Roger Blair has stood down after 22 years as chairman of the Cumberland Amateur Rugby League.
He had been a committee member for 35 years so with his playing days has been involved in the game for over 50 years.
Roger is a true giant of the amateur game so it was appropriate to meet up and ask a few questions about his time and love for the game.
Well Roger, over 50 years in the amateur game, where did it all start and how?
My love for the game started very early while in junior school at Broughton Moor. My father and uncle had both played for the Moor and I wanted to carry on that family tradition when the time was right.
The Moor at that time were in what I call their golden period, winning league, and cups on a regular basis. I followed them all over the county for many seasons, but ultimately over time the team’s dominance waned.
However, my wish to play for the club did happen, it came earlier than anticipated when the coach at the time Harry Archer asked if I would help out due to injuries and play on the wing.
Naturally I jumped at the opportunity, playing against a Maryport side that included league and referee stalwart Bob Southward. I was just short of my 16th birthday at the time.
You had a great career capped by international honours. Just tell me about what were the highlights for you on local, national and international stages
Representing Allerdale District, Cumberland County, and Great Britain on the 1978 tour of PNG, Australia, and New Zealand were all very special to me as a player.
The only team medal I ever won was a league championship winners gong playing for Cockermouth in a replayed final against a very good Broughton Red Rose side.
While playing for Seaton I was chosen as the Referees player of the year in 1985, then followed the captaincy of Great Britain for the 1986 tour of Australia. That was really a proud moment in my career.
The RFL awarded the 2010 National Volunteer Award for services to the game to myself and my late wife Joan. The award was presented on the pitch at half time at Wembley. It was an emotional weekend.
You were also an official on BARLA tours, what were the stand-out trips for you among those?
All the tours were stand out for different reasons. 1978, the first visiting tour to PNG, torrid conditions, tour was nearly called off after a pitch invasion ended the game in the 74th minute of our second game.
Remained in changing rooms long after the game ended on police advice, then left the ground with kit bags held against minibus windows.
Discussions with the PNG rugby league and police resulted in assurances for our safety if we carried on with the tour. We completed the PNG leg of the tour with a Test match victory in Port Moresby.
The 1986 Australian tour was special due to being awarded the captaincy, seven games in a three week period took us on a full journey around the country, the travelling and injuries took its toll on the squad but only lost two of the seven games.
The 1998 tour of Australia saw BARLA return unbeaten after six games. All of the games were against Aboriginal teams. Four straight wins and a draw against the Newcastle District resulted in a pulsating final Test match win on the famous Redfern Oval.
You have played for and with some talented players, and worked alongside some giants of the amateur game. Who are the ones who stand out and why?
Hard question, so many players to choose from and different eras. Many players went on to sign professionally and I have respect for all of them, but the one that sticks out for me was Karl Fairbank from Halifax.
A tough second rower who had it all, selected as BARLA player of the year in 1986. Signed for Bradford Bulls on his return and never looked out of place in a star studded team. When we talk about giants of the game that I’ve worked with, again so many to pick from. In my opinion all giants for their dedication to the game over many years.
You have been involved in CARL management for 35 years and 22 as chairman. What have been the best and worst moments in that?
The best moments for me are seeing our clubs doing well in their respective leagues, Allerdale and Copeland winning the Inter League competition, Cumberland winning the county championship, and the National cup returning to West Cumbria.
It’s also great seeing our players gain recognition and progress to our national teams.
The worst moments have been losing so many good friends over a number of years and losing young players and officials.
CARL is generally perceived as being at a low ebb – shortage of teams and players – but how do you see it after so many years involvement?
Cannot disagree with you, last season was not one of our best with three clubs not completing their fixtures. And sadly we have lost one of those already. There are now eleven clubs in CARL, each of those clubs have superb clubhouses and facilities and good people managing them.
Six of our clubs will have teams playing in the NCL in the season ahead, and please believe me when I say, this is not a criticism of those clubs. It’s a bold and brave decision on their part to want to test themselves at a national level.
They are still providing opportunity for people to play our game and supporters to watch their own club, but against opposition from Lancashire and Yorkshire.
The CARL league will have eleven teams in total giving them 20 fixtures over the season plus cup fixtures. League management committees can only submit the fixtures to the clubs, then hopefully the clubs have enough players to fulfil them fixtures.
We have to factor in the time of year we play the game, not saying it has to change but holidays, concerts, weekends away, weddings, will have an impact on numbers available.
The future of most sports is in the hands of the youth coming through. How does CARL stand on that and is enough being done to attract kids into the sport?
The youth of today are the open age players of tomorrow, well known fact, have said it many times. The same clubhouses and facilities are there for the youth, its how do you get them onto the pitch.
I’m sure the clubs will be trying their hardest to recruit but you can’t make kids play if they don’t want to. It’s definitely not an easy problem to solve and Joe Elliott and his committee on the Youth League will be just as frustrated as the clubs are.
Generally over the years how has the standard of amateur rugby league in the county compared to say Lancashire and Yorkshire?
With Yorkshire and Lancashire having a lot more players to pick from you would expect them to be playing at a higher standard than we are in the CARL. We have had our moments at county level
The old chestnut Roger – would Cumberland amateur rugby league have lost clubs and players if it had still been a winter sport?
I have always been a traditionalist at heart, but its not about me or the management committee.
The CARL clubs and their players made the decision to change the season by nine votes to three. A second vote a number of years ago was still in favour of staying in the summer months. But to answer your question I think now we would have still lost clubs and players.
Finally, if a rich benefactor left CARL a shedload of money how do you think it should be spent?
If only! First and foremost I would double the referees match fee. We only had five officials last season to cover our games resulting in games being played on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. The biggest threat to the game, no refs no game. And secondly a package of sponsorship for each club to cover running costs.
