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Des English’s 60th

Happy 60th birthday to Des English.


Career : 1980 – 1987
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

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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)

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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, 1957Born 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.

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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.”

More By Tony De Bolfo, Carlton Media

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Peter Smith’s 70th

 Happy 70th birthday to Peter Smith.


Career : 1968 – 1970
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

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John Morrison’s 70th

Happy 70th birthday to John Morrison

 


Career : 1966 – 1967
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.

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Tony Zoanetti’a 65th

Happy 65th birthday to Tony Zoanetti.

—————-

Tony Zoanetti

Carlton Reserve Career: 1972-1974
Reserve Games: 63
Reserve Goals: 0
Height: 180cm (5’11”)
Weight: 80.5kg (12.9)
Guernsey No. 46 (1972 – 1974)
DOB: 1952.

Tony Zoanetti played reserve grade football for Carlton from 1972 to 1974.

Zoanetti was recruited from Heathcote.

He didn’t play a senior game for Carlton.

Career Highlights
1972 – Reserves Best First Year Player
1974 – Reserves Most Consistent
1974 – Reserves Best Clubman

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Ken and Bill remember ’47

At the recent Spirit of Carlton luncheon celebrating the 1987 premiership another reunion was also taking place. This was between Ken Hands and Bill Redmond, the only two surviving senior players from the 1947 premiership year, Ken is the last surviving player of the grand final itself. On the day of the lunch Bill arrived early with his son Phil. Unknown to Bill his son knew that Ken Hands would be attending but kept it secret from Bill as a surprise on the day.

When Ken arrived the two old pals greeted each other warmly and began to reminisce about their time together at the Blues seventy years ago. No doubt one of the shared memories was the day the 1947 premiership flag was unfurled before the second round of 1948 in a game at Princes Park against Fitzroy. Both Ken and Bill appear in the following photograph.

In 1947 both Ken and Bill were playing for the same spot in the team and it was a decision late in the season which in the end determined which of them who would play in the 1947 Grand Final. This story is explained in the following excerpt from Tony De Bolfo’s article from March 14th.

http://www.carltonfc.com.au/news/2017-03-14/bills-i-was-there-the-day-moment

Asked how close he was to getting a call-up for the 1947 Grand Final, famously won with Fred Stafford’s goal seconds before the final siren, Redmond believed he was within a whisker.

“In those days there were 19 home and home games, but prior to the 17th game, and it was recorded in the newspaper, the selectors couldn’t decide on the centre half-forward – Hands or Redmond – as Ken wasn’t playing so well at the time,” Redmond recalled.

“When I arrived at the ground for that game, (Carlton President) Ken Luke came up to me and said: ‘Look Bill, we’re nearing the finals, we’re sticking with Ken . . . ’. I actually appreciated the fact that he told me face to face.

On Grand Final day, Redmond took his place in the grandstand with teammate Ken Hopper, the best man at Redmond’s wedding, to see the Blues prevail by a point in sensational circumstances at the MCG.

The day wasn’t without its drama for Redmond, or, more to the point, his father.

“After I left early to go to the game, my father got a telegram forwarded to me by (Carlton Secretary) Harry Bell stating ‘Bring your bag to the Melbourne ground’,” Redmond said.

“My father grabbed the bag, got on his pushbike and rode from our house in Dawson Street West Brunswick to (teammate) Kenny Baxter’s  grocery in a side street off Sydney Road in East Brunswick – but the first I heard about it was when Ken Hopper and I went into the Carlton rooms after the game and I saw my bag.

“There might have been doubt on one player, and for memory Bert Deacon came off late that game, and though I never got the full story I must have been pretty close. I only wish I’d kept that telegram, but I didn’t think much about it in those days.”

 

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Player’s precious scrapbook surfaces

An 88-year-old scrapbook, once the treasured possession of the 135-game former Carlton half-back Eric Huxtable, has been loaned to the Club by a family member.

Crammed with newspaper clippings, certificates and photographs from as far back as 1929, the scrapbook chronicles Huxtable’s football journey from Hobart to Melbourne, in a 14-season career interrupted by world war.

