James King takes on presidency role at Bathurst Bushrangers

King was recently elected to the Bushrangers presidency, taking over from Alex Sparks after he spent three years guiding the AFL Central West powerhouse.

King is eager to continue to build off what Sparks achieved, with one of the first things he did in the role revealing the club had received a grant to build change rooms for female players.

But before he even put his hand up for the presidency, King wanted to know what the role would involve.

"I spent a bit of time talking to the stalwarts around the club to understand what that responsibility would look like and clearly there's been some big plans in place, so it's learning what has to happen through council as part of that whole development of the whole George Park precinct," King said.

"I think I have a pretty good understanding of what I was getting into ... I've certainly got experience at different administrative levels with different sporting organisations, whether it's being a secretary or a treasurer of a football club, and I've spent a lot of time coaching, particularly in cricket too.

"Before I came here I was the president of the P&F at Santa Sabina College, which is one of the big independent schools, so I certainly know what it is like to have that responsibility on your shoulders."

It was four years ago that King relocated from Sydney to Bathurst. One of the ways he tried to become involved with the community was through sport, so when his son expressed an interest in playing Australian rules, he was delighted.

That's where King's association with the Bushrangers began.

"My young bloke wanted to play AFL, which I was really happy about," he said.

"Sparksy was coaching him in under 12s two years ago and probably got sick of me barking instructions from the sideline, so he told me last year 'Come and coach' and that's what I did with the 14s."

Though King himself has not played since his teenage years and laughed "one good knock to the left-hand shoulder and that would be it" in terms of a potential comeback, he has long had a passion for the sport.

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"From a football perspective as well I've always been around it, I'm a life-long supporter of the Hawks," he said.

"Even thinking about those early childhood memories with my father ,the inaugural sponsor of the Port Macquarie Magpies in the New England league going back to 1981. I've just always sort of been around the game."

Since becoming involved with the Bushrangers, King has come to learn about their history and that of the AFL Central West as a whole.

He is respectful of that history, but also has a focus on building for the future.

"You always try and spend time with people around the club and trying to understand the history of the league going back to 1981 when football was established. The more time you spend around some of the senior stalwarts at the club, you get an appreciation of what the club has been doing since 2004," he said.

"From my perspective there are some big plans. You look at the requirements for this role and you want to make sure you are managing the books and have got good corporate responsibility and governance going on."

King hopes to continue to foster the young Bushrangers to ensure the continued success of the club's senior sides - and he has a big dream as well.

"For me I suppose the dream would be to make sure we have got a really good development path for the junior boys and girls coming through to the senior grade and hopefully one day finding someone from the Bushies who will play AFL," he said.

"You know that would be the dream, someone playing in the AFL.

"While I'll spend a lot of time looking at commercial aspects and looking at where we can draw sponsors from, I'm very junior focussed too. Obviously I'll keep on coaching the 14s, that's why I got into it in the first place and I want to continue that.

"There's a lot to learn about what we have been doing and where I can apply my polish."

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