Huge honour: Echuca trainer Vince Jessen (middle) alongside Echuca president Justin Hatfield and GVL chair Jacqui Hudgson after being presented GVL life membership. Photo: Supplied.
Echuca stalwart Vince Jessen was honoured at the Goulburn Valley League presentation night on Monday, with the long-time trainer bestowed life-membership to the league.
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The recognition came as a shock to Jessen, who was completely unaware he was even being considered for the accolade.
“I actually didn’t find out until the night,” he said.
“What happened is Kate (Vince’s partner) asked the GV committee at the interleague game, and they said ‘oh yeah, we’ll look into it’, so they did that, they looked into it.
“They said ‘we’ll do it’, and then the club put in as well, and that’s where it all started. When it happened, it was like ‘wow, what’s going on?’”
Jessen was lured to the presentation night by the club, and despite a few thoughts crossing his mind about a potential award, he was caught off-guard by the magnitude of the achievement.
Huge honour: Echuca trainer Vince Jessen (middle) alongside Echuca president Justin Hatfield and GVL chair Jacqui Hudgson after being presented GVL life membership. Photo: Supplied.
“I didn’t know, the club invited me to go, and I thought maybe there might have been something, but I didn’t think what it was,” he said.
“They made sure that I had to go, which they normally do if you’ve got a chance of anything, but it was a great thrill, and I’m really humbled to have it.”
Jessen is a more-than-fitting recipient, providing more than three decades of service to the Murray Bombers, taping countless shoulders and ankles at midweek training and on game day.
“I’ve been here 35 years, and it’s been really, really exciting,” he said.
“The biggest thing I love over here is you see all the juniors coming through. When I started, the juniors are now the dads, and now their children are juniors for me.
“So that’s where the thrill comes, but just being part of a club. As I said last night, all clubs are the same.
“There’s a lot of volunteers that all work together and I really respect what they do. We get a lot of respect, all the trainers here get a lot of respect from our committee and players, which is great, and you just want to come down and enjoy it while you can.”
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