The scrapbook found its way to Ikon Park through The Carltonians’ former vice-president John Redmond, a neighbour of Huxtable’s daughter-in-law. Pages of the scrapbook have since been digitised and are now safely stored in the football club’s ever-expanding electronic archive.

ScrapbookFrontCover.jpg
The front cover of Huxtable’s scrapbook. 

One of the first footballers lured to Victoria from across Bass Strait, Huxtable’s football origins can be sourced to Hobart’s St Virgil’s College. At 15, he wore the green and gold of Tasmanian Football League club New Town at senior level and from the outset raised the eyebrows of the good judges – most notably Dan Minogue, who had coached Huxtable at Newtown in ’28.

Appointed Carlton coach the following year, Minogue arranged for the player’s transfer to Princes Park on the eve of the 1930 season and in the sixth-round match against Fitzroy at Princes Park, Huxtable donned the dark navy blue guernsey for the first time.

Through the 1930s Huxtable built on his handsome reputation as the mainstay of his team’s back six, whether Carlton or Victorian. He was amongst Carlton’s best in its narrow Grand Final loss to Richmond in 1932, and after a particularly stirring showing for the Big V, he was dubbed ‘Untouchable Huxtable’ by a South Australian scribe reporting the contest.

ScrapbookPage29.jpg
A clipping of a 1932 Grand Final report features on page 29 of Huxtable’s scrapbook. 

Rated by a journalist reporting for The Sun as “the most dashing half-back flanker in the game”, Huxtable was also named by the legendary Haydn Bunton snr. as amongst the top-10 players of the day in season ’36.

In April of that year, Huxtable sustained severe concussion when a car in which he was travelling and a motor lorry riven by Bill Ralston, the Coburg follower and Melbourne recruit, collided.

The Sun reported that following the accident, Ralston, who was unhurt, hot-footed it to the Carlton players’ room at Princes Park seeking help for Huxtable.

Affixed with sticky tape to one of the scrapbook’s yellowing pages is a 1938 VFL medallion awarded to those players who led the Blues’ drought-breaking Grand Final victory over Collingwood under captain-coach Brighton Diggins’ watch.

ScrapbookPage60.jpg
Included on page 60 is a 1938 VFL premiership medallion.

Cruelly, a broken thumb sustained through the ’38 home and aways severely impacted on Huxtable’s on-field fortunes in the run-home and ultimately deprived him of his place in Carlton’s first premiership team in 23 years. After aggravating the injury in the semi-final against Geelong – his last game for the Club – he was left to sit in the stands and watch on as his mates did the noble deed on that last Saturday in September.

But such was Huxtable’s standing at Princes Park that a premiership medal was cast for him – just a few months after he earned Carlton Life Membership.

Cleared to Yarram in 1939, Huxtable put his VFL nous to good use, captaining and coaching the Gippsland League team to a thrilling one-point win over Maffra in the grand final.

But he had little time to celebrate, for when the league disbanded due to the onset of world war the following year, Huxtable took up duties as captain-coach of Dimboola. Dimboola advanced to the 1940 Grand Final, but the outfit finished seven points adrift of Stawell.

Huxtable then enlisted with the RAAF, but while awaiting his call-up accepted an offer from his former Carlton teammate Joe Kelly, the newly-appointed South Melbourne coach.

At 33 years of age, Huxtable gave South valuable service in 22 matches through 1941 and ’42 – and a South team photo featuring Huxtable and the likes of Herbie Matthews, Jack Graham, ‘Gentleman’ Jim Cleary and ‘Basher’ Williams can be found in the scrapbook.

To round out his meritorious on-field career, Huxtable captained the RAAF Laverton team to the Southern States Premiership in 1942. Laverton won the contest 10.18 to No. TG’s 6.15, with VFL stars like Bob Green, Alby Pannam, Ron Todd and Jack Regan chasing the leather in the Grand Final held at Victoria Park – and a team photograph can be found in the old scrapbook.

