Australia's oldest living Socceroo, Kevin O'Neill, played for six pounds a year during his club career in the Northern NSW competition.
Most of the money went into his kids' money boxes.
The 98-year-old has been awarded an Order of Australia Medal in this year's King Birthday Honours for his services to football, which include a career spanning 1943 to 1963.
Mr O'Neill was born in Cessnock in 1925 and went to Cessnock Primary School.
He made his first-grade debut at the age of 17 in Kurri Kurri's premiership-winning side of 1943, then moved to West Wallsend and Cessnock, where he played 512 top-grade games.
He also had stints at Lake Macquarie, Awaba and Weston and is credited with being the first Northern NSW player to try his luck in Sydney, where he played for Sydney Prague.
Mr O'Neill played 26 full internationals for the Australian team, touring South Africa in 1950 and New Zealand in 1958.
The fullback and centre half told the Newcastle Herald his career highlight was travelling to South Africa.
"It was the trip, going somewhere I'd never go if I went by myself," he said.
"There was no money it like there is today. I went to South Africa on seven pound a week.
"What money I got paid I put in the kids' money boxes."
Mr O'Neill cited fellow Australian international defender Joe Marston and goalkeeper Ron Lord as his favourite teammates of the era.
"I don't watch it much these days. There's a lot of different tactics in it today," he said.
"I watch the Matildas more than I watch any of the men's games."
He said it had never occurred to him he could receive a royal birthday honour.
"No, I never thought of that at all," he said.
He was inducted into the Hunter Region Sporting Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Football Australia Hall of Fame in 2000.
