WATER polo players are a difficult breed to fathom.

For instance, you could call them failed swimmers or maybe water-treading basketball players -- or even those who enjoy the rough and tumble of the rugby field knowing a match will never be called off due to a waterlogged pitch.

There is a little bit of all of those in Kelsey Duckworth, Burnley Water Polo Club's captain and coach.

But having reached the national finals as a junior he probably wouldn't take too kindly to being called a failed swimmer!

The sport requires the strength of the swimmer, the balance of a basketball player and the robustness of rugby -- it's a non-contact sport in name only.

But what Burnley Water Polo Club offers above others is the family atmosphere.

For whether it is playing together, holiday together, touring and most of all drinking you will find Kelsey at the hub of the action.

He organises matches, tours and has helped secure team sponsorship from Warburtons and Whiteheads Supermarket.

"I've grown up with most of the players and we are a close knit family" said Kelsey who has been with the club, which is part of Burnley Swimming Club, since he was just five-years-old.

"We're so close that if someone has a go at one of your mates then you do something about it."

No wonder Burnley are known as the Notorious Burnley across the country.

"Ask any other team about Burnley and they will tell you we can play and we know how to drink and enjoy ourselves after the game.

"You could say we are a drinking club with a Water Polo problem."

But it would be unfair to say Burnley are only in it for a laugh.

Sure Kelsey and the boys like nothing more than to share a few drinks and a joke but these are the same boys who are the reigning Northern Counties champions have countless Central Lancashire titles to their name and only the best team in Britain, Lancaster, prevent them from more silverware in the North Lancs League.

Take them little at your peril.

And it would be fair to say that Kelsey symbolises what Burnley are all about.

"I love the sport and the togetherness of the club," said Kelsey now 37 and currently out of action recovering from a broken bone in his wrist.

"I started like most people do and that was swimming. I was a decent junior swimmers and reached the national finals in my preferred butterfly stroke."

But, as Kelsey admits, by the time he reached 17-year-olds, he was earning a wage and discovered the joys of the local boozer and the training dropped off.

It just so happened the water polo also played a major part in his life.

And he was good at it.

He said: "I became interested in water polo when I was about 11-years-old. There was no junior team so you just used to train with the adults and see if you could get a game here and there.

"I continued to swim for a few years after but water polo was something I quickly became hooked on."

Water polo has been good to Kelvin.

He's seen a lot of Europe through the sport -- admittedly it may be a bit hazy taking his drunken exploits in to account -- and even played in Australia back in 1987.

"That was a wonderful experience. I played for Melville whose first team was crammed with Australian Olympic Games players. The coach Tom Hoard was the Olympic coach.

"I was over there for three months and played for the B team who went on to win the Grand final."

Kelsey personal highlights in the pool have included representing Lancashire, playing in the European Championships with Burnley and playing for the police as some fictitious beat bobby from Cumbria.

"I was their star guest player," recalls Kelsey. "They said I worked on the beat up in Cumbria and nobody knew the difference!"

That interesting story is not an isolated case for Kelsey has enough anecdotes to become an entertaining, if slightly different after dinner speak.

For instance, there was the time a breakdown in communications led to Burnley playing a ladies team in Prague -- and just winning -- the bomb scare in Kendall that left him standing in the car park in just his trunks and having a chunk bitten out of his big toe in one highly charged match.

Then there was playing in the Swan river in Australia, the sea in Malta and an outdoor pool in Prague.

"It's a tough old game," said Kelsey who has the scars to prove it. "I've had teeth knocked out, my nose bust and countless fat lips. But I've dished it out a bit as well."

Kelsey's aims for the future is to get fit again and rightly reclaim his title as the club's leading scorer. After that, there is the tour to Slovenia and anyone else who will take them on.

As Kelsey says: "We'll go any where, taking on anyone and enjoy a drink afterwards."

No wonder they are known as the Notorious Burnley!