A father to two boys and four girls raised with his wife Gwynneth whom he married in 1935, Huxtable’s sons Neil and Gary (Ross’s father) were recruited to Carlton under the father/son rule in 1953 and ’57 respectively, although neither managed a senior appearance.

Eric Huxtable died in Melton at the age of 81 in 1990. He is remembered by all his loved ones, who these days follow the fortunes of the old No.9 through its current keeper Patrick Cripps – when they’re not flicking the yellowing pages of a precious scrapbook.

ScrapbookPage30.jpg

ScrapbookPage31.jpg

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2017 AFL Medalist Luncheon

AFL COMBINED PAST PLAYERS & OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION 2017 AFL MEDALISTS LUNCHEON

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2017
12pm – 2:30pm
PARK HYATT MELBOURNE
1 PARLIAMENT SQ MELBOURNE, VICTORIA
PANELISTS INCLUDE BROWNLOW, COLEMAN AND NORM SMITH MEDALISTS
MC: KEVIN BARTLETT
$135 PER AFL CLUB PAST PLAYER, OFFICIAL OR GUEST;
EIGHT PEOPLE PER TABLE IS $1080
DRESS CODE: MEN – BUSINESS ATTIRE
LADIES – APPROPRIATE
RSVP BEFORE SEPTEMBER 14, 2017 BY
EMAILING BOOKING FORM TO
howardstaehr@gmail.com

DOWNLOAD BOOKING FORM BY CLICKING HERE

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Footy card mystery solved?

THE identity of the mystery Carlton footballer featured on what’s believed to be the great Australian game’s oldest footy card may have finally been solved.

Standing arms folded in front of a mock bushland backdrop, the player – sporting dark navy top and knickerbockers, blue and white hooped socks and high-cut boots – appears on a hand-coloured card released by local photographers Paterson Brothers, which occupied a premises at 68 Lygon Street from 1887-1891.

The card was part of a lot that went under the hammer at Leonard Joel auction house in 2010 and acquired for $1000 by Carlton supporter Simon Davis.

FootyCardMysteryPic.jpg
A photo of what is believed to be the great Australia game’s oldest footy card. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

But the card, or ‘carte-de-visite’ to be more specific, has continued to raise more questions than answers.

“I’d really like to know who the player is and a little bit about his history,” Davis told this reporter back in 2012. “He’s clearly a Carlton player, he’s clearly in the Carlton uniform and the image can be sourced to between 1887 and 1891.”

Enter Pete McLean, a passionate Carlton researcher and regular contributor to The Blueseum website. McLean, a keen student of 19th century club history, believes he has identified the mystery man as Joe Rickards – one of three Rickards brothers to have represented Carlton. Joe is known to have chased the leather for the team between 1884 and ’86, which would suggest that the carte-de-visite could be older than initially thought.

FootyCardAug22Pic
Joe Rickards, 1884 (left). Could he be the Carlton player featured in the game’s oldest footy card (left)?

McLean came to the conclusion comparing the mystery man on the carte-de-visite with an image of Rickards photographed in Carlton’s touring party to Adelaide via the S.S. Adelaide in June 1884. The tourists took on South Adelaide, Adelaide Juniors, Norwood and Port Adelaide through nine days from June 21.

As McLean explained: “Last Sunday morning, I was sitting around r-reading the article about the unnamed Carlton player on the footy card and again thought about cross-referencing”.

“The thought did cross my mind as to whether the bloke in the card might be in the 1884 pic and lo and behold I saw Joe Rickards’ face. I said to my wife ‘Do you reckon he looks familiar?’ and she said ‘absolutely’.”

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Carlton’s touring party to Adelaide, June 1884. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

Though the mutton-chopped player featured in the carte-de-visite appears to be younger and leaner than the 1884 Rickards model, there are potent facial similarities.

Previously, the oldest known Carlton footy card featured Tommy Leydin, the club’s captain from 1887-1889. That card was published by the American firm Goodwin and Co., manufacturers of Old Judge cigarettes.

After the card was acquired by Davis, Melbourne card collector Damien Green conducted his own due diligence, but found the process a difficult one.

