By Tony De Bolfo

“Ansell” Clarke’s handwritten notes. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

Tony De Bolfo

Adam White interviews Andrew Carrazzo during the filming of Carlton’s Virgin Australia Film Festival entry. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

Tony De Bolfo

Bob Chitty’s “Bloodbath” team of 1945 carries the sort of air one might associate with Don Bradman’s “Invincibles” of ’48.

And with Doug Williams’ passing, yet another combatant in Carlton’s most infamous Grand Final is gone . . .

. . . and then there were two.

Williams, who died in Inverloch on Monday at the age of 91, turned out on a wing on Grand Final day 1945, winning and wearing them against South Melbourne at Princes Park.

Today, only Alex Way and Ken Hands live to tell the tale – and even then, Hands’ memory is somewhat clouded, courtesy a “Basher” Williams forearm delivered with stunning ferocity in the second quarter.

Williams (Doug that is) again found himself on a wing just two years later, when Fred Stafford’s trusty left boot sunk Essendon in the dying seconds of the ’47 Grand Final on the MCG – and only Hands and Allan Greenshields survive that one.

Greenshields said today that with Williams’ passing “it’s a shame that the ranks are dwindling . . . but I’m happy to say I’m still here. I’ve passed 88 and I’m okay”.

“It’s a long time ago, but Doug was a very honest player,” Greenshields said.

“He gave you 100 per cent worth each time and he had a beautiful style about him. He was a stylist.

“Doug was a very reliable player. He played on the centre wing and he always played a good solid game. He was a lovely man.”

Though he would be part of Carlton’s losing Grand Final outfit of 1949, the ’45 and ’47 Premierships truly crowned Williams’ 120-game career.

Recruited to Carlton from Yallourn, Williams was blessed with pace and agility, and was strong overhead.

He got his first senior call-up for the away match against Footscray – Round 11, 1944 – on a day in which Chitty was reported for assault (shock horror) but later acquitted.

The following season, a dream season in which the team scrimped and scraped its way into the finals series, Williams weathered the physicality of finals contests against both North and Collingwood, and earned South’s Billy King as his opponent on Grand Final day.

King later acknowledged his opponent for steering him clear of the rough stuff, on an afternoon in which no fewer than nine players were reported on a total of 15 charges.

Williams’ performance graph hit an upward curve with Ern Henfry’s investiture  as Carlton captain, and the team successes of ’47 soon followed.

Beyond the ’49 Grand Final loss, Carlton’s performances plateaued, and in July 1951, after the 12th round match against Hawthorn at Glenferrie, Williams bid senior League football a Blue adieu.

Appointed Captain-Coach of Tasmanian club North Launceston in ’52, Williams commandeered the Robins to the NTFA finals at his first attempt.

But home is where the heart is, and in the following year he and his wife Margaret returned to the Latrobe Valley. There, Doug rounded out a long and memorable career with one last season for Morwell, which took in a Premiership and club Best and Fairest.

Doug is survived by his wife Margaret, children Greg, Sue and Lisa, sons-in-law Ben and Mark, eight grandchildren and one great grandchild.

The Carlton footballers will wear black armbands as a mark of respect to the late Doug Williams in Friday night’s match with Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.

Tony De Bolfo

Keith Mills, a former Assistant Secretary of the Carlton Football Club and an identifier of football talent of the calibre of Jim Buckley and Ken Sheldon, has died after a short illness. He was 77.

Mills was appointed to the position of Assistant Secretary just over 40 years ago, in April 1974, on the resignation of Greg Matthews. At the time, Allen Cowie had just replaced Bert Deacon as Secretary (CEO), Deacon having suddenly died at the age of 51.

At the time of his appointment, Mills had previously served as Honorary Secretary of the Northern District Football League and, as was recorded in Carlton’s annual report of that year, “his (Mills’) experience has proved most beneficial to the club”.

Mills served as Secretary on the club’s Recruiting Sub-Committee, which was chaired by Wally Taylor and included the dual Carlton Premiership Coach Perc Bentley, together with former players Newton Chandler and “Ansell” Clarke as field officers.

