No. I played juniors with Wangoom colts before playing at Wesley for one year.

I was 25-years-old when I started playing cricket for Purnim. I had played junior cricket at Wangoom with Robert Crothers and I had not played cricket for a few years and he asked me if I was interested in playing for Purnim.

I ended up playing for Purnim and little did I know when I joined the club that I would be the secretary from 1976 to 1981, the club president 1985 to 1990 and ended up a life member of the club.

Then to top things off in 2015, I had the Purnim ground named after me.

That was a huge honour.

It's actually quite humbling. The Purnim Recreation Committee purchased the neighbouring land - then a "thistle paddock" - using a council grant, a loan and its own funds in the early 1990s.

Two-and-a-half years of fund-raising preceded works to transform it into a cricket ground.

A calf drive, white elephant sale and a working bee removing rocks from a farmer's paddock were among initiatives to pay off the debt.

We had a huge amount of voluntary labour when we were doing the ground, which in the country you've got to rely on.

The reserve is now the pride of Purnim which, over the years, has lost its pub, general store and the post office.

It was wonderful that the other ground was named after Peter McDonald.

He played cricket for Grassmere for years and we were fierce competitors on the cricket field but we worked closely on the Purnim Recreation Committee for the betterment of the local community for many years.

Mick McKinnon has been the president of the recreation committee for many years and has done a wonderful job organising grants for various projects.

It's a pleasure to go back and see the facilities at Purnim and to know you played a small part in its development.

Rodger, I take it in winning three cricket premierships with Purnim back in the 1980s that the club must have had some handy cricketers. Can you name a couple?

We had some wonderful players back in that era.

Blokes like "Mouse" McLean, Wayne Bellman, Mick McKinnon and Norm Garner to name a couple.

We played in 10 consecutive grand finals back in that era but won three.

Grassmere seemed to have the wood over us.

Where you a batsman, bowler or wicketkeeper during your career?

I was a wicket keeper.

The highest score I made in my career was 95 against Yambuk one day. I was run out, which was really disappointing.

I suppose another highlight was when we won the premiership in 1984.

It was our first flag and I shared in a 77 run partnership with Gary Butters.

Do you still have much involvement out the the cricket club?

Yes. I'm friends with a lot of the players.

There's a group of us from the cricket club that got involved in a racehorse syndicate.

We set the syndicate up a few years ago.

We've raced three horses and they have all won.

The best one would be Inn Keeper who is trained by Symon Wilde. He's won seven races and given us plenty of thrills.

Rodger, you were a familiar face at the Warrnambool Co-Op for many years. How long did you work at the Co-Op before it closed?

I started there in 1984.

I had been working on the family farm and I decided to get a job so I got in contact with Bill Quinlan.

Bill gave me a job and I started working in the fuel court with Barry Ryan.

After a while I got a job in the hardware section with John Lynch and then I became manager of the gardening department.

How many people worked at the Co-Op when you were there?

There would have been over 100 people.

It was a wonderful place to work. I was there for 20 years.

Sadly, the Co-Op closed its doors for the last time 12 years ago.

The business should be still going today but there were some bad decisions made by the board.

The business headed in the wrong direction because of the decisions made by the board and that's why it had to close.

I still speak to people around Warrnambool and they all say it was a shame the business closed down.

A few of the old workers at the Co-Op are organising a reunion for all past staff.

The reunion will be out at Raffertys on March 28 next year.

Over the years there were a lot of local people who worked at the Co-Op so we're expecting a great roll up for the reunion.

Rodger, among your sporting achievements did you play footy?

Yes. I'm probably best described as an ordinary footballer.

My career started with Country Football Club in the under 15s before I played in the under 17s.

I then played with Grassmere from about 1970 to 1980.

The club had some top players including Mick Hamblin, John Bant, Keith McLeod and Andrew Green back in that era.

I was the reserves captain and coach at Grassmere before I joined the committee.

I was then an inaugural committee of the Northern District's Football Club which is now North Warrnambool.