WHEN Tony Lewis first got involved with Bathurst Touch Football he didn't really know any of the rules and he had to drag players out of the pub to referee.
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In the 27 years that have followed things have evolved - he's no longer operating out of the back of a purple Hyundai - and it's certainly been an evolution for the better.
It is why he has been made a life member of Bathurst Touch Football.
"I didn't know a bloody thing, I didn't know the rules. All I knew about touch football was you run forwards and pass the ball backwards," Lewis laughed.
"When I first started I think there were about 36 senior teams playing out at St Pat's. He [David Weekes] said to me 'Come along and give it a go'.
"There was not one referee to be found and after the first year I went to them and said 'Well this is all very good, your sport is as cheap as chips, but you've got no referees, no real infrastructure there, it's all duty'.
"I remember at one stage there I had to go and drag someone out of the Pat's club to umpire because they didn't show up, they'd decided to just go and have a beer."
After being convinced by his now good mate and fellow Bathurst Touch Football life member Weekes to be involved, Lewis had changes he wanted to implement for the following season.
Lewis convinced the committee raise the registration fees so they could pay referees. It did take some recruiting, but it was a move which worked.
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"Now we have a number of highly accredited umpires and a lot of juniors coming through," Lewis proudly said.
But it is not just the situation with referees which have changed. There are more teams - including juniors - better technology, more fields being used, a clubhouse since 2010 and a more professional set up.
"Over the years I don't know how many venue changes we've had. We started at Pat's, then we were up to the uni for awhile and played out of three or four venues up there, then we played at the other side of Learmonth Park," Lewis said.
"It has grown from 36 sides to 140 plus teams, with a clubhouse, with an electronic scoreboard, with our quad bike and trailer to put up all the tear drop signs, so visually we're the envy of most of the associations in the state with our field set up.
"We have 18 fields all tear drop signed and sponsor signed, so it looks very, very good. There's not too many associations in New South Wales who have the capacity or numbers to run 18 fields at the one time.
"The kids have gone from nothing and there are maybe 70-odd junior sides playing now."
Lewis may still not know the rules, but his work has undoubtedly been valuable.