Under their watch, the likes of Buckley and Sheldon (each destined to represent Carlton in three Grand Final victories) were amongst those recruited from the fertile Bendigo League in 1975, with Des English and Peter McConville (dual and triple Premiership players respectively) later joining the club on their recommendations.

Buckley recalled briefly staying at Mills’ house in Rosanna after making the move to the big smoke from Kyneton almost 40 years ago.

“Keith was like a father to me,” Buckley said. “He was one of the great recruiters of Carlton and a real gentleman. He was a superstar bloke and a true Blue, and my deepest sympathies go out to his family.”

This photograph, kindly supplied by Heath Mills, features his father to the right of Sheldon, Jim Canfield and Buckley not long after the players’ recruitment to the club. The photo carries Buckley’s signature and the accompanying message “Bulldog, thanks for everything”.

Mills also sourced talent closer to home – and there’s a famous (or rather infamous) account of him and fellow Carlton talentspotter Arthur Moxon heading 17 kilometres north to Thomastown in search of a likely kid called Alex Marcou.

The story goes that Alex’ late father Arthur, then working in a local fish and chip shop, became rather annoyed with the recruiters’ persistence – so much so that he pointed a fileting knife at the pair with the none-too-subtle suggestion that they both back off his boy.

Marcou himself couldn’t verify that part of the story, but said of his father “I wouldn’t have put it past him”.

“I know that Newton Chandler had been out to have a look at me, then Arthur Moxon and Keith Mills, and that Dad was pissing off Arthur and Keith” Marcou said.

“In the end, Chris Pavlou came to the door, started talking to Dad in Greek, and the old man said ‘Come in’.”

Marcou would later represent Carlton in three Premierships – the first of them in ’79 – and it was in the MCG winner’s circle after that one that all was forgiven and Mills found himself on the end of a hearty Arthur Marcou hug.

Mills’ role at Carlton changed in April 1976 when Cowie suddenly died in office. On Cowie’s passing, Keith McKenzie was duly appointed Carlton Secretary, with David Allen named Assistant and Mills Promotions Officer (a position later filled by Shane O’Sullivan). Mills’ brief was to arrange for senior players and officials to conduct football clinics – from Panton Hill to Heathcote and everywhere in between – with more than 250 clinics held on an annual basis through the 1970s.

An amusing tale told by Heath relates to a road trip to a clinic in Wycheproof, where the Mills family vehicle led a five-car convoy of Carlton players.

“We were on the way to the clinic with the players following and my Mum told Dad to stop the car because she’d just spotted a white kangaroo,” Mills said.

“We all laughed, but Mum was certain it was a white roo, so Dad completed a U-turn and so did the five other cars . . . and when we got to the spot we saw a sheep standing there looking at us.

“The players couldn’t believe what had happened and Mum never lived it down.”

The long-serving former Carlton Property Steward and Transport Officer Ken Kleiman remembered Mills (whose nickname was later inherited by the property steward Wayne “Bulldog” Gilbert) as a well-liked club person.

“Keith was a good Carlton supporter, he used to help other people out. I had no worries with him,” Kleiman said.

“He had a big hand in all those blokes out of Bendigo. He got a lot of good players for Carlton, he did a good job in that respect.”

In the years after completing official duties for Carlton, Mills committed to the cause of Amateur football outfit Banyule, which last year rewarded him with Life Membership.

In a recent final gesture, Mills returned to Visy Park to hand over a gavel last wielded by the then Carlton President Lew Holmes to call committeemen to order back in ’64.

Mills, whose wife Lorraine pre-deceased him, is survived by his children Tharren, Peta and Heath, their respective spouses and six grandchildren.

A service to celebrate the life of Keith Mills will be held in the Diamond Valley Baptist Church, 309 Diamond Creek Road, Plenty on Friday, commencing 11.00am.

By Tony De Bolfo

Brian Buckley, the 116-game Carlton ruckman from 1956-65, and father to the Blues’ former players Stephen and Mark, has died on the eve of his 79^th birthday.

