The club received the Crown Reserve Corporate Manager Award for maintenance of Waratahs Sports Grounds at the Awards Australia 2018 Regional Achievement and Community event.

Club president Darren Sinclair said a team of volunteers maintained the grounds on the state-owned Crown reserve.

“We’ve got about five or six older member who’ve been looking after the facilities for a long time, and they deserve all the accolades they can get,” he said.

Those volunteers include some of the club’s founding members, who established Waratahs as a soccer club on private land 40 years ago.

Darren’s father John Sinclair was among the group which lobbied the state government to entrust the management of the Crown land to the club in 1983.

He was president until his son took over four years ago, overseeing the development of the facility to today house rugby union, cricket, AFL, touch football and little athletics fixtures.

Waratahs’ current president said the club is unique in the close ties individuals and families have maintained with it over such an extended period.

“It’s unique in that way – the original people are still here, still involved and still looking after the maintenance of the fields,” Mr Sinclair said.

The north Orange facility was one of eight winners from across NSW and the ACT to be recognised.

The winners were acknowledged for their contribution to regional areas by the more than 250 guests who attended the ceremony, including Bathurst MP Paul Toole.