coaches expect players to be at training all the time, perfect world – yes. It doesn’t work. They’ve got families, they’ve got jobs. If you start now and go through to the semis that’s up to September, that’s most of the year. I don’t

expect anyone to be able to fulfil 80 per cent of that. “

With this sense of fun and flexibility Brian also has ambitions for the Premiers that will see them in the top three.

“It is an advantage if you come in in the top three and you get higher in the ladder, the semi finals will be played at your home ground, and that helps out the club”

A good reminder to our local community that all the local clubs rely heavily on our support – every ice block or pack of chips you buy on those sparkling winter mornings after your kid’s games add to the club’s lifespan.

For now, Brian says he can’t predict a top three for this season but suggests that Byron are often up there along with Souths or possibly Goonellabah.

With Brian back at the helm it looks to be a strong year for Rovers, perhaps much stronger than his second favourite team QPR, who languish in 17th in the English Championship, the second tier.

Brian Bugden is the third new coach for Lismore-based in Football Far North Coast's Premiership Division.

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