Mark Athorn’s 50th

Happy 50th birthday to Mark Athorn.



Career: 19921993
Debut: Round 1, 1992 vs Brisbane, aged 24 years, 135 days
Carlton Player No. 975
Games: 30
Goals: 6
Guernsey No. 25
Last Game: Grand Final, 1993 vs Essendon, aged 25 years, 322 days
Height: 178cm
Weight: 76kg
DOB: 7 November, 1967

Look up the word ‘journeyman’ in the AFL Dictionary is a picture of Mark Athorn, sitting next to other 4-clubbers such as Stuart Wigney, Adrian Fletcher and Phil Carman. Athorn, who wore the number 25 for the Blues, played 17 games for the Dogs, 21 for Fitzroy and 15 for the Swans before coming to Carlton at the end of 1991, he had originally started out with Essendon U/19’s.

In 30 games for the Blues, the right footed tagger played some good football, but perhaps Athorn is more remembered for his tagging attempts on Michael Long in our unsuccessful 1993 Grand Final. Constantly bumping the dangerous Long, then at the height of his powers and pace, Athorn was trying hard to put Long off his game. But history shall record that Long, a champion Bomber, played a brilliant game to win the Norm Smith Medal and left Athorn in his wake.

According to our records, Athorn did not play another game for Carlton, his last club. Overall, Athorn would play 83 games of VFL / AFL footy.

Athorn was originally from East Keilor.

Career Highlights

1993 – Reserves Best & Fairest Award
1994 – 6th Reserves Best & Fairest

Fond memories of Father Gerry

Tony De Bolfo, Carlton Media

It’s thought that the late Carlton Football Club Chaplain Father Gerry Briglia first graced Princes Park with his considerable presence in the Premiership year of 1968, when an uncle, Dr. Emil (“Billy”) Briglia, assumed duties as club doctor.

Of no doubt is that for more than a decade through that glorious epoch that began with Barassi, Carlton’s man of the cloth made a truly indelible impression.

The 220-game Carlton premiership player Rod Austin remembered Father Gerry as “a real character and a mad Carlton supporter”, whose resounding authoritative voice and manic laugh made an immediate impression in conversation.

“He was a good bloke, he was funny, and he had a lot of personality,” Austin said. “He was around a fair bit and he was good value.”

The two-time Carlton Premiership player Barry Gill was even more glowing. Said Gill: “I consider Father Gerry one of the few people who have left an impression on me”.

The pipe-smoking Father Gerry hailed from a family of accomplished musicians. His grandfather, the Neapolitan Giuseppe Brigila, was a fixture in the musical life of this city for some 60 years, and, in the heyday of silent film, conducted and controlled orchestras.

Not surprisingly, Giuseppe was widely considered Melbourne’s “Mr. Music”.

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Father Gerry was a Blues man through and through and left a lasting impression on many at the Club. (Photos: Supplied)

Giuseppe was survived by his wife Rosina, four sons and four daughters at his death in 1960, with three of his boys having followed him into music – Carlo (Gerry’s father) on violin, Frank on piano and Bert the bassoon. The fourth son, Tony, died in 1945, from an illness contracted while serving on H.M.A.S. Australia.

Though Father Gerry ultimately pursued a religious vocation (initially serving as Assistant Priest at St Patrick’s Cathedral and Moreland Parish, that kindred love for composition saw him undertake studies at the University Conservatorium of Music in January 1958 and (later) Sacred Music at Corpus Christi College, Glen Waverley.

Through the 1960s, Father Gerry served as a staff member of the Catholic Education Office, and Lecturer and Tutor at Oakleigh’s Chris College. He was later appointed inaugural parish priest of Aspendale’s St Louis de Montfort’s Church, a position he held between 1971 and the Carlton Premiership year of 1979.

By then, Father Gerry had truly forged his reputation amongst the Carlton Football Club’s many and varied characters, most notably its pliable footballers.

“I wasn’t a person of his faith, I didn’t have a lot to do with him in terms of sourcing information, but he was a remarkable person socially and he was someone I had enormous respect for,” Gill said recently.

“He was the sort of person anyone could talk to and gain great confidence and faith in, and his laugh – a cackle it was – really sticks in my mind. In fact, I just mentioned Father Briglia’s name to my brother John and he immediately started cackling.

“Father Briglia was a character. He was a priest but he was one of the boys. He was able to mix in with the players and he was a great support. He was an Honorary Member of The Carltonians, which was a feather in his cap really, because The Carltonians, at that stage of their history were an exclusive coterie. I remember he used to wear the CFC monogram on the front of his vest.”

David ‘Swan’ McKay remembered that when David Triaca oversaw the running of the Café Latin at 55 Lonsdale Street, Father Gerry took select Carlton recruits, himself included, to the famous Melbourne eatery.

“Not only was it a wonderful experience at one of the city’s best if not the best restaurant at the time, but Father Gerry was a magnificent host who provided wonderful pastoral guidance to young, impressionable and very naïve players from the bush and interstate. He was a wonderful influence around the club,” McKay said.

“He also officiated at many Carlton weddings and funerals over the years. I am pretty sure he married Geoff and Lorraine Southby and he also officiated at John O’Connell’s funeral.”

Father Gerry indeed acted as a celebrant at the marriage of the dual Carlton Premiership player Geoff Southby – who this week related what is perhaps the most famous tale involving the legendary Chaplain in his time at Princes Park.

“Father Briglia joined us on the All Stars world tour to Singapore, London, Paris and Greece after we won the Grand Final in ’72,” Southby recalled.

“I remember he organised through his contacts a ferry from London across to Paris and hotel accommodation for about 40 players, but the catch was that we had to check in as married couples, and I checked in with Bryan Quirk.

The three-time Carlton Premiership player Adrian Gallagher, who remembered Father Briglia as “always happy, always fun”, takes up the story;

“We were in London between our match-day engagements when Father Briglia asked ‘Who wants to go for a weekend in Paris?’. Everyone looked at eachother rather incredulously, but Father Briglia arranged for the transport and the accommodation.

“We got to the hotel and were waiting in a bus outside when we saw Father Briglia arguing with some French bloke. We later found out that as the hotel rooms were only fitted out with double beds, only married couples could sleep in them. It was 1972 after all.

“In the end we had to check in as husband and wife, and you weren’t going to get an ugly one were you? – ‘Adrian Gallagher, Alex Jesaulenko’. I remember Father Gerry checked in with the then secretary Bert Deacon, so you had a Catholic Chaplain sleeping with an Anglican Deacon, which was rather amusing.”

