Mrs Murphy was recognised for her ongoing contribution to the association at their Annual General Meeting earlier this month.

She said she could hardly believe it when her name was called out.

“It came as a massive surprise,” she said.

“You don’t do the hard work for stuff like this, but it is always nice when it comes along.

"It is a very close knit group down there, many who I count as life long friends and it means a lot to get this sort of acknowledgement from them.”

Mrs Murphy first became involved in netball when she was six-years-old and would join her sister and mum at the courts on Saturday.

After distinguishing herself at club level, she began playing representative netball for the Macleay at 12-years-old and still features in the open division team.

Her influence has not just been limited to the court with Mrs Murphy occupying a multitude of roles during her time with the association.

While she admitted the place of Netball in the Macleay’s sporting fabric has shifted, she said there is still plenty of enthusiasm for the game across all ages.

“When I younger, Netball was everything in this area,” she said.

“It is still popular, but like any sport, you have people who come and go. We still have the golden oldies who go on trips overseas and the representative side, that I am a part of, travels to Sydney for competition which is fun.

"The majority of us have been playing together for a long time, but there is always a couple of new players joining the team every year, which is what you want.”

Mrs Murphy still finds time to volunteer at the canteen and has also helped with the administration side of running the club.

She said the volunteers remain at the heart of the association.

“Sometimes it is hard to get people involved to volunteer their time because some volunteers start at 10am in the morning with the juniors and don’t finish until 5pm that afternoon,” she said.

“It is rewarding because it is such a great association and they have been very good to me.”