BEHIND THE SCENES: Introducing the unsung heroes of the CDHBU Football Netball Club

Kyle Docherty's words, from an interview we did in pre-season, are brought to life in technicolor as I swing off Federation Way and onto the gravel track leading into the car park of CDHBU.

I could count on one hand the number of houses I've driven past since leaving the relative metropolis of Howlong far behind, yet it's a familiar oasis of life which lies before me: a myriad utes backed up around the oval, splashes of black, silver and teal in all directions and children, children everywhere.

Coreen Daysdale Hopefield Buraja United may be snidely nicknamed 'the alphabet club' by some but all I can see is an A to Z of everything that's good about country sport.

Even as a first-time visitor, I'm aware that Coreen and the Hanrahan name go together like fish and chips, one of the few items not on canteen manager Sarah Hanrahan's extensive menu.

"I took over from my Mum, who took it over from my Nan, so it's in my DNA," Hanrahan said.

"My Dad was a president here, my grandfather was a best and fairest player and Dad was the first licensee on the bar, so I couldn't imagine not doing it.

"This has been the best year we've had in the canteen.

"New players have come along and their girlfriends have offered to help, which doesn't happen a lot but no-one has missed a canteen shift this year.

"There have been games before when I've been in there from 7.30am to 7.30pm but I was sitting out the front having a coffee earlier and that's unheard of. It's great.

"The canteen is our biggest fundraiser throughout the year, so without that and all the people who step up to help every week, we wouldn't be here.

"I love it. From the Mums who come in with their cakes in the morning, telling me what they've baked and why they chose it, I know it sounds silly but I just love having those conversations with people."

At a time when all the talk is about clubs struggling to find players and volunteers, here is a Hume league club which seems to be bucking the trend.

"The roles are shared between quite a few people and I think that's a key to how these clubs function quite well, that you have many contributors," secretary Denis Tomlinson said.

"Volunteering is such a strong part of our culture and everyone knows, when they come here, they have to help out, they have to do something, that we can't just leave it up to three or four people to run everything.

"We've got a dozen people who do a hell of a lot and probably another 30 people who do quite a bit as well.

"The farms around here have got substantially bigger over the last 20 years, so our rural population has decreased a lot over that time.

"That's affected the amount of young people playing sport that actually come from the country areas and also the people available to administer and run the club.

"But we have great support out of Corowa and the adjoining towns, which is why the club's in a strong membership position.

"I think we've become more professional over the last 10 or 20 years."

Game day secretary Shane Norman agrees.

"That's probably the advantage of the merger," he said.

"We've got more people to run the club.

"There's some Coreen people, there's some Daysdale people and there's some Buraja people all helping out.

"There was a heap of farmers playing when I first started and none of them would hardly train at this time of the year.

"You'd have a game like today, they would turn up at 1.50pm, run in, play and then be gone by quarter to five.

"I know all the farmers who still come, they've got no kids here but they turn up week in, week out.

"I think that's their release.

"They don't get to see very many people and this is their point of connection."

The crowd is building as CDHBU and Brock-Burrum's reserve footballers run onto the ground.

"Country people love a chat and this is one of their biggest opportunities for the week," Tomlinson said.

"What else would get 700 people to Coreen on a Saturday, nine or 10 times a year?

"There is nothing here so it just wouldn't happen.

"It's really time-consuming for all of us running a football club but when you see the kids here playing sport, people catching up with each other, socialising, maybe having a beer at the end of the day, I look around and think this is really worthwhile for the connection it gives people; the connection between rural people and those who are based in towns."

Without question, the club's recent history has been defined by the mergers which first saw Coreen join forces with Daysdale and then envelope Hopefield-Buraja after it went into recess.

BEHIND THE SCENES - IN CASE YOU MISSED THEM:

"People would drive past Buraja to go to other clubs, who were paying them a lot more," netballer Catherine Wood said.

"So many people had given so much of their lives to the club so it was gut-wrenching to see it fold.

"I've got grandparents and uncles who are life members of the club so that was really sad after growing up there."

But for Wood, who played all her junior netball with the Bulldogs, the preservation of Buraja's history as part of the merged identity would provide an opportunity to write a chapter of her own.

"I moved to the coast and played there but my husband decided we'd come back and I got coaxed into coaching the Power," Wood said.

