BRENT GODDE: Your birth certificate reads Chris Collins but you are rarely called by your christian name?

'DARKIE' COLLINS: 'Tubby' Poidevon was the bus driver on the Corowa to Daysdale run and dubbed me 'Darkie' in 1968. A lot of people wouldn't even know my name is Chris.

BG: Has your nickname ever caused you any controversy because of racism?

DC: Never, I go to Darwin quite regularly and it never seems to worry anyone up there.

BG: You made your senior debut for Coreen as a 15-year-old?

DC: I got to wear the No. 1 guernsey because the club only had 20 jumpers back in those days and our coach Robert Longmire was out injured and I had to wear his jumper.

BG: How would you describe yourself as a footballer?

DC: Probably two words would sum it up - very ordinary.

BG: You are a much better cricketer than footballer?

DC: That would be a fair comment.

BG: You were better at finding trouble on the field than the football?

DC: I could always seem to find someone from the opposition who didn't like how I went about things.

BG: What position did you predominantly play?

DC: Usually on a forward flank or in the pocket.

BG: Your career as a player was short-lived?

DC: I played 40 senior matches and 15 in the reserves.

BG: You decided to turn your hand to football administration.

DC: I was appointed club secretary as a 23-year-old. I replaced Claude Tomlinson who had been secretary for 23 years.

BG: You were happy to fill the position?

DC: I wasn't the most talented player running around and Claude needed a spell so I put my hand up.

BG: You thought you were robbed of a flag in 1975?

DC: I should have been in the side but I didn't get on with the coach Normie McKenzie. Normie did his hamstring on the Thursday night before the grand final and Johnnie Ross got the call up instead of me.

BG: Who were some of the coaches you played under?

DC: Robert Longmire, Dennis Yorgey and Col Fischer.

BG: Did you cop any bad injuries during your career?

DC: I was lucky to escape with a couple of blood noses.

BG: You were secretary of Coreen for 30 years?

DC: I had a couple of stints at it. The first 14 years I was also treasurer of Coreen.

BG: What was your motivation to be secretary for so long?

DC: I had ambitions of overhauling Culcairn's Trevor 'Chief' Smith. But 'Chief' is up to 48 years now which is a phenomenal effort and I take my hat off to him and he is a great bloke to go with it.

BG: You have also been heavily involved with recruiting at Coreen?

DC: Phil Dudley would be the most freakish player that I've signed.

BG: What can you tell me about Dudley?

DC: Phil played five games and kicked 30-something goals. He came back four years later and kicked 77 goals in 11 matches.

BG: How did you land the prized signature of Dudley?

DC: I was in the grand stand with my mate Normie Hagan who was pointing out which players to recruit from the Darwin Buffaloes. He pointed out Phil and said 'if you need a goal kicker, he's your man.'

BG: Dudley didn't look like a goal-kicking machine?

DC: Phil was a short, little Indigenous player that looked like he would be more of a back pocket. Ten minutes later he had kicked five goals.

BG: You remember Dudley playing for CDHBU against Howlong when Daniel Bradshaw was full forward for the Spiders?

DC: It was a shootout. Bradshaw kicked 10 out of 20 for Howlong and Phil kicked nine out of 11 for us. It was a special effort because 75 per cent of the time it was in Howlong's forward line.

BG: Dudley had some high-profile cousins?

DC: Phil is related to Gavin Wanganeen and the Burgoyne brothers.

BG: You used to head to Darwin in either January or February to specifically recruit players?

DC: That was the excuse I used to tell my wife Fran. This was the first year I haven't been up there in probably 15 years.

BG: More often than not you would sign a few Indigenous recruits who would also reside at your house until you could find them some suitable accommodation?

DC: I remember I brought a few recruits back to Corowa one year just as Fran was cooking dinner. We all had tea but Fran missed out because there wasn't enough for everybody. I wasn't too popular that night.

BG: How many Darwin recruits would you have had stay at your place over the years?

DC: Stacks, there are too many to recall to be honest.

BG: Being involved in recruiting did you ever have any big fish on the hook but they got away?

DC: We were close to signing 'Rowdy' Lappin a few times. Gavin Jones and myself would have gone to Chiltern for at least four years in-a-row trying to sign him.

BG: You also came home empty handed when Uncle 'Gubby' Collins and yourself went to sign Darren Cooper and Ben Cain?

DC: We met them at Howlong and would have spoken to Darren and Ben for about three hours but they didn't sign. It was disappointing but it wasn't a wasted trip because 'Gubby' and I dropped about 10 stubbies each after arriving there empty handed.

BG: Speaking of Cain, one of the biggest home and away crowds you ever witnessed was when Coreen hosted Hopefield Buraja back during the Coreen league era?

