Some people join a rugby club. Others build one.
In 2002, Tim Adams walked into Eltham Rugby as a dad with two young sons and a bit of spare time on a Saturday. Twenty-four years later, he’s still here — and there is barely a corner of Bridge Street that doesn’t carry his fingerprints.
At this year’s AGM, Tim steps down from the committee and from the presidency. He’s not leaving the club — you’ll still see him at Bridge Street, and we’d expect nothing less.
But the numbers deserve saying out loud. Tim has been part of Eltham Rugby for 24 years. He’s given 18 of those to the committee — including 13 as President and 2 as Vice President. He was volunteering for six years before he ever took a committee seat, and he’ll still be around long after he gives it up.
From the sideline to the chair
Tim never set out to run the club. He started the way most of us do — helping out. And he did that for years before anyone put a title on it.
Over the years he’s been manager of the U14s, U16s, U18s and the seniors. He was Junior Coordinator in 2009 and 2010. Vice President in 2011. President from 2012 to 2021. Vice President again in 2022 and 2023. And when the club needed him back in the chair, he returned as President in 2024 and has led us through to 2026.
That’s the official version. The real version is the one you’ve actually seen: Tim marking the ground before a match, hauling gear out of the storeroom, sorting the kit order, pouring beers behind the bar, turning snags on the BBQ, and still finding time to know your name and ask how your kid is going.
He’s been the first person at the ground and the last one to leave more times than anyone has counted.
What changed under Tim
It’s easy to say a club “grew”. It’s harder to point at it. With Tim, you can point at it.
- The clubhouse we use today. The kitchen and bar renovations, the new flooring, the seated terracing for spectators — all championed on his watch. Most recently, the change room renovation, which finally gave us modern, inclusive facilities that work for girls’ and women’s rugby as well as the boys.
- The ground redevelopment. The biggest upgrade Bridge Street has ever had is locked in for later this year. Tim’s part was the long game — years of council meetings, relationship-building and patient advocacy — and leaving the club in a financial position where it can actually pay its share.
- The books. The club moved from running a small deficit to holding solid reserves, which is the only reason we can now invest in things like the change room upgrade and the ground redevelopment.
- The Christmas trees. Tim took our fundraiser and grew it into a genuine Nillumbik tradition — and the financial backbone of the club.
- Getting through COVID. Plenty of small clubs didn’t. Tim held ours together, kept players connected, and made sure there was something to come back to.
- A senior team back on the park. After a year without one, the seniors returned in 2025 and won the Conference Championship Grand Final.
- A seat at the table. Tim has spent years building relationships with Nillumbik Shire Council, Rugby Victoria and our local MP Vicki Ward — quiet, patient work that has brought real support and funding to Eltham.
Along the way he was made a Life Member in 2017, won the ERUFC Clubman Award in 2013, and was named Rugby Victoria Volunteer of the Year in 2017. He was also nominated for a Nillumbik Community Award in 2025.
He’d tell you none of it was him. He’d be wrong, and he’d say it anyway.
The way he did it
What people remember about Tim isn’t the title. It’s how he treated people.
He’s steady. He listens more than he talks. He handles the hard conversations with fairness and without drama. He treats a junior parent and a council official with exactly the same respect. And he has a habit of quietly tapping people on the shoulder and telling them they’d be good at something — which is how a fair few of us ended up on the committee in the first place.
Someone once described him as “the quiet engine” behind the club. That’s about right.
Tim’s real legacy isn’t the terracing or the bank balance. It’s a club that knows how to welcome people, look after each other, and share the load — and a committee full of volunteers he encouraged into the job.
Come and celebrate with us
We’re throwing Tim a proper send-off from the committee, and everyone is invited. Players past and present, families, life members, past committee members, and friends from across Victorian rugby — if Tim has been part of your Eltham story, we want you there.
📅 Saturday 21 November 2026
⏰ 3:00pm — straight after the AGM
📍 58 Bridge Street, Eltham
There’ll be a drink, a bite to eat, and plenty of stories. Bring yours.
Add your thanks to Tim
Can’t make it on the day? Or just want to say something properly?
We’ve set up a thank you wall on the website where anyone can leave a message for Tim — a memory, a thank you, a story from a season long past. Every message will be collected into a keepsake book we’ll present to him in November. On the day, there’ll also be a thank you book at the club for those who prefer old school.
👉 Leave your message at eltham.rugby/thank-you-tim
It takes two minutes. If Tim has ever marked a ground you played on, poured you a drink, coached your kid’s manager, or talked you into volunteering — this is your chance to tell him it mattered.
Chip in for a gift
We’re also putting together a gift to thank Tim for 18 years on the committee — and more than two decades at the club. If you’d like to contribute, you can.
There’s no expected amount — $5 or $50, it all goes into the same thank you. We know Tim wouldn’t want a fuss made. We’re making one anyway, because after 24 years he’s earned it.
Contributions close Friday 13 November 2026 so we have time to organise the gift.
Thank you, Tim. For 24 years at Eltham, 18 of them on the committee, 13 seasons in the chair — and every early Saturday morning in between.
Let’s give him the send-off he deserves. 🖤💛
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