Buckley, whose father Jack also represented Fitzroy in five senior matches through 1929, formed part of a formidable following division which included John Nicholls, Ken Greenwood, Maurie Sankey, Sergio Silvagni and Graham Donaldson. The six men were famously photographed completing their run-throughs shoulder to shoulder at a Princes Park training session in 1960.

Forging his reputation in the No.4 worn by Stephen Kernahan and (now) Bryce Gibbs, Buckley made his mark as a strong-marking tap ruckman who was equally effective either as a fill-in full-back or as a close-checking back pocket on the opposition’s resting big man.

Recruited to Carlton from Coburg as a junior on the recommendation of George Armstrong, Buckley first plied his craft with Carlton’s Under 19 outfit in the days of Dick Pratt, and savoured Premiership success with the thirds in 1951.

Fifty-eight years ago this week, having completed what was a long football apprenticeship, Buckley finally got his first senior call-up. It happened in Round 16, 1956, against Collingwood at Victoria Park of all places, on the day after his 21^st birthday.

Carlton won.

Buckley would be part of the fold for what would be a lean period in Carlton history. His only senior appearances came in the 1957 semi-final against Hawthorn (he was 19^th man) and the ’62 finals series, with injury costing him his place in the Grand Final of that year.

As fate would have it, Ron Barassi, with whom Buckley had once schooled at Preston Tech, would be his Senior Coach in his final year at Carlton.

A training session at Princes Park, 1960 – from left to right: John Nicholls, Ken Greenwood, Maurie Sankey, Sergio Silvagni, Graham Donaldson and Brian Buckley. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

Buckley’s final senior appearance in a dark Navy Blue guernsey came against Essendon in Round 18, 1965 at Princes Park, in what was also Berkley Cox’s last hurrah. Fittingly, the team took out the match by nine points over an opposition which would ultimately land the ’65 pennant.

“Dad held his connection with the football club dearly. Like so many players to come through the system before or since, football gave him opportunity and taught him how to conduct himself,” Buckley’s son Stephen said this week.

Those valuable lessons learnt proved invaluable to Buckley at Port Melbourne (where he captained and coached the Borough to victory in the 1966 Grand Final) and later back at Princes Park where he assisted Bryan Quirk as coach of Carlton’s all-conquering Premiership teams of 1978 and ’79 – the latter of which his youngest son Mark was part.

“Dad was very good with the young kids, because in those days kids from in and around the area, from the Lygon Street flats and what have you, would gravitate to Carlton. He valued how those kids would feel in trying to play, he understood what they were about and he got the best out of them,” Buckley said.

“He was also actively involved with the Carlton past players. He was great friends with Ken Hands, his old coach and Chris Pavlou, who was coach of Carlton when I was playing Under 19s and he liked to walk around in his Carlton blazer because everyone knew him.”

Buckley was equally supportive of his two sons as they embarked on their Carlton senior careers – Stephen in six matches through 1980; Mark in 27 matches through four seasons from 1982.

Stephen Buckley with Bryce Gibbs in front of the No.4 locker. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

But he never imposed his will on the boys.

“Dad was as proud as punch (Mum even moreso) in seeing Mark and I out there, but he never came down on us saying ‘you’ve got to do this, this and this’. I’ll be honest with you, if neither of us played League footy he wouldn’t have given a toss,” Stephen said.

“In saying that, if he felt that we were doing something he thought was detrimental to our game, he’d tell us. For instance, I was more a ground level type of player but he knew I could take a mark, so he’d say to me ‘Why aren’t you going for your marks when the opportunity presents?’, because he came from an era where you did that.

“He also used to say to me that when you get the football, go the burst for ten metres to give yourself the space, and keep your hands up because if you do get tackled you can give it off.”

Stephen said that his father maintained a healthy interest in the Carlton team’s fortunes in his later years.

What did Carlton mean to him?

“In a nutshell, he knew that by playing for Carlton the people out there, those in this great football community, recognised him because they put him on a pedestal,” Buckley said.

“But he also put back into this football club – and he was playing at a time when players were getting bugger all.”