DC: 'Physco' Carroll was playing for Coreen and Ben was at Buraja and they both got red carded in the first round after clashing. Rumours were rife before the second round encounter that they were both after each other.

BG: The hype-metre was off the scale?

DC: Because of the rumours it attracted a massive crowd. But for whatever reason Ben and 'Physco' never crossed paths that day and unfortunately the match failed to live up to the hype.

BG: You also had a crack at signing Nicky Winmar while he was at Rutherglen?

DC: I heard Nicky wasn't happy at Rutherglen and had a bit of a chat with him.

BG: Your heart skipped a beat when you got The Border Mail the following day?

DC: I got the paper and the back page headline was Saints sign Winmar. But unfortunately it wasn't the CDU Saints and it was the Wodonga Saints instead.

BG: You were also instrumental in the club signing big bad bustling Brendan 'Bundy' Cornell.

DC: We signed 'Bundy', Steve Ennis and Mick Mavrovelis. I reckon it was one of the biggest recruiting bargains we ever got considering they travelled from Melbourne to play.

BG: You were known to always have a clearance form handy at the pub in case some unsuspecting player had a few too many and you could sign him on the spot?

DC: There was always a pile of clearance forms under the bar at The Star Hotel in Corowa because they were our main sponsor.

BG: Did the cunning stunt pay dividends for you?

DC: You would always get new faces in the pub who had just started work at Riverlea or Uncle Toby's. So I would get chatting to them at the pub and if they sounded like they were a half decent player I would try and swoop and get them to sign a clearance form.

BG: Darren Cooper revealed in his interview recently that you drove the council roller from Rennie to his grandmother's house in Mulwala to sign him up?

DC: It's sort of true. We had already signed him but I had to tell him he had a job interview the next day that the club had organised and he didn't have a mobile phone.

BG: What did your work colleagues think?

DC: Merv Green was the grader driver and said he would cover for me while I was gone. So the roller did 15 km/h and it took me an hour to get to Mulwala, I spent an hour there and another hour to get back to Rennie.

BG: Cooper said that CDHBU paid for his honeymoon to Bali that year?

DC: I read that with interest, trips to Bali must have been cheap back then because he wasn't on much.

BG: You also got Cooper to play cricket for you?

DC: That was my mistake. I was captain and I got Coop's to open the bowling. I'm not too sure what he had been up to the night before but he bowled 14 balls during his first over and only a couple on the pitch. I yelled out to him to fake an injury so I could finish the over for him.

BG: You were a big fan of your cricket?

DC: I played cricket until I was 46. I used to play on Saturday's for Buraja and then again on the Sunday for Coreen.

BG: Did you win many flags?

DC: I played in two losing grand finals with Buraja, one winning and one losing grand final with Wahgunyah and 12 grand finals for Coreen and won eight.

BG: You have also been a long time goal umpire at Coreen?

DC: I would have started goal umpiring in the mid 1980s.

BG: You don't risk getting sunburnt when you are a goal umpire?

DC: Some blokes reckon I go overboard with the sunscreen but at least I never get sunburnt.

BG: Wahgunyah is a club that you love to hate?

DC: It's probably fair to say that I never saw eye-to-eye with a lot of people involved with Wahgunyah for whatever reason.

BG: Wahgunyah forward David Coppolino and yourself had quite a few verbal stoushes?

DC: David thought for whatever reason if the ball sailed near the goal post that it had to be a goal every time but I didn't see it that way.

BG: You were goal umpiring at Urana Road Oval when there was an all-in-brawl between CDU and Murray Magpies?

DC: It certainly was one of the biggest brawls I had witnessed and I have got the paper clippings after it made the front page of The Border Mail.

BG: The brawl erupted in front of you?

DC: It did and I'm not sure if it was a Murray Magpies supporter but someone jumped the fence and grabbed my goal sticks and started belting one of the CDU players over the head with them.

BG: You decided to take matters into your own hands?

DC: I thought I had better diffuse a dangerous situation as best I could and get the spectator off the ground. The spectator wasn't too willing to come off so I had to defend myself and use a bit of force to get him off the ground.

BG: The spectator ended up worse for wear?

DC: I was entitled to defend myself and the spectator may have worn a couple and ended up getting split.

BG: There were quite a few casualties?

DC: I think there were eight Murray Magpies and seven CDU players sent off with the blood rule.

BG: Was big 'Bundy' Cornell involved?

DC: I remember it started at the opposite end to where 'Bundy' was playing full forward. I saw the big fella charging towards the brawl but stopped when he got to the centre. It was like Puffing Billy had run out of puff.

BG: There was another incident at Coreen during a final when Murray Magpies were playing Rennie and you jumped the fence to help a Magpie player?

DC: It was a cold, wet miserable day at Coreen and a fight broke out between a big, burly Magpie and a Rennie player. The Magpie player ended up with a cut hand.