From early 1982 until his untimely passing, Father Gerry officiated as Parish Priest at St Damian’s Bundoora. As with Carlton in the early days, he quickly immersed himself in club life on Plenty Road, at the nearby Old Paradians’ Amateur Football Club which has, over the years, opened its doors to many and varied ancillary types, this correspondent included.

It was there that I once got to ask Fr. Gerry when his time at Carlton actually ended. “1980,” came the reply. “I went out with George” – a none-too-subtle throwback to the ousting of Harris and Alex Jesaulenko at the Extraordinary General Meeting of Members at Festival Hall.

The Reverend Father Daniel Gerard (“Gerry”) Briglia P.E., died at St. Vincent’s Private Hospital on April 18, 2000. His brothers Jim (also a Catholic priest) and Roland (a barrister) have since passed on also.

A first cousin, Paul Briglia, knew Father Gerry on a different level, but spoke in similar tones to Messrs Gallagher, Gill and co.

“Gerry was just a great guy an I was very sad when he left us,” Paul said. “He used to make the family gatherings more exciting just by being there.”

Father Gerry was only 68 at the time of his death, and to quote Southby: “He loved a red wine and he loved a smoke of the pipe, which is what got him in the end as he died of throat cancer”.

“He was highly-respected as a man you could go to, particularly amongst we Catholics,” Southby added. “But he was well-regarded right across the board, and the players saw him as one of the boys in many ways although he was able to keep his distance a bit in his professionalism as a man of the cloth.”

“He was a great man for the club even if, in the finish, he backed the wrong horse and went out with Harris. But he was a loyal George man, very pro-George, and he loved ‘Jezza’ (Alex Jesaulenko) too.”

Following his funeral service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Father Gerry was buried in the Christian Brother’s Cemetery to the rear of Parade College’s Bundoora campus. As the plaque on his headstone attests, he died in the 44th year of his priesthood.

FatherHeadstoneNov6
Father Gerry will always be remembered as a larakin with a generous heart. (Photo: Carlton Media) 

Today, more than 17 years after his passing, this truly unique individual’s memory endures at the Old Paradians, by way of the Father Gerry Briglia Award for the club’s most improved senior player.

And at Carlton, the Reverend Steve Webster capably serves on a part-time basis as honorary Chaplain to the players and staff, thereby upholding the tradition so colourfully set by Father Gerry.

For wise heads of Southby’s ilk, the club Chaplain’s presence is truly vital – even moreso in today’s cut and thrust. As he said: “Mentor figures like Father Gerry have a genuinely neutral and independent view on life generally, and are vitally important to players who see them as go-to figures for guidance outside the real nitty gritty”.

Peter Bosustow’s 60th

Happy 60th birthday to Peter Bosustow.



Career : 19811983
Debut : Round 1, 1981 vs Richmond, aged 23 years, 152 days
Carlton Player No. 888
Games : 65
Goals : 146
Last Game : Round 21, 1983 vs North Melbourne, aged 25 years, 296 days
Guernsey No. 4
Height : 183 cm (6 ft. 0 in.)
Weight : 85 kg (13 stone, 5 lbs.)
DOB : 27 October, 1957
Premiership Player 1981, 1982
Club Leading Goalkicker 1981 (59 goals)

Another champion from Western Australia, Peter Robert Bosustow spent only three seasons at Carlton from 1981 to 1983 – but his impact during his all too brief career blazed his name into the history of the Navy Blues. The son of Bob Bosustow, who had played 20 games for Carlton in seasons 1955-56, “Buzz” Bosustow was a brilliant, mercurial match-winner – a freakish high mark, a magical ball-handler, and a deadly sharpshooter at goal. Although prone to inconsistency, he was an outstanding big match performer whose cat-like reflexes and uncanny anticipation thrilled friend and foe alike.

During his 65 games in Carlton’s guernsey number 4, Bosustow kicked 146 goals at an average of better than two per game, and suffered defeat only 15 times. He was instrumental in Carlton’s glorious 1981 and ’82 Premiership double, and led the Blues’ goal-kicking in 1981 with 59 goals. Few players in the history of VFL/AFL football have had a more spectacular debut year than “The Buzz,” who also won Mark of the Year, Goal of the Year as well as a Premiership medal in his first season in Victoria.

Earlier, Bosustow had played throughout his junior football career with the Victoria Park Raiders, before following in his father’s footsteps and joining the Perth Demons in 1975. It was a very fortuitous time for the 17 year-old, because the Demons were on the verge of a golden era. Bosustow took a year or so to establish himself under legendary coach Ken Armstrong, and was a reserve in the club’s 1977 WAFL Grand Final victory over East Fremantle. But the following year, he kicked seven of Perth’s 12 goals when the Demons lost the Grand Final to East Perth by two points, and in the opinion of more than one good judge, was desperately unlucky not to be awarded the Simpson Medal as best on ground.

By 1980, “Buzza” was one of the stars of the WAFL. Already a Premiership player, a two-time leading goal-kicker for the Demons, and a WA state representative on four occasions, he was pursued hard by a number of VFL clubs, although the Blues had the inside running for his signature because of his father’s previous affiliation. After flying both Bob and Peter to their round 9, 1980 Sunday game against Essendon in Sydney, the Blues gained their prized signature at last, under the Father-Son rule then in place. “I was that excited that I was going to wear the Navy Blue jumper,” Bosustow said later. “It wasn’t a fluke that I chose Carlton. I had two players that I really wanted to play football with – one was Wayne Johnston, and the other was Mark Maclure”. Throughout the next two seasons in particular, this trio was to form one of the greatest half-forward lines in Carlton’s history.

Almost from the moment he arrived at Princes Park, Bosustow gate-crashed a Carlton squad that just two years previously had won the VFL flag, then blown the opportunity to make it two in a row in 1980. Under a new coach in David Parkin the club was hell-bent on redemption, and had assembled a team list as classy as any other in the club’s history. Parkin‘s coaching style demanded discipline in all aspects of the game, but he quickly recognised that in “The Buzz” he had a rare talent – a player who flourished without restraint, who relished a personal challenge, and was capable of wresting the initiative from any rival with just a quarter or two of football magic. Under Parkin, Bosustow’s impact on his new team and the competition was dramatic, and immediate.

In only his second game – during the second quarter of Carlton’s Round 2, 1981 match against Hawthorn at Princes Park, the Blues were kicking to the scoreboard end when “Buzz” marked out on the wing, chip-passed to Wayne Johnston and sprinted hard to create the loose man. His opponent – Hawthorn hard man Robert Dipierdomenico – ran to block him, but Bosustow dipped his shoulder and crashed through the beefy Hawk right in front of the old press box. A resounding crack was heard (to the roar of an adoring throng) and “Dipper’s” season was prematurely ended by a broken sternum.

