Geoff Larnach, 27, was taken off life support at Bathurst Base Hospital early yesterday.

He had been found unconscious at a private party in Kelso held to celebrate the end of Bathurst Panthers’ first and reserve grade football seasons. Mr Larnach went into cardiac arrest just after 12am on Monday and, after being revived by friends, was taken to hospital by ambulance in a critical condition.

It is understood Mr Larnach, who, as a younger man, won five successive Bathurst Junior Golf Championships titles between 1996 and 2000, went to the football on Sunday to watch the Panthers’ reserve grade and first grade sides play in the preliminary finals.

After the games he attended a private end-of-season celebration, where it is believed he drank a bottle of rum. Mr Larnach’s close friend and employer, Peter Ward, was woken early on Monday morning with the phone call no one wants to receive.

“His flat mate rang me after the police went to their house,” Mr Ward said.

Mr Ward said that from what he had been told, it appears Mr Larnach drank too much and passed out.

“Before people knew it he’d turned blue. They performed CPR and called an ambulance,” Mr Ward said.

“When I got to the hospital he was on life support and the prognosis wasn’t good.”

Mr Ward said Mr Larnach’s mum Pam, who lives in Byron Bay, came straight to Bathurst after hearing the news.