TWO Macquarie United stalwarts with over half a century of service to the club have been honoured.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Roy Thomas and David Sutton were named as the club's newest life members at the club's presentation night on Friday, October 6.
It's a humbling award for the pair, who have both served on the club's committee, played and coached over the years.
Thomas, who has been with the club for 32 years, said it was a huge surprise when he heard his named called.
"I had kind of forgotten about life membership to be honest. We've been so busy as a club this year," he said.
"It's a really big honour to be part of a club that long and get recognised for the thing you like doing.
"It's not a chore. It's something you love doing."
Thomas started off playing with the club back in 1991, before joining the general committee and has had several stints as the club's treasurer.
He's also coached junior and senior sides, including the men's second grade Macquarie team that won its Bathurst District Football grand final last month.
Being one of the biggest clubs in Bathurst, based on participation numbers, Thomas has seen the club grow from just three senior teams in the early 1990s, to have a number of teams spread across both competitive and non-competitive juniors and seniors.
Seeing the club grow, alongside playing with both his sons, has been some of his favourite moments at Macquarie.
After moving to Bathurst from Blayney in 2001, Sutton kept drive back and forth to his former club to play for a year, before he went local and signed up for Macquarie in 2003.
It was in 2006 when a teammate asked if he wanted to coach a junior team.
"That team was under 9s and I followed that team through to 16s," he said.
"I had a couple of seasons off and then my boys started playing, so I was involved again.
"I've been treasurer, president, vice-president. I don't mind helping out.
"I'm just a volunteer and I've been involved with a good bunch of people over the years."
Sutton said he was "shocked" when he was named a life member.
"I didn't think I'd been here long enough to have that sort of award given to me," he said.
He said his favourite Macquarie moment was this year, when he had the opportunity to play with his youngest son Cameron.
"That's something I've been wanting to do for a while," he said.
"I've seen a few dads do it, so I wanted to tick that one off."
Both Thomas and Sutton played for Macquarie's men's fourth grade team in 2023.
Macquarie will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2024.
Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.