BG: You were only a spectator?

DC: I was but I knew the Magpies player, so I jumped the fence with a bucket of warm water for him to put his hand in.

BG: Have you copped any memorable sprays from players while goal umpiring?

DC: Probably the biggest spray I copped was from Mick Hamilton when he was playing for Rand-Walbundrie-Walla at Rand one day. I didn't know who he was at the time.

BG: You bumped into Hamilton the following day?

DC: I went to watch Corowa-Rutherglen on the Sunday and ran into Roy Hamilton who is Mick's father. Roy introduced me to Mick and we had a bit of an awkward moment and then he apologised for what he had said the previous day.

BG: There was also another occasion when you were goal umpire against Jindera which landed you in hot water?

DC: I thought one umpire was favouring the Bulldogs during the third quarter and I couldn't bite my tongue at three-quarter-time and confronted him about it.

BG: You received a yellow card and had to be replaced for the last quarter?

DC: I couldn't believe it but while I was telling the umpire a few home truths, he blew the whistle in my face and showed me a yellow card.

BG: Did you have to front league officials?

DC: Merv Wegener was league president at the time and we had a bit of a discussion about what happened. I had to send a letter of apology into the league but was allowed to goal umpire again the following week.

BG: Who are some of the forwards that you rate highly as a set shot for goal?

DC: Rod 'Whale' Lavis, Doug Lavis, 'Bundy' Cornell and Luke Cowan.

BG: You were a big fan of footy trips away?

DC: I am but I have only been allowed to go on three since I've been married.

BG: You ran into the Murray Magpies in Adelaide one year?

DC: Andrew Robertson was coach of the Magpies and was hanging around us a fair bit. I found out later he was trying to recruit John Creenaune which I thought was a bit cheeky of him.

BG: What would you regard as your most memorable trip away?

DC: Probably Bendigo because there were 52 pubs in the town at the time and we thought we were going to do the lot. Out of the 30 blokes on the trip, 20 blokes only saw the two pubs that were at Kangaroo Flat.

BG: Terry Mardling was president of CDU and his son Xavier played for the Saints. Both won league medals but who was the better player in your opinion?

DC: Xavier by a country mile.

BG: No doubt it would have been a proud moment when your son Mick was appointed coach of CDHBU?

DC: It was, especially considering he made his senior debut for CDU as a 14-year-old.

BG: You remember Mick's debut?

DC: I remember big 'Bundy' was on the lead and Mick ran across in front of him and took a mark because I was goal umpiring up the other end.

BG: Mick was a bit young and dumb to be getting in 'Bundy's' road?

DC: That's what I thought and I remember one of his teammates asking me if Mick would kick the goal. I said 'I hope so otherwise he might be the end of one of Bundy's sprays.' Thankfully he slotted the goal with his first kick in senior football.

BG: Mick also played more than 160 matches with Corowa-Rutherglen?

DC: I reckon I would have only seen him play a dozen matches with the Roos because I was always at Coreen on a Saturday but watched Mick when he played on Sundays.

BG: Mick and yourself ended up with matching shiners one weekend?

DC: I went to the pub on the Saturday night and copped one and the following day I went to watch Mick and he was playing on Fevola.

BG: Mick tangled with Fev?

DC: They had a bit of a stoush and Mick also ended up with a black eye. Mick also made the Herald Sun the following day where there was a photo of Fev sitting on Mick's head. It was a forgettable weekend to be honest.

BG: You have an impressive scrapbook collection of over 20 scrapbooks?

DC: I've got scrapbooks full of paper clippings from Coreen, CDU, CDHBU, cricket as well as a family scrapbook.

BG: It's a bit of a hobby of yours?

DC: I've got most clippings that have appeared in The Border Mail including the teams each week.

BG: Who do you rate as some of the best players you have seen at Coreen over the journey?

DC: Bill Phibbs, 'Physco' Carroll, Glenn Zyka from Darwin in 1978, George Butler, Mark Smith and Dominic Carroll. Since the merger probably Luke Cowan and Phil Dudley.

BG: Have you got an opinion on the 'Corowa Cluster'?

DC: I keep out of the politics and leave cluster talk to the officials of each club involved.

BG: Nowadays you are the designated bus driver that takes the players and supporters out to training on a Thursday night?

DC: The footy club owns the bus but I park it here at home.

BG: The club recently updated the bus?

DC: The club used to own a 23-seater and one night coming home I had 35 on the bus including the local coppers daughter. So we thought we should get a bigger bus after that.

BG: You now drive around in a 40-seater?

DC: I take it out to training every Thursday night.

BG: It has saved you a lot of money since you volunteered to drive the bus?

DC: I used to go and watch training and have about 10 cans which adds up. I reckon I've saved about eight grand since I started driving the bus.