HIS first involvement in Bathurst soccer came almost 50 years ago and now Andrew Rankin has been honoured for his contribution to the sport.
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Rankin, the current Bathurst District Football (BDF) recorder, was unveiled as the soccer association's latest life member at an annual general meeting in February.
Starting his soccer journey way back in the 1960s as a Churches United junior, Rankin said it was a "huge honour" to be named a life member.
"I was very flattered," he said.
"I was grateful, because it's a big honour."
Since 2016, Rankin has served as the BDF recorder, a timely role that used to require the preparation and collection of match cards and the tallying of goal scorers and best and fairest votes.
But since the introduction of Dribl in 2023, a program that does that all digitally, it's cut back his workload by almost "15 hours a week".
"That's what I used to spend doing all the tables and stuff. It was a huge job for the recorder for years," he said.
"It's come a long way. I heard about how Chris Orme [a former BDF recorder] years ago would get a big piece of butcher's paper and write the tables out new every Sunday evening after the games."
It's a big job, but when asked why he does it, it was a pretty easy answer.
"I love it," Rankin said.
"It's fun and you meet great people.
"I was lucky enough that I was here during a period where we were able to make some major changes and they're all for the better."
It all started at Churches United
STARTING off as a budding Churches United under 6s player in the 1960s, Rankin's favourite junior memory was in 1968, when his team won everything.
"We won everything," he said.
"We won the Kenny Trophy, a great huge trophy that's still in the cupboard at Proctor Park.
"We won every gala day. We went to them in Parkes, Orange. There used to be heaps of gala days back then."
He rose all the way to Churches' second grade team in the early 1980s, but he ultimately stepped away from soccer when he moved away from Bathurst.
After returning to his home town in 2000, Rankin signed up with the old PCYC club but after it folded, he joined Peter Churches and Brian Nightingale in playing locally with Bathurst 75.
At the time Bathurst 75 only had local junior sides, with all their senior teams playing in either the NSW State League or the old Central West Soccer League.
It was an new era for 75, as it entered its first senior Bathurst District Football teams in 25 years and its where Rankin has played his soccer since.
One of his favourite memories was winning the 2012 fourth grade men's grand final.
"That was the highlight because we were in six grand finals in a row in different grades and we finally won one," he said.
"We beat Panda in the grand final. They were the team to beat at the time. They were a really tough side."
How Bathurst soccer has changed
WHEN Rankin first started playing, the main grounds for the sport in town was Police Paddock, Loco Oval and Base Ordinance Camp (BOD) in South Bathurst.
Police Paddock still survives, Loco Oval is still around but as a cricket venue and home for City Colts, while the field at BOD is now abandoned.
"You can still sort of see where the fields were," Rankin said.
"Bathurst 75 used to play their State League games there.
"Loco was probably the best. But if you missed the goal, it went into the stinky horrible railway sludge around it."
Over the years, there's plenty of teams that have come and gone.
Rankin remembers Spurs - who ended up folding in the 1980s and merging with Macquarie United - Kirkconnell, O'Connell Prison Farm, Rockley and Burraga.
