Mr Dalgleish’s motto is that volunteering is the greatest form of democracy.

“I get to vote with my time for the kind of community I want to live in,” Mr Dalgleish said.

Mr Dalgleish has certainly given a lot of time to the community, resulting in a long list of involvements published by Horsham council for the citizen award.

“I think whoever did the research has done pretty well, they’ve tracked down a lot of stuff,” Mr Dalgeish said.

He has been involved in junior football at regional and state levels for 28 years and a member of Wimmera Representative Team at Victorian Championships.

Mr Dalgleish said he had experienced football from all angles, being a junior football development officer, Victorian Country Football League junior board representative and Auskick Horsham district manager.

He is also the president and life member of the Wimmera Football Umpires Association and life member of the Horsham Saints Football Netball Club.

Outside of sport, Mr Dalgleish has been the Horsham and District Relay for Life chairman and a Eucharistic Minister at his church.

Mr Dalgleish said he enjoyed seeing the junior players he coached move up to the higher leagues, including to AFL level.

“There are a number of guys who I have coached, and you always watch where they go whether it’s local footy or AFL or whatever,” he said.

“It’s great just to watch their progress and development and think that you contributed a little bit.”

Mr Dalgleish has also been involved in the Horsham Swimming Club as a coach on multiple competition levels for seven years.

Mr Dalgleish’s interest in swimming brought him to the attention of the football community when he moved to Horsham from Adelaide.

“The footy club came down one morning for training and Laurie Thomas asked if I was interested in footy as well,” he said.

“I get a reward out of volunteering my time, and certainly I’d need to thank my family as everything that I have been involved in, my wife has been involved in.”

“I’ve followed my kids; when they got involved in softball, I got involved. When my daughter Cass took up soccer, I became a soccer referee.”

Mr Dalgleish said it was an honour to be selected as Citizen of the Year and congratulated Young Citizen of the Year Kara Johnson and Community Event of the Year, the Horsham Arts Council’s 50th Anniversary Spectacular.