“I’ve searched for a means of classifying this card and it appears to come under the classification of ‘carte-de-visite’,” Green said at the time.

“A carte-de-visite is, in reality, a studio photo pasted onto a backing card that advertises the studio that produced them. I’m trying to get some more advice on whether it qualifies as a footy card, but I would think not at this point as these items were crafted for personal use rather than those specifically produced as a set then made available to the public.”

Regardless, the carte-de-visite in Davis’ collection is no less valuable according to Green, particularly if the subject featured is a Carlton footballer, quite possibly Rickards.

“If it’s a Carlton footballer it may be worth thousands of dollars because photographs of that period fade and this one appears to be in great condition,” Green said.

It is a fantastic piece of ephemera from an era where not too much photographic material has survived, especially the colourised variety.”

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Bernie Evans’ 60th

Happy 60th birthday to Bernie Evans.

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Career : 1986 – 1988
Debut : Round 1, 1986 vs Hawthorn, aged 28 years, 223 days
Carlton Player No. 933
Games : 185 (37 at Carlton)
Goals : 257 (45 at Carlton)
Last Game : Semi Final, 1988 vs Hawthorn, aged 31 years, 12 days
Guernsey No. 15
Height : 175 cm (5 ft. 9 in.)
Weight : 73 kg (11 stone, 7 lbs.)
DOB : 20 August, 1957

In the wake of Carlton’s loss to North Melbourne in the 1985 Elimination Final – the Navy Blues’ fourth successive finals defeat since 1982 – the club embarked on a determined recruiting drive that brought a number of high-profile recruits to Princes Park. One of the prized signings was former Sydney Swans Best and Fairest Bernie Evans, who was to be desperately unlucky not to play in the 1987 Premiership team.

A talented rover and a dangerous forward pocket, Evans had grown up in the South Melbourne area and won a VFA Premiership with Port Melbourne while still a teenager. In 1978 he was recruited by the Swans, and over the next eight seasons – during which the South Melbourne Football Club was transplanted to Sydney – Bernie remained one of the Southerners’ most consistent and popular players.

In 1981, after a somewhat bitter separation, the South Melbourne Football Club became the Sydney Swans. At first, the club was happy for Evans to live and train in Melbourne, where he was intent on maintaining his full-time job as a clerk on the Port Melbourne wharves. Each fortnight, Bernie flew to the Harbour City for home games, and the arrangement seemed to work well – especially when he won the Swans’ Best and Fairest in 1984, and started the following season in sensational fashion by kicking nine goals in the opening round against St Kilda.

However, when Tom Hafey was appointed senior coach of the Swans after their dismal season in 1985, he decreed that all of his players had to live and train together in Sydney. By coincidence, Evans had insisted on including a number of conditions in his contract – including the right to stay at home in Melbourne – and when he and the Swans hierarchy could not reach agreement, the news soon spread. Carlton was only one of a number of Melbourne-based clubs that offered Bernie a new home, before he eventually agreed to join his former Swans team-mate David Rhys-Jones at Princes Park.

By early the following year, Carlton’s recruiting net had captured the likes of Stephen Kernahan, Craig Bradley, Peter Motley, Jon Dorotich and Evans among others. Some of the Blues’ mainstays of the early eighties – players like Ashman, Sheldon, Buckley and Marcou – were too often suffering from poor form and injuries, so Evans was seen as a welcome injection of experience and hunger to perform in finals. Allocated guernsey number 15 (previously worn by another high-profile import in Val Perovic), Bernie enjoyed a solid pre-season and played his first game for his new club in the opening round of 1986 against Hawthorn at VFL Park, Waverley. The Hawks never let Carlton into the match and won by six goals that afternoon, with the defeat made even more costly when Evans and Mil Hanna both suffered long-term injuries. Hanna wrecked a knee in the first minute of the game, while Evans finished the match with a broken thumb that cost him nine weeks on the sidelines.

