To be recognised by a group of your peers who share the same passion as yourself.

But in an extremely uncommon honour, the Sweeney family, has been inducted as life members of the Junior Waratahs Rugby League Club.

Paul and Christine Sweeney along with their three sons Ryan, Liam and Joel were integral members when the club began and their efforts behind the scenes and on the field were recognised at a surprise ceremony.

“We really didn’t expected anything like that, we were flabbergasted,” Paul said.

“For the honour personally I was blown away, but for the whole family to be recognised like that was definitely humbling.”

Paul was one of the founding members of the club, with Christine putting in countless hours working to make sure the club worked smoothly before and on game day.

Their sons achieved considerable success in orange and black.

Ryan won the Group 20 title last season as part of the under 12s side, before being picked in the Riverina squad.

Liam also lifted the premiership trophy as part of the Waratahs’ under 10s before making the Riverina team.

The youngest Sweeney, Joel, was an important member of the under 9s.

Paul, who took a job this year with Narooma Public School, said it was a tough decision to leave the region but said the junior Waratahs were left in good hands.

“We had a few goals we wanted to achieve and at the top of the list was, we wanted to make sure league

was growing in the town rather than just taking over another club,” he said.

“This is why it was a bittersweet moment, because of my job I had to move away from the club and the town.

“But I’d like to think we’ve set the club up for more success in future years, but having to leave was hard because we had a lot of good times there.”