Seven weeks later, shortly after he was famously described as a “good, ordinary player” by the legendary Jack Dyer, Bosustow soared for some spectacular marks and kicked eight goals to spearhead the Blues to a 99-point demolition of South Melbourne at Princes Park. By August, Carlton were on top of the ladder and about to celebrate Bruce Doull’s 250th game for the club, when Geelong arrived at Princes Park for the match of the day. However, the abiding memory thereafter for the huge crowd on that afternoon was Bosustow’s breathtaking Mark of the Year in the forward pocket at the Heatley Stand end. Launching himself into the stratosphere above Geelong ruckman John Mossop (and another noted aerialist in Carlton’s David McKay) “Buzz” took an absolute screamer on his chest. It took him an eternity to line up for the easy goal that followed, such was the excitement among the crowd.

That September, the same two sides met again in the second Semi Final at Waverley Park, and the Bosustow Show produced more excitement when he smothered the ball off the boot of Cat Ian Nankervis, and snapped a brilliant angled goal over his shoulder in a solo effort later judged Goal of the Year. Completing a fairytale first season, Carlton went on to steamroll Collingwood in the last quarter of the 1981 Grand Final, allowing “Buzz” to finish the year as a Premiership player, Carlton’s leading goal-kicker, and a bona fide star of the VFL.

Bosustow began 1982 in similar fashion, booting six goals against Hawthorn in round 4, and another half-dozen against the Sydney Swans in a record-breaking win by 102 points at Princes Park in round 9. Carlton finished the home and away season third on the ladder behind Richmond and Hawthorn, before clawing their way through to another Grand Final against the Tigers. Having played one less final and having comfortably defeated the Blues in the second Semi Final, Richmond started the decider as warm favourites, but Carlton dug deeper when it counted most and emerged victorious by 18 points in front of 107,000 at the MCG. Two flags in two years was a dream come true for Bosustow, whose tally of 47 goals for the season was only beaten by another West Australian, Ross Ditchburn, who booted 61 majors to top the Blues’ list.

Injury delayed the start of Bosustow’s 1983 season until round 3, but his 13 big marks and six goals in a 10-point win over Collingwood was worth the wait, and prompted David Parkin to remark, “In the end, he was the difference between the two sides. He can really play footy when he makes up his mind that he wants to.” Another haul of six majors against Geelong in round 6 added some momentum to the Blues, but a spate of late-season injuries and a couple of incidents during the round 21 match against North Melbourne at Princes Park in late August ultimately derailed Carlton’s title defence.

During a torrid first quarter, “Buzz” was reported for striking North Melbourne opponents in two separate incidents, and subsequently rubbed out for four weeks. This meant that he could only play again that year if Carlton made the Grand Final – which they were not able to do. In what turned out to be a prophetic statement, a clearly upset Bosustow stated after his tribunal appearance; “I am absolutely shattered. When the sentence was delivered, I thought my career in Melbourne was all over.” Unfortunately for Bosustow and Carlton’s many thousands of disappointed supporters, it was.

In 1984, “Buzza” returned to WA and the Perth football Club, where he was once again the Demon’s top goal-kicker, and represented his home state in matches against Victoria and South Australia. The lure of VFL football remained strong however, and two years later he arrived back at Princes Park for another crack at the big time. He had almost completed pre-season training when he trod on a sprinkler head, and damaged an ankle so badly that was able to run again until late in the year. By then his time had passed, and another future champion in ‘Sticks’ Kernahan had claimed the No. 4 guernsey.

As well as his exploits at Carlton, Bosustow played 141 senior games for Perth from 1975 to 1980, 1984 to 1985, and 1987. In all, he kicked 357 goals and was the Demons’ leading goal-kicker three times, with a season’s high of 75 in 1980. He represented Western Australia eight times, booting 17 goals, and was named on the half-forward flank in Perth’s Team of the Century (1899 – 1999).

Footnotes

During an interview some years afterward, Bosustow revealed that he had had a strong premonition that he would take his Mark of the Year in that match against Geelong, and beforehand, had promised Mark Maclure a ride in his new car.

While playing at Carlton, Bosustow boarded with the club’s doorman, roustabout and legendary character Leo Brooks, who was the grandfather of infamous underworld identities Mark and Jason Moran. Among of a number of other country and interstate recruits looked after by the Brooks family at their home in Drummond St., Carlton was future club captain (and AFL Commission President) Mike Fitzpatrick.

Bosustow played eight inter-state matches for WA, the first in 1978, and the last ten seasons later, when WA suffered a shock loss to NSW during the 1988 AFL Bicentenary Carnival in Adelaide. NSW, coached by Tom Hafey and captained by Terry Daniher, knocked over their more fancied rivals by two points. Besides Bosustow, four other players in that WA team; Richard Dennis, Earl Spalding, John Worsfold and Dean Laidley, would later join Carlton as either players or coaches.

Peter’s son, Brent Bosustow, played 15 games for South Fremantle in the WAFL between 2003 and 2006, and one game for Swan Districts in 2007. He was named the South Fremantle Colts’ Best and Fairest player in their 2003 Premiership season, but turned down a position on Carlton’s Rookie list to pursue a career in business.

In 2014, amid celebrations of Carlton’s 150th year of competition, the club produced a list of the Blues’ 150 greatest players. A furore erupted when Peter Bosustow was left out – because his career did not fulfil the criteria of 50 games played over five seasons. It had taken him only three seasons to reach 65 games.

Milestones

50 Games: Round 5, 1983 vs Fitzroy
100 Goals: Round 22, 1982 vs Fitzroy

Career Highlights

1981 – Premiership Player
1981 – 6th Best & Fairest
1981 – Leading Goalkicker
1981 – Mark of the Year
1981 – Goal of the Year
1982 – Premiership Player
1983 – Night Premiership Player

Rare photo brings focus to Blues tragedy

Tony De Bolfo, Carlton Media

AFTER 120 years, the Carlton Football Club, with the assistance of Melbourne Grammar School, has sourced its first image of the ruck-rover William ‘Brickie’ Woodhouse, a member of this club’s inaugural senior League team of 1897. 

Of the 20 Carlton players who took to the field to herald the commencement of the fledgling VFL season, Woodhouse is the seventh whose photograph now finds a home in the archive. 

Woodhouse followed the then Carlton captain Jimmy Aitken down the race and onto Brunswick Street Oval for the opening round match with Fitzroy on the afternoon of Saturday, May 8, 1897.

Regrettably, this story also carries a tragic post-script, but more of that later.

William Theodore Woodhouse was born in East St Kilda on September 14, 1873. He made an early impression as a student at Melbourne Grammar, where it was said his sporting achievements overshadowed his academic pursuits.