When he eventually returned to Carlton’s senior team in round 10, Bernie celebrated his 150th career game in emphatic fashion when the confident Blues destroyed Melbourne by a mammoth 116 points at the MCG. Three weeks later he starred by kicking five goals in a big victory over Richmond at Waverley, and in early September his switch of clubs paid off when he experienced the joy of victory in his first-ever final when the Blues beat Sydney in a Qualifying Final at the MCG.

Evans’ five-goal haul on the following weekend against Hawthorn in the second Semi Final helped propel the Blues into Premiership favouritism, but the Hawks shocked the competition and knocked over their cocky rivals by seven goals on Grand Final day to snatch the flag. The Blues were beaten by Hawthorn’s cohesion, and brushed aside by their aggression. Like all but a few of his team-mates, Bernie had a disastrous match and was hardly sighted.

However, once the raw emotion of that defeat had subsided, the determination to atone was a powerful motivation for everyone at Carlton. The Blues dominated the 1987 season to finish four points clear of Hawthorn on top of the ladder after the home and away rounds, and in a carbon copy of the previous year, met Hawthorn in the second Semi Final. The Blues won again, but to the dismay of Evans and the club, he was reported by a field umpire for striking Hawthorn ruckman Greg Dear.

“It was only a glancing blow,” Evans later recalled. “And Dear even told the Tribunal that he milked the situation to get a free kick. Missing out on playing in a Premiership side was a real kick in the guts.” Indeed, Bernie’s devastation on Grand Final day can only be imagined, as he watched the Blues destroy the Hawks by 33 points. The club rallied around Evans and ensured that he was included in all the celebrations, but the emptiness of that missed opportunity never really subsided.

Although Bernie played on into 1988, he found it hard to reach peak form until the latter part of the season. Even so, when the Blues made the finals for the eleventh year in a row, Evans was recalled to experience the thrill of finals football once again in a big Qualifying Final win over Collingwood. His last game came the following week in yet another Semi Final loss to Hawthorn, and his career ended on a positive note when he was voted Reserves Best and Fairest.

After leaving Princes Park, Bernie’s only later involvement in football was as an assistant to Tom Alvin when his former Carlton teammate coached VFA (now VFL) club Sandringham for a couple of seasons. Later, he ran a contract cleaning business and was a partner in the Cricketers’ Arms Hotel in his old stamping ground in Port Melbourne.

Milestones

150 VFL Games : Round 10, 1986 vs Melbourne

Career Highlights

1988 – Reserves Best & Fairest

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Aaron Hamill’s 40th

Happy 40th birthday to Aaron Hamill.

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Career : 1996 – 2000
Debut : Round 15, 1996 vs Adelaide, aged 18 years, 327 days
Carlton Player No. 1010
Games : 92
Goals : 114
Last Game : Preliminary Final, 2000 vs Essendon, aged 23 years, 6 days
Guernsey Nos. 36 (1996-99) and 4 (2000)
Height : 184 cm (6 ft. 1 in.)
Weight : 87 kg (13 stone, 10 lbs.)
DOB : 20 August, 1977

Even now, many years after he played his last game for Carlton at the age of 23, the dismay and anger at Aaron Hamill’s defection to St Kilda in 2001 still lingers at Princes Park. Whatever the real cause of his departure – variously reported as either a clash with club President John Elliott, the lure of a huge contract at St Kilda, or a combination of both – Blues’ supporters of that time still feel let down by Hamill’s decision. Especially in light of the effort the club put into his early development, the measures taken to enable him to play in the 1999 Grand Final, and his claim of being a staunch Blues supporter from his school days!

Growing up in Canberra, Hamill was a late bloomer who had been an outstanding junior basketball and rugby player, before he was taken under the wing of former St Kilda Premiership player Kevin ‘Cowboy’ Neale at Tuggeranong. Carlton recruited the strongly-built youngster with pick 79 in the 1994 National Draft, and nurtured him for the best part of two seasons before he was given an opportunity a senior level – playing in defence initially, and taking part in his first final series that same year.