"My home team was part of that so it was pretty special and I said yes.

"They'd never won a final before, but in my second year we lost one game for the season and were premiers.

"It was super exciting.

"There was a fella come and do a speech and he said if you look around the club rooms, you see the photos on the wall and how important it is for not only people who have played in the past but for future generations.

"To be able to look on the wall and look at what my Mum did, at what my Auntie did, it's so special to know we did something really amazing that year.

"There was such a good energy around the club, there were so many people coming through the gate to watch the netball, so that was really exciting.

"It was good to see that support for us girls and what we were doing for the club, it was incredible."

Emily Boyle played in that side as a 16-year-old and she's still part of the A-grade today.

"It was so exciting, one of the best things I've ever done," Boyle said.

"Out here, it's all about being a team and we encourage our juniors to come and train with us and learn from us and we even have dinner together on Thursday night.

"I look forward to this every week.

"I wouldn't be here for as long as I have been if I didn't love the people here.

"Your friends and team-mates become your family and even our supporters are here every week.

"You see the same faces for a long time and I think that's important."

Boyle's enthusiasm rings true for Alan 'Nigel' Norman and score secretary Don Norman.

"Older blokes like me and Don knew what the old clubs were but if you talk to the young blokes, this is all they know, CDHBU Power, that's who they play for so they're just concentrating on one club and having a great time." Nigel said.

"The merger was a very big decision.

"Some people were against it, and a lot of the older ones said we'd lose our identity but we said if we fold, we're going to lose it altogether, so at least this way we've got some part of the club."

"Daysdale didn't have enough players and Coreen were battling too, so we did the merger in six weeks," Don said.

"It's hard to believe, but we did."

"It's turned out to be one of the best things we ever did," Nigel added.

"Not only was it player numbers, you couldn't get any workers because there wasn't anyone left.

"When we amalgamated, there were workers everywhere and we thought 'this is easy!'"

Heading up the Power's huge team effort is president Chris Scott.

"I'm not real comfortable in the role," Scott admitted.

"I don't like telling people what to do, it's not in my nature.

"I tell people I was sitting in the wrong chair at an AGM one night.

"It's been challenging through COVID and I wouldn't say I enjoy it but when you finish a home game, you feel as though you've achieved something as a group, your players and volunteers, so that's the most rewarding part of it.

"The Buraja pub, the Coreen and Daysdale pubs haven't been open for a while so for a lot of people, it's a place to meet, especially the farming groups.

"It can be a good catch-up for them and if you know someone's going to be there, you're more than likely to attend yourself."

Gladys Hewson, 85, is one such person.

"I started working in the canteen at Daysdale in 1957 and did that until it closed, then I came down here and did the same thing," Hewson said.

"I do like coming down. I don't do anything much now but I come when I can.

"This club is very important; you really need a club around here.

"It's not like in town.

"The kids have got the playground and they just love coming down here.

"There's so many little girls wanting a game of netball and you don't get the same opportunities at the bigger clubs in town.

"Whether I'll get down here after this year, I don't know.

"I'll be nearly 86, but if I can, and if they want me, I'll still come down.

"I don't have to do anything, I can be a spectator, but I'm not so much interested in the game as who's playing and trying to work out who's who."

It's been a busy 48 hours for football manager Paul Rippingale, with coach John Pratt absent today after the birth of his first child.

"Family's your number one priority and the beauty about footy is there's always another week," Rippingale said.

"We're very basic here and I'm very old-fashioned.

"I want people to stay at this footy club and it's not a piece of paper that holds them here.

"Everyone's hell-bent on contracts but some of our guys still haven't signed a contract yet and they're happy to do it.

"Our locals are pretty happy to support the club and get on with it.

"How do you rate a footy club? I don't believe it's all about premierships.

"This footy club's come from a long way back but we're starting to enjoy a little bit of success and now we've got to take that next step.

"These villages need success because of the hard work they do.

"I want to make sure this footy club does succeed and I ain't going to let it go until it does."

Future growth of the Power comes back to family.

"My Nan opened this pavilion and I organised a Deb Ball to raise funds for the netball change rooms, so to be adding on to something my Nan helped create, it feels surreal," Hanrahan smiled.

"We needed $120,000 and I didn't know how we would go but to see this happening now is quite a proud moment."

And that's priceless.

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