Nicknamed ‘Brickie’ for reasons unknown, Woodhouse joined the Grammarians in 1888 and completed his matriculation in 1891. In that final year, Woodhouse represented both their 1st XVIII and 1st XI outfits, and cuts an imposing figure in both team photographs.  

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Melbourne Grammar School 1st XVIII 1891, William Woodhouse second from left at rear. (Image courtesy of Melbourne Grammar)

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Melbourne Grammar 1st XI 1891, Woodhouse middle row, second from right. (Image courtesy of Melbourne Grammar)

In 1892, Woodhouse founded the Melbourne Hare and Hounds, a precursor to the Old Melburnians Athletic Club, which convened various runs and competitions.

A founding member of the Hare and Hounds was Edwin Flack, this nation’s first Olympic Gold Medallist.

It was around this time that Woodhouse first chased the leather for VFA club St Kilda. He then ventured to Broken Hill, briefly combining work with football, before returning to Melbourne and aligning with Carlton.

Woodhouse is said to have first represented the old dark Navy Blues in 28 matches through the VFA seasons of 1894, ’5 and ’6, during which time he also contributed at committee level. He would add 10 League games to that tally – the last of them, at age 23, in the 14th and final round match of 1897 against Collingwood at Victoria Park – and at the 1898 Annual General Meeting was presented with a Long Service certificate.

A week after Woodhouse’s passing in Launceston on November 24, 1934, The Argus reported the following; 

The funeral took place at Brighton Cemetery yesterday of William T. Woodhouse, formerly of Park Street St. Kilda, who had for many years conducted a chemist’s business that was established by his father more than 60 years ago at St. Kilda.

In his youth Mr. William T. Woodhouse was a well known athlete. He was a founder of the Melbourne Hare and Hounds, and he played League football for many years with the Carlton and St. Kilda clubs.

He was also a leading member of the Royal St. Kilda Yacht Club.

While he was recuperating in Tasmania from an attack of influenza he died suddenly from heart trouble.

He was born in St Kilda, and passed away November 24 1934 in Launceston aged 61.

Woodhouse was married with three daughters and a son.

However, the Launceston Examiner of November 28, 1934 carried a different report;

TOOK POISON.

Man Found Dead in Hotel

LAUNCESTON, Tuesday. – A verdict that William Theodore Woodhouse, whose body was found at the Enfield Hotel on Sunday, died by his own act from taking poison was returned by the Coroner (Mr. E. L. Hall) at an inquest at Launceston to-day.

John Woodhouse, a chemist, of Melbourne, son of the dead man, said he had identified a body at the morgue at the Launceston Public Hospital that morning as that of his father, who was a chemist, and lived at 56 Park Street, St. Kilda. He was 61 years of age. Witness last saw him alive at 2 p.m. on Friday last, when he left Melbourne on the Nairana to spend a holiday in Tasmania. His father had an attack of influenza about a fortnight ago, but seemed to have recovered. Witness could not account for his taking his life, and said he had no worries. He identified the writing produced as that of his father.

Verdict of suicide at inquest into death of William Theodore Woodhouse at Enfield Hotel, Launceston, on November 25. 

The sad demise of Woodhouse is but one of a number of former player suicides, while others have died in unusual circumstances.

One is James Francis Caffery, who managed 12 senior appearances for the Club in that maiden season of ’97.

While club records confirm that Caffery died in 1918 at the age of 46, Robert has provided more detail, in sourcing a newspaper account, dated June 10 of that year, beneath the headline A Sudden Death, which offers a small glimpse into the man’s life beyond the football field.

On the arrival of the 4.45p.m. Oakleigh train at Flinders-street station on Saturday, the body of James Francis Caffery, 46 years, was found by a porter on the seat if a first class carriage. The body was taken in a St. John’s ambulance to Melbourne Hospital, where Dr. Leckie pronounced life extinct. It appears that Caffery, who lived in a confectioner’s shop at 189 Exhibition-street, city, went to Sandown Park races on Saturday with his son. About 3.30 p.m. according to the son’s statement, he complained of a pain in the chest, and left the course with the intention of going home. Prior to Saturday, Caffery had been in good health. It is thought that he collapsed in the train as the result of heart trouble.

Another unfortunate is Walter McKenzie, the one-game Carlton player of 1902 recruited to the club from the nearby Carlton Imperials. McKenzie died in Morwell on February 9, 1931, in a road accident.

McKenzie was riding a pushbike when it was struck by an Overland motor car driven by Norman McDonald on the Morwell-Yinnar road, about four miles from Morwell. His body was identified at St. Hilary’s private hospital by his step brother Charles James McKenzie, a bacon curer residing at Sale.

In a local newspaper dated February 20, 1931, the following was reported;

A verdict was returned that the deceased Alexander McKenzie died at Morwell on the ninth day of February, 1931, from fracture of skull and other injuries caused by collision with motor car at Hazelwood, such injuries received by the said Alexander McKenzie accidentally and by misfortune.

Then there is the 11-game Carlton player of 1897, Henry Huston (‘Harry’) Morgan, whose sad life was matched by a wretched demise.

Born in Melbourne on February 17, 1871, Morgan was 22 when he exchanged vows with Emma Maria. Sadly, the marriage would not last as the following newspaper account of 1916 revealed;

. . . Henry Huston Morgan, labourer, 44 years, sought divorce from Emma Maria Morgan, 39 years on the ground of desertion. The marriage took place on 6th April, 1893, and there were three children. After living in various districts in South Australia petitioner and the children came to Melbourne in 1902, and respondent said she could come later. She, however, wrote from South Australia stating that she had parted for ever.

A decree nisi was granted.

On November 11, 1924, The Argus reported that the body of Henry Morgan, 54, an inmate of the Victorian Home for the Aged and Infirm at Royal Park, was found in a channel which runs through the grounds on 6th inst. Michael George Hickey, an inmate of the home, said deceased was in the habit of wandering down the banks of the channel. On the night of the 5th inst. heavy rain had fallen, and the channel rose as a result to a height of 6 feet. The next morning, at 6 o’clock, he discovered the body lying in the channel, which, however, then had only about a foot of running water.

A verdict of death by accidental drowning was recorded, the coroner Mr Berriman ruling there was insufficient evidence to show how Morgan came to be in the creek.

But a family notice subsequently placed by the Morgans revealed that the late Carlton footballer was not untouched by wartime scourge.

MORGAN. – On the 5th November, Henry Huston Morgan, formerly of Palmerston street, Carlton, and loving father of Henry (deceased, late of A.I.F.), Violet (Mrs. A. Robertson), and Daisy (Mrs. J. Boyce), aged 52 years (sic). (Privately interred on 7th November.)

