Richard Roelich didn't take up golf until he was 30 but in a few days time he will be 67 and entitled to call himself a national champion.

He is the first East Brighton member to bring such an honour to the club.

Roelich won the inaugural Hall of Fame International Seniors title by two shots after battling through the qualifying rounds.

His path to the final at Slayley Hall in Northumberland from a field of 56 regional winners began at East Brighton.

An initial country-wide entry numbered over 1,000 wrinklies although there is nothing about Roelich to suggest he has one foot in the golfing grave.

As an ex-pro footballer he is fit as a flea and once his playing days with Bournemouth, Littlehampton and Lewes were over the former Albion groundstaffer took to golf like a shot.

Starting as a leftie he was down to 14 after two years playing right-handed and at that time held the course record at Waterhall with a 68.

These days he plays off six and made the most of a five shot allowance to post an uncatchable 59 points at Slayley Hall.

The trail began with 42 points in the qualifier at his own club. Next step was at Mannings Heath in the regional decider where 43 points topped the 40 hopefuls.

With wife Judy as caddie, Roelich found high winds at Slayley Hall very much to his liking. All East Brighton members have long tuned their games to inclement weather on the exposed Downs and at the halfway stage Roelich had 27 points in a three way tie.

He said: "As soon as we arrived I said to Judy that I might have half a chance with the wind blowing. Robert Hall, the tournament director, said it would be a miracle if anyone got 25 points on the second day and that was before I told him I had just made 32.

"After my first round I couldn't have played any better but second time out, and playing the Hunting course after the Priestman, I was well pleased."

Curiously, Roelich has never won his own club championship which has been dominated for over 20 years by Anthony Schofield.

He did win the Waterhall Championship and was captain before moving to East Brighton where he is one of the Pot Boys, a group whose regular meetings centre on a division of the spoils with left over money going towards an annual blow out.

As an amateur Roelich's reward at Slayley Hall was a power kaddy and a litre of Scotch with exemption until the regional finals next year.

The handsome trophy, which will be displayed in the clubhouse, takes the form of the Ryder Cup.

The strength of Roelich's game is the ability to work the ball even when the wind threatens to shift lightweights off their feet at East Brighton.

He has a sharp short game honed by at least two rounds a week and always with a bob or two to play for.

A retired heating and plumbing engineer, Roelich made his fortune with elder brother George. Both started out at the Albion in the early Fifties when Richard stood up to manager Billy Lane and walked out when his patience snapped. George became a pro at Bristol Rovers while Richard went to Bournemouth.

His gripe with Billy Lane was understandable. The manager reneged on a promise that Richard would train with the professionals. Instead, after six months, he was sweeping the terraces, cleaning the baths and stoking the boilers.

He said: "I was just an apprentice road sweeper. My footballing education was going nowhere so I told him to stick it. I saw more of a chamois leather every week than a ball as I had to clean the manager's car. I didn't think about playing golf in those days. All I wanted was to play football.

"Once I started golf I could see what I'd been missing. I've kept all my medals from football and those for boxing. I was only a little fella, like a whippet really, but size doesn't make that difference in golf, that's one of the beauties of the game."