Mark Leman steps down as president of the Albury-Wodonga Football Association

After five years in the role and 35 years involved with the association, Leman admitted he was burnt-out and in need of a break.

"Five years as president and two years of COVID is probably a good opportunity for a rest, for me personally," he said.

"With a new job this year taking a lot more of my time, I'm a little burnt out from all the admin that goes with the role.

"I've been thinking about it for a couple of seasons.

"When you're caught in the middle of COVID, you just don't know what that means. It's the stop-start and trying to navigate through the rules. The biggest challenge was having different rules on different sides of the border.

"Living on the border makes it very confusing and extremely difficult.

"No-one respected the fact we were a cross-border community, all living together on the Murray River.

"That made it really challenging to navigate and try to be fair to both sides of the border.

"It's more the fact that you're making tough decisions about whether to cancel an event or find solutions around re-commencing the event.

"For me personally, it's been 35 years involved since I first arrived in the region and I've done multiple roles throughout the association, NSW and Victoria.

"It was probably just an opportunity to take a step back and let somebody else have a go.

"Somebody might have some great new ideas but the idea was to give myself a rest.

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"I'm on the board of the SS&A Club as well and that takes time. I was president of the Riverina, so it was a lot of admin work and a lot of Zoom meetings.

"The parts I've enjoyed the most about the role are the connections with all our stakeholders, our clubs, but also the bigger picture stuff with Football Australia, Football NSW and Football Victoria."

Anyone interested in succeeding Leman as president should contact him or another member of the executive through the AWFA website.

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