David Zitter is one of a handful of players to leave the Rosamond Bowls Club. 56841 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By Liam Twomey
THE Rosamond Bowls Club will begin a rebuilding process effective immediately after a number of players have left the Premier Division side in recent weeks.
Steve Fowler, David Zitter, John Smart, David Wilcocks and Gary Willcocks have all departed Rosamond and are playing for a variety of different clubs.
Rosamond president Michael Stelluto could not comment on the circumstances as to why the players had moved on but said it was bitterly disappointing.
“We have built a team culture and that culture was very dependent on the ability to see past people’s weaknesses and play with their strengths. That was something we introduced when we were in division three so it built up over seven or eight years with the goal always to get into Premier Division,” he said. “The unfortunate scenario is that once that trust is broken it causes a rift and we are in a position where we just don’t have the depth and we don’t have the ability coming through to take the place of people that leave.”
Stelluto said the club was not expecting to remain in the Premier Division past this season as they prepare for a slip down the grades until a balance could be found with the players who have left.
“We have basically lost four skippers and three thirds and when you are a small club with not much depth you just don’t recover from that sort of stuff. We are just going to get through the season as best we can,” he said.
Plans are already underway to rebuild the club but as Rosamond doesn’t pay any of its players it will take some time.
“One of the things that a lot of the other sides in Premier were always envious of was how we managed to do what we have done in the last three or four years. How we have managed to survive given that we don’t pay players,” Stelluto said. “The process that we went through initially was to take young kids, new players and people that had a little bit of interest and a little bit of ability and nurture it.”
