More than 40 years dedicated to Eden Tigers and Group 16 rugby league for Don 'Flaps' Wilson

Vintage black and white photographs of previous Eden Tigers players hang proudly on the wall to his right, each holding interesting anecdotes.

Splashes of merch from his favoured NRL team, St George, trickled in small numbers in glass cabinets, while his wife Kerrie's love of the Sydney Roosters filled up every peripheral, even the cat was named after Anthony Minichiello.

There was no mistaking it as anything other that a rugby league household.

"I've played all my life, until I did my ACL when I was 24 and they couldn't repair them like they do today, so your football is finished, and I just took up the administration side of it then," Flaps said, adding that he grew up knowing the importance of volunteering.

While living at his family's dairy farm in Quaama, Flaps played his junior footy and one year in reserve grade for Bega before moving to Eden at 19, and joining the Tigers.

"I'm just one of these blokes that do what I do because it's part of the town community," he said.

"You look at a lot of people that come into this town, they're new to the area, they either get involved in volunteers at the museum, or the cruise ship volunteers, the coast patrol, or bowling club committees, golf club committees, they get to know people that way."

Selling raffle tickets to marking grounds with lime, from "general round about", helping with barbecues, keeping scores and timekeeping, to president for a few years and vice-president a few more, Flaps became an Eden Tigers life member in 1992, and a Group 16 life member in 2000, built off serving the community.

"If 20 people got involved, the job only takes half an hour, but if there's only one person involved, it trebles the time in everything you've got to do," Flaps said.

"You've got 80-100 [players] on a Saturday and you've got half a dozen people to do all the work, you know, coaches, strappers and trainers, setting the grounds up, the fields up, the barbecues and the canteen, you know.

"Many hands make light work, [but] you just can't get [people] to do it. [My advice is to just] stick your hand up."

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