Dave McCulloch’s 80th

Happy 80th birthday to Dave McCulloch.



Playing Career: 1959 – 1961
Debut: Round 1, 1960 v Richmond, aged 22 years, 189 days
Carlton Player No.: 730
Games: 17
Goals: 6
Last game: Round 11, 1961 v Geelong, aged 23 years, 262 days
Guernsey No. 3 (1960 – 1961).
Height: 188 cm
Weight: 92 kgs
DOB: October 12, 1937

Dave “Flint” McCulloch
McCulloch played 17 games for Carlton commencing in Season 1960, kicking 6 goals. He wore guernsey #3. McCulloch shared his debut with Des Lyons in Round 1 of his debut year.

Dave returned to the family farm at Glenthompson (located on the Glenelg Highway between Ballarat and Hamilton) in country Victoria, where he still lives and works today.

McCulloch wore guernsey No. 43 whilst playing with Carlton reserves in 1959.

Anthony Franchina’s 40th

Happy 40th birthday to Anthony Franchina.



Career: 1997-2003 (On list until 2004)
Debut: Round 20, 1997 vs Geelong, aged 19 years, 309 days
1020th Carlton Player
Games: 105
Goals: 26
Last Game: Round 22, 2003 vs North Melbourne, aged 25 years, 324 days
Height: 176cm
Weight: 78kg
Guernsey No. 45 (1996 – 2003).
DOB: 11 October, 1977

Anthony Franchina, who wore #45 in over 100 games for the Navy Blues, was a 176cm tagger who was on the list between 1997 and 2004. A hard at it type, he was probably more famous for taking opponents out of the game than any possessions or goals he scored himself. But in the end, Franchina is probably satisfied with that, having racked up 100 games and as of 2007, being the only Blue to have his name on the #45 locker.

He was originally a ‘Supplementary List’ player for the Blues, before being drafted from that list in 1996. His original club was Newlands-Coburg, he had the unique ‘honour’ of playing for two TAC teams, the Preston Knights and the Calder Cannons. This may have occured when there was a realignment of boundaries after the Calder Cannons was entered into the TAC Cup competition.

Franchina will forever be linked to Saints great Nicky Winmar, who blew up at him in a game at the MCG in Round 20, 1998.

Franchina was a constant in the team from about 1999-2002, with 24 games in our oh-so-close performance in 2000, 17 in 2001 (restricted by foot and hamstring injuries at either end of the season, keeping him out of both finals) and 20 in our maiden wooden spoon year of 2002. Come 2003 and the introduction of Denis Pagan, Franchina would find his opportunities more limited, managing only 13 games, spending a lot of them on the bench and never managing double figure possessions, while playing a number of games in the VFL. In 2004 he didn’t play a senior game, playing most of the year in the VFL but also missing a number of weeks with a thumb injury. A dedicated trainer, Franchina was often seen in 2004 attempting to help out our Irish recruits after training.

Franchina was delisted at the end of 2004. He went on to play with North Ballarat in the VFL, before joining the Carlton affiliated Northern Bullants for Season 2006.

In 2007, Franchina – in conjunction with former Blues Corey McKernan and Justin Murphy – would feature in a little bit of football press once more when they were selected as the Carlton-linked on-ball grouping for Heidelberg in the Northern Football League (formerly known as the Diamond Valley FL). In 2009, he and Justin Murphy played together in a premiership with the Heidelberg FC. Franchina would end up playing in three premierships and claimed a best and fairest with Heidelberg, mid season in 2011 he transferred to EFL club Balwyn, Pascoe Vale (2012), Mornington (2013 – 2015) and Eaglehawk (2016) in the Bendigo FL. In 2018 Franchina headed to EDFL club Tullamarine.

Varied sources often refer to players as ‘getting the most out of themselves’ as a cop out comment but in this case every last drop of effort was given in order to allow diverse talents to flow. Playing for Carlton his skill set was to close down opponents, which he did well, however should he have played elsewhere his rugged on field nature and superior fitness could have seen him become a long-term regular mid-fielder. His family are loyal Carlton supporters.

Milestones

50th game in Round 20, 2000 against Essendon
100th game in Round 15, 2003 against West Coast

Career Highlights

2000 – 9th Best & Fairest
2000 – Most Improved Award

Dick Vandenberg’s 70th

Happy 70th birthday to Dick Vandenberg.


Career : 1966
Debut : Round 13, 1966 vs St Kilda, aged 18 years, 287 days
Carlton Player No. 788
Games : 3
Goals : 2
Guernsey No. 8
Last Game: Round 15, 1966 vs Essendon, aged 18 years, 301 days
Height : 183 cm (6 ft. 0 in.)
Weight : 80 kg (12 stone, 8 lbs.)
DOB : October 9, 1947

Richard ‘Dick’ Vandenberg played three consecutive games and kicked 2 goals for Carlton in 1966. A tall rover-forward, he was recruited from Robinvale, and allocated guernsey number 8 in the second year of Ron Barassi’s tenure as captain-coach of the Blues.

After making a good impression at Reserves level through the first half of the season, Vandenberg was given his chance with the senior side in round 13, 1966 when seventh-placed Carlton hosted second-placed St Kilda at Princes Park. That day – not for the first time – the Blues caused quite a boilover in beating the Saints by 16 points.

It was a magical occasion for the 18 year-old Vandenberg, who years later was to say; “How well I remember it. They had Baldock at centre half-forward, Stewart in the centre, Murray at full-back, Synman at centre half-back and Ditterich in the ruck. We had a bloke called John Nicholls – who beat the lot of them.” *

Vandenberg shared the roving duties with Adrian Gallagher – who capitalized on Nicholls’ dominance and was almost as influential. The following week, Gallagher and Vandenberg combined again in Carlton’s emphatic win over Fitzroy, and they were together for a third time against Essendon at Windy Hill in round 15, when the Blues were brought crashing back to earth by a 7-goal defeat.

Vandenberg was one of the casualties from that defeat, and he spent the remainder of the season with the Reserves – before being told that his services were no longer required. He headed back home to northern Victoria, and over the succeeding years built a successful business as a chartered accountant, based in Swan Hill.

Some 30 years later, the Vandenberg name was seen again at Carlton when one of Dick’s distant cousins – the similarly-named Richard Vandenberg, trialled briefly at Reserves level in 1997. Richie was not picked up by the Blues, so he joined VAFA club University Blues, and it was from there that he was spotted and drafted by Hawthorn.

Between 1998 and 2007, Richie Vandenberg played 145 games for the Hawks, and captained the club.

* From: Robert Lane

Image
From left; Ron Barassi, Dick Vandenberg, Alex Jesaulenko, Brian Kekovich, Dennis Munari, Ron Auchettl.

