Mudgee Touch Football's Ben Harris has capped off a whirlwind year - that included refereeing the game at the highest level - by collecting the Sports Award at the Mid-Western Region Australia Day ceremony.
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In 2019 Harris was selected to referee for Australia at the Touch World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, then returned to do the NRL touch game, which was the curtain-raiser to the Dragons V Knights match at Glen Willow.
He was also recognised for his work the local association, as vice-president, referee director, and publicity officer, and coaching young referees and coordinating local refs for tournaments.
"It's been a busy but rewarding 12 months," Harris said.
"The award was the cherry on top, but it was very unexpected, I was shocked to hear my name read out. I honesty didn't think that I'd win it - all of the nominees were excellent candidates."
Among those also up for the gong were fellow Mudcrabs Justin Gossage and Rohit Prasad, who played in the winning mixed 30s Australian side at the World Cup.
As for his work with the local association, Harris said, "I just get out and do it, whether it be line-marking or setting up competitions or referee development - you just do it for the love of it".
And with a shortage of referees across all sports, the grade-six ref said that although they're not always embraced, he would encourage others to pick up the whistle because it's as a way you can to go far in sport.
"It's no secret that with referees you either love them or hate them. And at times it's not a fun role to play and you've got to make decisions that 50 per cent of people aren't going to be happy with," he said.
"But referees are like players, they just enjoy the sport. It just so happens that they enjoy refereeing as oppose to playing.
"I knew that playing I was never going to set the world on fire, I was pretty much a bench-warmer so to speak, and would go on to give the star player a breather. But by becoming a referee I'd found my groove and an area I'm good at and enjoy.
"And it's taken me to national championships, state championships, and now I've done a world cup event and refereed the best players in the world. So there is another avenue to go high in a sport, not only as a player or coach or manager."