A pair of footy boots, 27 stubbies and $120.

That's all it took the Walbundrie, Brocklesby and Walla football clubs to squeeze 810 games of senior footy out of Kevin Wardius, Steve Koschitzke and Derek Kohlhagen.

And the trio wouldn't have had it any other way.

Wardius remembers being offered "a few bucks" by coach Ted Miller in 1990 to return to Walbundrie after a brief stint with Corowa-Rutherglen.

"I was driving to training at Corowa and hit a pig one week and then a sheep a month later so I just thought bugger this," Wardius said.

"I spoke to Teddy about coming back to Walbundrie and he said we could work something out.

"I told him to get me a pair of footy boots from his sports store and that was it.

"I was always happy for the footy club to use that money to try to get a bloke out from Albury."

A shocking run of injuries forced Wardius to retire at 26 after 152 senior matches with the Rand farmer now co-president of Rand-Walbundrie-Walla.

Koschitzke holds the same position with Brocklesby-Burrumbuttock.

He notched up 350 senior matches and the only payment he received was through a family member.

"I guess you could say I sort of got a match payment," Koschitzke said.

"I think I got three stubbies after each home game for a while.

"Robbie Martin and I used to get a six-pack between us and would sit in the rooms and drink them before we had a shower.

"My brother, Rich, used to run the bar so I think he might have got someone to run them in for us.

"The president probably didn't even know about the arrangement."

Koschitzke was treasurer of Brocklesby in its final seven years before merging with Burrumbuttock and would see how much each player was getting paid.

"You would be sitting down with the president at the end of the season and going through the payments and I'd sometimes think, 'Geez, that bloke hardly got a kick'," he laughed.

"But locals didn't worry about it, that's the way it was everywhere."

Kohlhagen, who is Walla's games record-holder with 308 matches, said he will never forget the day long-time supporter Ross Krause slipped him an envelope at the end of a season.

"''Krausey' came up and said put this in your pocket," Kohlhagen said.

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"When I got home I opened it and it had $120 in it.

"I thought it was Christmas.

"I guess I was shocked because you never expected gestures like that just because you played football.

"I was always happy when a few good new players from the Ovens and Murray would turn up for pre-season as you thought you were a chance of having a good season."