RUGBY LEAGUE: For a country rugby league club like the Gatton Hawks, sometimes scoring tries is the easy part.

Getting the funds together to be able to put teams on the field in the first place is no easy task.

That's why sponsors like Daphne and Terry Nolan, from Nolan's Transport, and Graham Rowles, of Perfection, are such vital cogs in the Hawks' machine.

Nolan's began supporting the junior club when son Flea got involved in the under-9s more than 30 years ago and they've never stopped.

When Rowles started doing business in Gatton 30years ago, he quickly gravitated towards the Hawks and he has backed the senior club for close to two decades.

For their monumental contributions to the respective clubs, all three were given life memberships.

"It's hard when you look at the players and the history in this town to put yourself in that category but it's a privilege,” Rowles said.

"There is lot of history in this club where the boys are coming through as second and third-generation Gatton people who keep fit and play football at this club, it's terrific ... you see the branches come down.

"My girls don't play football so my only attachment to rugby league is watching my mate's kids.”

Daphne and husband Terry, who passed away in 2014, never got much of a chance to watch Flea don theyellow and black jersey, with business taking their focus at weekends.

"Only now that we've got the grandchildren playing here that I can start to get serious and follow them around wherever they're going,” Daphne said.

She knows how much the recognition would have meant for Terry.

"He'd have been stoked,” she said.

Former junior club president and long-term coach Ken Robinson also received a life membership.