It was supposed to be the 'Year of the Rooster', with the Nambucca Heads Rugby League Club poised to celebrate their centenary.
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The coaches were lined up and raring to go, and there were lots of new faces at training sessions which started in early December.
But their golden dream is no longer after NSW Rugby League (NSWRL) rejected the senior club's reentry into Group 2's 2020 competition.
Roosters SRL Club president Kelvin Jarrett said the club is "absolutely gutted".
The plans, the hard work - it feels like it was for nothing. This one decision has left a huge hole in our club.
- Nambucca Roosters SRL president Kelvin Jarrett
Kevin Hill is the East Coast Regional Area Manager for NSWRL and has been liaising with the club since the middle of last year.
He said the Roosters were given a mid-November deadline to fulfil two "simple compliance" tasks before reentry: paying off their outstanding debt to suppliers, and proving they would be able to pay the bills throughout the year.
"They turned up at the AGM with none of the requirements. They'd only made $1500. I believe they've covered all their debts now, but they didn't have it at the time," he said.
I took the case to the Chief Executive for NSWRL, Dave Trodden, and he said we can't put them in a position where they're going to fall over again - it's not good for them, and it's not good for the community.
- East Coast Regional Area Manager NSWRL Kevin Hill
Kelvin Jarrett confirmed the club was now debt-free, and had secured a number of sponsors for a "successful" 2020 season, "but the timeframe beat us".
He said it was an impossible task for the new committee which formed in mid-October according to their constitution, and inherited thousands of dollars of debt and non-existent record keeping.
"Then fires hit the Valley in November, and we weren't about to go and ask local businesses for sponsorship money in the midst of that tragedy - it wouldn't be right," he said.
"But we worked tirelessly to make this better. And it took a long time to get the community interest back."
He said when the official decision to disallow the club's reentry into the 2020 season was sent on December 13, they tried to appeal.
"But we were never afforded the right to appeal," Kelvin said. "They said they were here to help, but we asked for help - an extension - and it wasn't given.
I don't want to get into a slanging match with Group 2 or NSWRL because I know they have a duty to the group, but this is about what's fair and just, and about following due course - none of that happened.
When Guardian News asked Kevin Hill why there was no room to appeal the decision, he said "it doesn't sit well to allow them to come back into a competition when they've only just paid off debts that were almost 18 months behind".
Kelvin is disappointed the new committee's efforts were not taken in good faith, and worries about the impact these sorts of decisions will have on Rugby League here: "Communities need football. For that to be taken away ... it's killing off our juniors - they're going to soccer or other sports."
Kevin Hill said there's "no reason the club couldn't be reestablished" in 2021.
And Kelvin Jarrett agrees - the committee is determined to make the club's 2021 comeback a reality.
"We want to leave a legacy to make sure our club is still standing proud into the future," he said.
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Mel Leigh Dee
Mel is a journalist at the Guardian News and is based in Macksville.
Mel is a journalist at the Guardian News and is based in Macksville.