When Carlton’s key forwards in the 1995 Premiership team, Stephen Kernahan and Earl Spalding, retired two seasons later, the club found their successors in Lance Whitnall and Aaron Hamill. Much like Spalding, Hamill evolved into a hard-hitting, pack-busting team player who ran and tackled hard to lock the ball into the forward half, while still being capable of big pack marks and long, generally accurate kicks for goal. He and Whitnall both showed glimpses of what was to come when the Blues demolished Geelong to win the 1997 Pre-Season Premiership, and Carlton supporters hailed them both.

By 1999 Hamill was firmly established at Carlton, and enhanced his reputation with a dominant display in our big Semi Final win over West Coast. A week later, the underdog Blues enjoyed one of our all-time great victories when we knocked over hot favourites Essendon in a cracker ’99 Preliminary Final – but at a cost. Hamill was reported for unduly rough play for using a knee against Essendon’s Dean Wallis, and outed for two matches by the AFL tribunal.

However, because he was such a vital part of Carlton’s game plan for the Grand Final clash with North Melbourne, the Blues appealed against Hamill’s suspension, and went to extraordinary lengths to argue the case. An expert in bio-mechanics was taken to the appeal hearing, along with the best advocate the club could find – and it worked. The suspension was quashed, Hamill thanked the club ‘for coming up with such a good story,’ and took his place in the Grand Final team. Sadly, it was all to no avail, and the Roos won the flag by 35 points.

A year later, after Hamill switched from guernsey number 36 to the iconic number 4 previously worn by ‘Sticks’ Kernahan, Carlton seemed back on track for a coveted 17th flag when we smashed Brisbane by a whopping 82 points in a Semi Final at the MCG. Hamill was unstoppable that afternoon, tearing holes in the Lions defence at will, and booting seven goals, while a young Brendan Fevola came off the interchange bench to slot four. But a serious hamstring tear suffered by Carlton’s champion full-back Stephen Silvagni damped down any celebrations, and Essendon went on to win the flag after tipping the weakened Blues out of contention in the Preliminary Final.

Although it wasn’t known for some weeks, that game brought the curtain down on Hamill’s career at Carlton. Amid whispers of a massive offer put to him by the Saints, Aaron alleged that Carlton President John Elliott insulted him at a post-season function, and so requested a release to St Kilda. The stunned Blues tried to mediate a compromise, but Hamill would not be swayed. He threatened to nominate for the pre-season draft if he wasn’t cleared by Carlton, and for a while things got quite messy.

Eventually, faced with the proposition of losing one of the stars of the game and getting nothing in return, Carlton agreed to a trade Hamill to St Kilda in return for pick 4 in the 2000 National Draft (used to select Luke Livingston) as well as fringe player Sam Cranage. The proceeds from that deal were disappointing for Carlton (between them, Livingstone and Cranage managed only 56 senior games) but if the contract offered to Hamill by the Saints was even close to what was claimed, St Kilda didn’t get their money’s worth, either.

Although he went on to play 98 times for the Saints, and captained the club under their quirky rotational system in 2003, Hamill’s best football was behind him by 2004. He missed all of 2007 through injury, and St Kilda’s best finish to a season while he was on their list was third in 2004.

Oh well…at least he had the courtesy to thank both clubs when he retired for good in 2007.

His departure to the Saints (for any number of reasons ranging from financial security to poor negotiation) left Carlton without a weapon capable of disguising age and allowing for one last shot at a Premiership prior to ageing bodies (Kernahan/Williams and co) retiring. With his reckless ‘hit’ on the football Aaron allowed for ‘smalls’ to crumb and ‘talls’ to find space. His intangible skills were however nearly lost to AFL football in general due to recurring hand injuries and a lack of self belief. Wayne Brittain is responsible for convincing Carlton to wait on his development.

Milestones

50 Games: Round 8, 1999 vs Port Adelaide
100 Goals: Round 17, 2000 vs Hawthorn

Career Highlights

1996 – Past Players’ Association Encouragement Award
1996 – 3rd Reserves Best & Fairest
1997 – Pre-Season Premiership Player
1997 – State of Origin representative (ACT/ The Allies)
2000 – 7th Best & Fairest