Des English’s 60th

Happy 60th birthday to Des English.



Career : 19801987
Debut : Round 4, 1980 vs South Melbourne, aged 22 years, 193 days
Carlton Player No. 884
Games : 104
Goals : 6
Last Game: Grand Final, 1986 vs Hawthorn, aged 28 years, 353 days
Guernsey No. 27
Height : 178 cm (5 ft. 10 in.)
Weight : 85.5 kg (13 stone, 7 lbs.)
DOB : January 22, 1956
Premiership Player : 1981 & 1982

Another in a long line of courageous, reliable and tough back-pockets for the Blues, Des English was a valuable contributor in three Carlton Grand Final teams, including the 1981 and ’82 Premiership sides. One of the most respected players of his era, he was, sadly, forced into premature retirement when he was diagnosed with leukaemia.

English came to Carlton from Bendigo League club Eaglehawk in 1980, following in the footsteps of champion rover Rod Ashman. Like “Ashy”, Des had also won the Two Blues’ Best & Fairest award, and was a regular Bendigo League representative, usually at half-back. At Carlton he found a niche in the back pocket, and began consolidating his place in one of the league’s power teams.

Carlton finished the 1980 home and away season in second place, but lost both finals matches in successive weeks. It was a bitterly disappointing end to a bad year for the Blues, only compensated by the belief that this team was much better than its results might indicate. The core group at Carlton knew that they had the talent and the drive to win another Premiership – all they needed was the opportunity.

Under a new coach in David Parkin, that opportunity wasn’t long in coming. Carlton played brilliantly all season in 1981, topping the home and away ladder on percentage over Collingwood, then going on to beat the Magpies by 20 points on Grand Final day. The Blues’ defence, boasting the names Doull, Hunter, McKay, Harmes and Perovic, was topped off with the emergence of Des English. At 178 cm and 88 kg, Des was solid enough to handle any physical pressure, and tall enough to fill a variety of defensive roles. A safe mark, cool under pressure and an accurate disposer of the ball, he won new fans each week with his rock-solid consistency.

In 1982, Des won his second Premiership medal when Carlton triumphed again over their other traditional rival, Richmond. The free-scoring Tigers started warm favourites in that year’s decider, but with captain Mike Fitzpatrick supreme in the ruck, and Bruce Doull impassable at half-back, The Blues won their fourteenth flag by 18 points. Two Premierships in his first three seasons was a dream come true for English. The 26 year-old was in the best form of his life, and a fixture in one of the great football teams.

While still a powerhouse, Carlton went off the boil somewhat in seasons 1983, ’84 and ’85. The team still made the finals in all three years, yet couldn’t progress past the Elimination or Semi Final stage. In this era English was reported and suspended for the only time in his senior career, losing 2 matches in the Qualifying Final, 1984 for striking Hawthorn’s Dermott Brereton. Meanwhile, Carlton’s finals performances in these years spelt the end of his tenure for coach David Parkin, who was replaced by former Blues’ champion Robert Walls.

Walls’ equally demanding, yet less intense coaching methods clicked immediately with the Carlton list. Aided by some astute recruiting and trading of players, the Blues finished third after the home and away rounds, before winning both their semi-finals to set up a Grand Final showdown with Hawthorn. One of only six survivors from Carlton’s 1982 Flag side, English was named at half-back for the Grand Final, but spent just about all match in his customary spot on the last line. As always, he gave his all, but the Blues were overwhelmed by a great Hawthorn team that ran out easy winners.

Only a matter of weeks after that defeat, the Carlton Football Club was shocked to learn that English had been diagnosed with leukaemia, bringing a sudden end to his 104-game, 6-goal career in Carlton’s guernsey number 27. Immediately, the club, sponsors and supporters rallied around Des and his family. There was widespread determination to do everything possible to help a good mate get through his toughest challenge, while the coach and every player dedicated themselves to win another flag “for Des.”

Carlton kicked off season 1987 impressively, sitting second on the ladder after five rounds, when another blow sent the club reeling. This time, it was a major car accident involving emerging champion Peter Motley, who was critically injured when his car hit another head-on. Thankfully, “Motts” survived, but like Des, he had played his last game of League football.

That second tragedy bound the Blues tighter, and they swept into the ‘87 final series on top of the ladder. A hard-fought, 15-point Semi Final victory over Hawthorn followed, setting up a rematch with the Hawks on Grand Final day. Despite their previous loss, it was generally believed that Hawthorn’s stellar lineup would be too good for the Blues, but this proved not to be the case.

Fired by an impassioned pre-game address from coach Walls, Carlton kicked away to a handy early lead which was never seriously challenged, and ran out clear winners by 33 points in front of a crowd of almost 93,000 fans. Amid the jubilation and relief immediately after the siren, the Blues ran in a group to the players’ race to ensure that Des English and Peter Motley were among the first to hold the Premiership Cup. It was surely one of the most emotional of Grand Final moments.

Happily, Des’s condition went into remission in the months after that famous victory, and he was eventually able to resume normal family life. Still in robust good health, he is always a popular figure at team reunions and club functions more than 40 years after his last game.

Bendigo All Stars Team (1972-1997).
In 1997 the Bendigo FL compiled their best team for players originating from the BFL VCFL zones for the period from 1972 – 1997, English was named in the back-pocket in that team.

Footnotes

Before switching to guernsey number 27, English wore No.54 throughout his 1978 season with Carlton Reserves.
In 1989, Des took up a role as a specialist coach at Footscray, under Mick Malthouse.

Milestones

50 Games : Round 7, 1983 vs Sydney Swans
100 Games : Round 21, 1986 vs Footscray

Career Highlights

1979 – 4th Reserves Best & Fairest
1981 – 5th Best & Fairest
1981 – Premiership Player
1982 – Premiership Player
1983 – 3rd Best & Fairest
1983 – Night Premiership Player
1984 – 8th Best & Fairest

Robert Dutton’s 60th

Happy 60th birthday to Robert Dutton.



Career : 1981
Debut and Only Game : Round 7, 1981 vs Melbourne, aged 23 years, 212 days
Carlton Player No. 893
Goals : 0
Guernsey No. 17
Height : 192 cm (6 ft. 3 in.)
Weight : 89 kg (14 stone, 0 lbs.)
DOB : October 9, 1957

Evidence would suggest that Tasmanian ruckman-forward Bob Dutton may have been unlucky when he joined Carlton in 1981, in that the Blues at that time were almost invincible, and there wasn’t an obvious place for him in the team. Already on the way to winning three VFL flags in four seasons between 1979 and 1982, Carlton’s ruck division of ‘Percy’ Jones, Mike Fitzpatrick, Warren ‘Wow’ Jones and David McKay was the envy of every other club, so Dutton was always going to find it tough to displace any of them. Then again, he wasn’t given a lot of opportunities.

