The wider sporting community is mourning the death of Ben Byrne, who celebrated his 65th birthday little more than a month ago.
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Mr Byrne was well-known in both Shoalhaven cricket and Group 7 Rugby League, and in particular, the referees association.
His participation in Shoalhaven cricket spanned more than 25 years, starting with Bomaderry and ending with Berry-Shoalhaven Heads, but he also played briefly with Ulladulla United and Nowra.
As a strongly-built, left-arm opening bowler, he was always a formidable opponent.
He had the encouragement of his father Bob who played in three consecutive Bomaderry premiership teams - A reserve in 1959-60 and 1960-61, and then first grade in 1961-62.
Bob hung up his boots around the time an 11-year-old Ben had a huge impact as a bowler in his first season with Bomaderry under 12s in 1965-66.
In two matches he took 10 or more wickets, including 6/18 and 6/11 against St Michael's, and finished the season with 5/7 in the semi-final loss to the same opponent.
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One of the youngest in under 15s the following summer, he took a hat-trick against Kangaroo Valley, and had 3/24 in an under 13 rep match against Bankstown.
His first premiership came with Bomaderry Golds 15s in 1967-68 when he took 5/20 in the upset grand final victory over Trojan Golds, while he also snared a five-wicket bag playing for Shoalhaven against South Coast.
Entering senior ranks in 1968-69, Ben featured in second grade premierships in his first two years.
In the second of those he took 5/33 in the semi-final against Berry, and followed it up with 5/24 and 7/48 in the grand final against Ex-Servicemen.
Ross Buchan dismissed the others, and it was one of those rare occasions when two bowlers took all the wickets in a match.
Ben's analysis was then the second best in second grade grand final history, behind another Bomaderry bowler Ben Jones who had taken 13/67 in 1932-33.
Still playing under 16s, he scored 32 and took 7/56 in the grand final against Trojans, for his second flag of the summer.
At the age of 16, Ben became a regular in first grade in 1970-71.
With 26 wickets, he finished eighth in the association averages, and opened the bowling in the grand final.
He and team-mate Barry Jones were chosen to attend a NSW coaching clinic; and after performing well in representative fixtures, he was in the Illawarra Cricket Council senior team by 1971-72.
Joining Berry in 1973-74, he entered into all facets of club life and from 1975-76, served three years as president.
One notable season was 1977-78 when he made his best score of 55 against Nowra, and featured in a 104-run fourth wicket partnership with Peter Jirgens.
After being one of the better performers in the semi-final, he took 4/29 in the grand final but could not prevent an Albatross victory.
After playing one season at Ulladulla and two at Nowra, he returned to Berry in 1981-82, and during the following summer he enjoyed his most productive season with 47 wickets in second grade.
They included bags of five and six in a game against Nowra, and he finished with 6/40 in the grand final loss to Rugby Union.
Despite being in the beaten side, he was named man of the match.
Although missing some seasons during the 1980s, he was persuaded to make several comebacks to Berry firsts.
His final match was the 1991-92 grand final, but disappointingly, he was in his fourth runner-up team in the top division.
His senior career produced aggregates exceeding 1000 runs and 400 wickets.
The majority of his victims came in first grade where he took five or more wickets on seven occasions with best figures of 7/37 against Nowra in 1970-71.
In second grade there were two games where he took 10 or more wickets, and 11 other occasions where he snared five in an innings, the best being 7/48 in the 1969-70 grand final.
When his playing days were over, Ben maintained an interest in the sport through his sons Nathan and Ben junior, who both won association trophies in successful junior careers before moving on to seniors.
Ben was also an esteemed life member of the Group 7 Rugby League Referees Association.
His history in the referees association goes back many years. He had been a member of the Group 7 Referees Executive since 1996 only standing down from the committee at the end of the 2017 Season.
Ben was association secretary from 1996-2013, assuming the role again in 2017 and treasurer from 2014-2016.
Ben was also the G7RA delegate to the Country Rugby League Referees Association for many years.
His dedication and commitment saw him elected as a life member of the association in 2005.
On the field, Ben was the referee of 236 matches in Group 7 making his first grade debut in 1998 and refereeing 58 top grade matches.
He had also been awarded a 25 year service certificate by the CRL.
As a mark of respect, all junior and senior referees wore black arm bands during their fixtures last weekend and a minute's silence was held prior to the highest senior match at grounds.