WHEN Kalkee's senior team had a four-goal loss to Harrow Balmoral in 2008, the result was not considered particularly notable. But fast-forward two years and the game has taken on a whole new meaning. That's because the Red and Blues have not been beaten since.
Last weekend, they thrashed Horsham District league rival Pimpinio by 107 points, in the process improving their 2010 record to 6-0 and extending their winning streak to 37 games.
"We've got a few new faces this year, so they were a bit scratchy on the club song at the start, but they know it now," fourth-year Kalkee president Rod Lawson says with a chuckle. "The boys who've been around for a while don't have too many problems remembering the words."
What makes the run of success even more remarkable is that Kalkee is literally a football club in a paddock. As Lawson explains: "Our name refers to a little district. There's no town as such, just a few tennis courts and a footy oval. There used to be a school but that shut down 20 or 30 years ago."
So how does a club surrounded by only Wimmera farm land manage to be so successful? First, its members and supporters are seriously passionate about its survival. Evidence of that came in late 2006 and early '07, when a vast number of people banded together to construct new facilities at the Kalkee Recreation Reserve.
"We built the club rooms in the middle of the worst drought we've ever had in the area," Lawson says. "All the cockies and everyone pitched in together and we did it over summer. It gave them something to think about, other than what was happening on the land. It was a great effort.
"We only needed outside contractors to do the showers and lay the carpet. All the other workmanship was donated. Everyone looks back on what we did with a lot of pride."
The strength of family ties to the club is another reason for Kalkee's success. Lawson grew up on a wheat and sheep property not far from the footy ground. And although he now works in town as the parks and gardens supervisor for the Horsham Rural City Council, he'll be driving out the Blue Ribbon Road for many years to come.
"Five generations of Lawsons have gone through the club [since it was formed in the 1890s]. My father was president, his father was president before that and even my brother, Greg, has been president over the years. He's still out on the farm at Kalkee."
The Wimmera's shifting population means blokes like Greg Lawson are almost a rarity in 2010. Whereas a couple of decades ago most of Kalkee's players and administrators were farmers, now around 90 per cent of them live in Horsham.
But while such demographic changes have killed many country footy clubs, Kalkee seems to be getting stronger.
"We like to think that we're a pretty good club," says Lawson, who was part of three premiership-winning teams during his playing career.
"We haven't got too many ratbags around the place and things like that. Because we're only a 10-minute drive out of Horsham we can draft off the idiots and keep the good people."
A focus on nurturing junior players also helps keep the Red and Blues at the top. In the past three seasons, they have won an under-17s flag and two in the under-14s.
"Some of those kids have drifted off to uni and other places, of course, but we seem to always have another crop coming through," Lawson remarks.
Kalkee has had a couple of golden runs in the past. The club won three consecutive flags after the end of World War II, then it was unbeaten in the 1978 and '79 seasons, when it notched a 39-game winning streak.
In coming month, the present-day team will attempt to topple that record. It's success has been largely due to the efforts of a couple of local boys, Steve and Grant Schultz, whose farm surrounds the Kalkee oval.
The Schultz brothers - Steve is a midfielder and Grant a key forward - have achieved plenty in recent seasons.
Both have been selected in the VCFL's district league representative team more than once, with Steve's outstanding performances in the national bush footy carnival in 2008 winning him a place in the All-Australian side.
In addition, Steve, who spent five years playing with St Joseph's and St Mary's in the high-class Geelong league, has won the past two HDFL best-and-fairest awards.
"Of all the blokes I've played with he'd be No. 1, I reckon," says fellow Kalkee star Josh Mibus. "He's as tough as nails, mate, in-and-under all day.
''He's a fantastic player to have around the club and it's great to be playing in the same side as him, as we've been mates right through school."
Steve Schultz was joint coach of Kalkee's 2008 and '09 premiership teams. With he and fellow leader Jay Tucker dominating in the middle of the ground, last year's line-up was rarely troubled, its rampaging, undefeated run to the flag including a 336-point win over hapless Natimuk.
While Tucker moved north during the off-season to coach Mildura, the Kees have kept winning and Steve Schultz has continued his brilliant form.
Now free of coaching duties after handing the reins to Mibus and star import Tim Wade, the 27-year-old was judged best on ground in four of Kalkee's opening five games.
Yesterday, he was the star attraction when the HDFL played the Mallee league in a representative game at Hopetoun.
"It would be ridiculous to think about how many calls he gets [from recruiters each summer]," Mibus adds. "I'd hate to think about the dollars getting thrown his way as well."
In all, five Kalkee players ran out in yesterday's interleague match. The others were able to put their feet up and prepare for next Saturday, when they're almost certain to make it 38 victories in a row as they host Natimuk, which has not won a game since 2008.
"We probably haven't really hit our straps just yet," Lawson says, in an ominous warming for his club's rivals. "We're a bit bigger and stronger side this year and maybe we've lost a bit of pace. But we haven't really clicked yet, so look out when we do."
By Adam McNicol
Article first appeared The Suanday Age June 6, 2010
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