When he was recruited from the Launceston Football Club in 1979, ‘Major’ Dutton was already a Premiership player, as well as that year’s Best and Fairest. Having accepted a two-year contract at Carlton, he was allocated guernsey number 17 and started his AFL career in 1980 with the Reserves. Early on, Dutton’s coach Serge Silvagni sent him to full-forward, and the big bloke was something of a revelation. Four times during the year, “Major’ used his strength and reliable right boot to kick five goals or more in a match, with a best of eight majors against North Melbourne. He finished the season as the Reserves’ leading scorer with 47 goals, and was a popular winner of the Best First Year Player award.

By early 1981, it seemed only a matter of time before Dutton was called into the seniors, especially after his 7 goals against Collingwood Reserves in round 6. Sure enough, the following week he was promoted for the game against Melbourne, but by his own admission, had a shocker. Although the Blues won by 40 points, Bob couldn’t get near the football and didn’t trouble the scorers. He was promptly dropped back to the seconds, and took up where he had left off. While Carlton seniors swept through the finals to claim the Premiership, Dutton kept kicking goals in the lower grade, and his aggregate of 51 majors made him the Reserves’ top scorer for the second time. He was also voted Reserves Best Clubman – but that wasn’t enough to save him from the chop and he was delisted at years’ end.

Meanwhile, Hawthorn was one of many clubs casting an envious eye over the Blues’ list, and they threw Dutton a lifeline with a one-year contract in 1982. With the Hawks, Dutton’s fortunes were similar to his experience at Carlton – he played consistent football with their seconds, and earned promotion for the crunch game against Carlton in round 14 – but again didn’t have an impact. He was omitted the following week, and delisted by the Hawks at the end of the season.

By 1983, Dutton had returned to Tasmania, where he joined the Clarence Football Club and gave them the benefit of his VFL experience by leading their ruck division in an emphatic TFL Grand Final victory over Glenorchy. Two years later he went back to the north of the Island State to finish off his career with Launceston, and was the Blues’ leading goal-kicker in 1988 and 1989.

In 2000, ‘Major’ was named on the interchange bench in Launceston’s Team of the Century. As of 2013, he was operating a successful Food Service Distribution Business in Launceston.

Career Highlights

1980 – 4th Reserves Best & Fairest
1980 – Reserves Best First Year Player Award
1980 – Reserves Leading Goalkicker (47 goals)
1981 – Reserves Best Clubman Award
1981 – Reserves Leading Goalkicker 51 goals (3rd in the competition)

Rohan Brown’s 60th

Happy 60th birthday to Rohan Brown.



Career: 1983
Debut: Round 1, 1983 vs Richmond, aged 25 years, 175 days
906th Carlton Player
Games: 2
Goals: 1
Last game: Round 2, 1983 vs Footscray, aged 25 years, 182 days
Guernsey No. 30
Height: 192cm
Weight: 89kg
DOB: 2 October, 1957
Born in October 1957, Brown would be 26 before he would get to play his first game of VFL / AFL footy in 1983. It would be his first of two, providing 1 goal, for the 192cm Blue who wore the number 30 on his back. Brown shared his debut with Bruce Reid.

Brown was recruited from Old Melburnians in the Victorian Amateurs.

Family reclaims precious Deacon artefact

Tony De Bolfo, Carlton Media

 Seventy years after the late Bert Deacon’s best and fairest, Brownlow and Grand Final-winning season for Carlton, the Deacon family has reclaimed a timber-cased mantel clock awarded to him by the Club in 1947.

The art deco clock was presented to Deacon in the year he tied for what was then the Robert Reynolds Trophy (now John Nicholls Medal) with the then club captain Ern Henfry. The clock carries a silver-plated plaque upon which are inscribed the following words;

CARLTON FOOTBALL CLUB

Equal Best & Fairest

1947

Won by

Bert Deacon

DeaconClockInscription.jpg
The inscription on the mantel clock.

According to the Carlton Annual Report of that year, only the trophies to Deacon and Henfry were presented in that year, along with an award to Jack Bennett for Most Consistent Player.

As the then secretary Harry Bell reported: “Apart from the two above-mentioned trophies your Committee decided to suspend all other club awards, as in their opinion the 21 players in the Final games had contributed equally in bringing the flag to Carlton, and therefore they felt that all should share equally in the other trophies, with the result that at the Annual Meeting, each of the remaining 18 players will be presented with a trophy to mark the winning of the premiership”.

For almost 60 years, the clock sat on the mantelpiece in the loungeroom of the Deacon family home at 146 Wood Street, Preston. According to Bert’s son Bob, “the clock was there from the time Dad and Mum built the house in 1950 until the day we moved after Mum died about seven years ago”.

DeaconClockPic.jpg
Deacon’s mantel clock.

In clearing the house after the death of their mother Jean, Bob and his older brother Brian resolved to share items with family friends. An old friend of Jean’s from Kerang was given the mantel clock, but recently on-sold it to a dealer in Moonee Ponds. The dealer then arranged for the clock to go under the hammer through an auctioneer in Woodend last Sunday, by which time the Deacon boys were alerted.

“You give the item away in good faith and you don’t think any more of it – and then you get an email the Friday before the sale with an image of the mantel clock in the auction room,” Bob said.

“Brian and I weren’t happy that the item had ended up in an auction house and we initially thought the clock might have been stolen until we did a bit of investigating. The auctioneer to his credit was going to withdraw the item until it was determined the clock hadn’t been stolen so I then instructed him to bid on the Deacon family’s behalf, and it’s such a relief that the item is now back with the family.”

From 1942, Bert Deacon represented the Carlton Football Club in 106 senior matches through a ten-year career interrupted by war. On January 3, 1974, he died of a heart attack in Balnarring, and at the time of his death officiated as Carlton secretary.

DeaconActionPic.jpg
The famous Bert Deacon in action for Carlton.

It’s not the first time that Bert’s prized football artefacts have been lost to the Deacons. The coveted Brownlow Medal was stolen from Jean’s purse (together with her father’s war medals) in a kitchen break-in while she was gardening out the front of the Wood Street home. None of the medals were ever recovered, and a Brownlow replica is now in the keep of Brian’s son.

Bob proudly protects the VFL certificate awarded to his father for winning the prized football trophy – and now the mantel clock.

So what will become of the item? According to Bob, it will be offered as a perpetual trophy to the winner of the Bert Deacon Golf Day tournament, which has been held at Flinders on the Wednesday between Christmas and New Year since 1950.

