Rugby Union South Australia is recognising the efforts of player life members Kathryn Van Diemen, Emma Yates, Sarah Batsavalis & life member Kim Evans across a four-part series.
Few have left an imprint on South Australian rugby like Kim Evans, though she'd be the last to admit as much.
And even with her string of accolades across Old Collegians, Adelaide Uni, the SA Rugby Hall of Fame and now RUSA plus her 11 years of service on the Judicial Panel, Evans is reluctant to take credit for an extraordinary life in rugby.
"It’s lovely to be recognised but it’s the smallest part of the reward that rugby offers," Evans said.
"I showed up as a 25-year old having played no organised sport and all of a sudden I had a family I’d done nothing to earn.
"Rugby made me part of something bigger and it gave me more than I thought I deserved so you feel like giving back and it sweeps you up.
"You start with events, newsletters, cooking barbeques - now look where we are."
The Uni club president paid tribute to her fellow life membership recipients and those who nominated them, branding them "the people she loves and works for".
"What matters so much to me is the people who have pushed for our collective recognition," Evans said.
"Those people that independently stood up and said 'Kim and Yatesy and Gards and Kat all deserve recognition' and they believed it strongly enough about this to make something happen.
"That to me is the most beautiful thing - their good regard is what I treasure and they’re the people who I get up for in the morning."
Evans also suggested future life memberships be awarded to those at the peak of their rugby involvement rather than nearer the end of their tenures.
"They tend to be handed out at the end of someone’s tenure and I would personally love to see people celebrated during those moments of hard work and service," she said.
"The whole point of rugby is that you're part of an enormous network and it’s a family, no one does things for themselves and we're celebrating all of our successes all of the time."