“If the golf day folds, the clock will again be returned to the family,” Bob said.

“But for as long as it’s in circulation, Dad will be remembered.”

Peter Smith’s 70th

 Happy 70th birthday to Peter Smith.



Career : 19681970
Debut : Round 2, 1968 vs Richmond, aged 20 years, 211 days
Carlton Player No. 803
Games : 38 (15 at Carlton)
Goals : 33 (10 at Carlton)
Guernsey No.: 37 (1968 – 1970)
Last Game : Round 17, 1970 vs Fitzroy, aged 22 years, 306 days
Height : 183 cm (6 ft. 0 in.)
Weight : 87 kg (13 stone, 10 lbs.)
DOB : 22 September 22, 1947

The son of legendary Melbourne coach Norm Smith, Peter Victor Smith was an outstanding schoolboy footballer at Melbourne Grammar School, and a disciple of the Demons’ inspirational captain, Ron Barassi. A key forward with all-round skills, he was a promising goal-kicker who made his senior debut for Melbourne at the age of 18 in 1965.

Shortly beforehand, Barassi had shocked the football world by defecting to Carlton as captain-coach, and in 1968 – after 23 games and 23 goals for Melbourne – Smith joined his former mentor at Princes Park. Playing his first senior match for his new club against Richmond in round 2 at the MCG on Anzac Day, he underwent a tough initiation when the Blues were held to just one goal for the entire match, and humiliated by 46 points. In scant consolation, Smith kicked Carlton’s only major in the third quarter.

From that point on, however, Barassi’s team clicked into gear and won 16 of their next 20 games – including two finals – to snatch the Blues’ first Premiership for 21 long seasons with a grinding Grand Final win over Essendon. Smith played 10 matches for the year, but his cause wasn’t helped by the emergence of Brian Kekovich – who held the full-forward post for most of the season and was highly effective in the finals. And a 4-week suspension for striking Collingwood’s Con Britt – incurred in round 7 – halted Smith’s progress at precisely the wrong time.

On his return to the side in round 12, Smith was sent to half-back, where it was soon obvious that he was far more suited in attack. The problem however, was the riches the Blues were accumulating when it came to options up forward. Although Kekovich’s career was prematurely ended by a back injury in 1969, Alex Jesaulenko was ready to step in, and Crosswell, Robertson, and Walls were all capable alternatives.

Smith’s career at Carlton petered out over 1969-70, as he found it increasingly difficult to force his way into one of the greatest of all Carlton teams. He wore his number 37 guernsey for the last time at senior level at Waverley Park in July 1970, when the Blues beat Fitzroy by 10 points on the way to a miraculous Grand Final triumph over Collingwood in September.

In 1971, Smith was cleared to Port Melbourne in the VFA, where he became the Borough’s first-choice full-forward, and averaged 70 goals a season in his first three years. Then in late 1973, Port Melbourne approached rivals Coburg, seeking a clearance for ex-Collingwood star Mick Erwin, who was interested in the position of captain-coach with the Borough. Eventually, a deal was done involving a straight swap of Smith for Erwin, with spectacular results for the Lions.

Coburg lost only one 2nd Division game in 1974 – to Waverley in round 4 – as Smith went on a goal-scoring spree. In the last round of the home and away season, he booted 13 goals against Mordialloc, followed by 12 in the second Semi Final against Waverley, and eight in the Grand Final against the same opponent. Coburg won the flag in a canter, on the back of Smith’s huge aggregate of 121 majors – a feat that saw him join Bob Pratt, Lance Collins and Jack Titus as the only Coburg players to kick 100 goals in a single season.

Elevated to 1st Division in 1975, Coburg showed that they were a worthy side by making the finals again, with Smith contributing another 82 goals at full-forward in his last season.

Footnotes

Peter is the most successful of all of Carlton’s eight Smiths – despite only playing 15 games in Navy Blue. The full story of the Carlton ‘Smiths’ is explained within an Blueseum exclusive article, available here.

Peter Smith is a second cousin of seventies Blues dynamo Wayne Harmes.

Career Highlights

1963 – U/19’s Best in Finals
1969 – President’s Trophy – Best Clubman
1969 – 4th Reserves Best & Fairest
1969 – Reserves Best in Finals Award
1970 – 5th Reserves Best & Fairest

John Morrison’s 70th

Happy 70th birthday to John Morrison

 



Career : 19661967
Debut : Round 17, 1966 vs Footscray, aged 18 years, 332 days
Carlton Player No. 791
Games : 5
Goals : 2
Last game : Round 12, 1967 vs Fitzroy, aged 19 years, 296 days
Guernsey No. 22 (1966 – 1967).
Height: 175 cm (5 ft. 9 in.)
Weight : 71.5 kg (11 stone, 4 lbs.)
DOB : September 22, 1947

After inheriting the number 22 guernsey from two accomplished full-forwards in ‘Turkey Tom’ Carroll and Jim ‘Frosty’ Miller, John Morrison played five matches for the Navy Blues in successive seasons at Princes Park in the mid-1960’s.

Originally from Princes Hill and then East Coburg, Morrison joined Carlton’s Under 19 squad in 1965. A determined and hard-working rover, he graduated to Reserves football in 1966, and was one of the beneficiaries of Ron Barassi’s recruitment to Carlton. Barassi was sensationally appointed as captain-coach of the Blues in 1965, and wasted little time in churning through Carlton’s playing stocks to decide for himself who did (and did not) have the ability to take the club back into finals contention.

Midway through 1966, Morrison put in a string of influential games with the seconds, and Barassi rewarded him with selection as 19th man in the senior side for the round 17 match against Footscray at the Western Oval. Although the Blues romped away with that game by 10 goals, Morrison got only a brief run in the last few minutes. It was a similar story the following week, when Carlton’s topsy-turvy season ended with a 70-point hiding at home to Geelong, and Morrison warmed the bench again.

Early in 1967, Morrison again had to press for senior selection through the Reserves. He was eventually recalled in round 10 – a corresponding trip to the Western Oval for another victory over the Bulldogs – only this time he was part of the starting line-up, and shared the roving duties with Dennis Munari.

Another impressive win over Essendon in round 11 was made sweeter when he kicked his first career goal as a roving partner to Adrian Gallagher, and the same pair combined in round 12, when Carlton accounted for Fitzroy in an absorbing contest at Princes Park.

Unfortunately for Morrison, the next weekend Terry Board was recalled to the team as second rover, and from then on Gallagher, Munari and Board were the coach’s preferred options. Despite some more good performances late in the year with the Reserves, John couldn’t force his way back into the seniors, and was delisted at season’s end.

Morrison also wore guernsey No. 37 (1966) and 45 (1963) whilst playing with Carlton reserves.