Brian Buckley died after a long illness. He is survived by his beloved wife of 56 years Beverley, children Stephen, Sharyn and Mark, their respective spouses and eight grandchildren.

The Carlton players will wear black armbands as a mark of respect when they take to the field for Saturday match with Gold Coast at Etihad Stadium, at which members of the Buckley family will attend.

By Tony De Bolfo

Alf Egan is credited as being the first indigenous player to play for Carlton. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

In the lead-up to Friday night’s match at Etihad Stadium, thoughts turn to the little known life of a man who in so many ways blazed a trail for both the Carlton and North Melbourne Football Clubs more than 80 years ago.

Before Syd Jackson and Cyril Mann, before Barry Cable and the brothers Krakouer, came Alf Egan – Alfred George Egan – the first known Indigenous footballer to have represented both clubs at senior League level.

Born on April 3, 1910, Egan hailed from the tiny town of Myamyn in Victoria’s south west. Little is known of his early childhood, although the following article (entitled LAKE CONDA ABORIGINES – only three Pioneers remain), which appeared in the local Portland Guardian of February 8, 1943, offers a little insight into Alf and his bloodline.

The article, which laments the dilapidated state of the local Aboriginal station, acknowledges the enduring presence of the Indigenous elders James Lovett, Mrs HC Connolly (a daughter of the king of the district’s tribe “King Billy”) and Alf McDonald – the latter one of Alf Egan’s forefathers.

The article reads in part;

Mrs Lovett has (illegible) grandchildren and 20 great grandchildren. She was born at Condah about 85 years ago and (illegible) under an operation when she was over 80 years of age, this being the first time she was attended by a doctor. She was walking around the sports ground quite smart for her age. She has three great-grandsons in the AIF.

Her brother, Alf McDonald, is 83 years of age . . . He was well-known for his ability in breaking in horses and also stock riding. He was a boundary rider for Mr. Cope , and also for Mr. Fred Co..Drayton for a number of years and also for Mr. T. H. Laidlaw and Selwyn Stewart. He was (illegible) Ettrick and reared a family of seven, and has quite a number of grandchildren. One known as Alf Egan played football with well-known Wanderers team, later with Carlton and North Melbourne.

Listed as Carlton’s 478^th senior player since 1897, Egan completed his senior debut at Princes Park against Essendon in the third round of 1931. Named on a half-forward flank alongside another first-gamer Bernie O’Brien, Egan would boot a goal in the first of his 36 games for the Blues through the course of three seasons as a ruckman/forward.

Egan was part of Carlton’s Senior XVIII which took to the field against Richmond in the play-off for the 1932 premiership pennant. He was named at centre half-forward after Jack Green was ruled out with an injury sustained against Collingwood in the previous week’s preliminary final, on a day in which Harry “Soapy” Vallence booted a lazy 11.

Regrettably, the Tigers took out the match with two time-on goals in the final quarter, but Egan earned plaudits for a stoic showing on the game’s biggest stage.

For whatever reason, Alf’s tenure at Princes Park ended with Carlton’s loss to Geelong in the first semi-final of 1933. At just 23, he saw fit to follow his football dream at North Melbourne, but by the end of ’35 and after just 15 senior appearances his League career was at an end.

Little is known of Egan’s life away from the game. It is known that in the mid-1950s he married May Cabner in Richmond and that she bore him a son, John.

Sadly, heart disease would claim Egan’s life at just 51. According to the death certificate, his occupation was listed as ‘labourer’ and he was of no fixed address, so presumably he was estranged from his family.

Egan was cremated by order of the Coroner without an inquest. His cremated remains were placed in Church of England, Compartment C, Section 14, Grave 40 at Springvale Botanical Cemetery, the service having been conducted on January 26, 1962.

Since Egan first ran out on that second Saturday in May of ’31, 13 Indigenous footballers have followed at Carlton – in order of senior debut, Cyril Mann, Syd Jackson, Rod Waddell, Mark Naley, Sean Charles, Troy Bond, Justin Murphy, Cory McGrath, Andrew Walker, Eddie Betts, Joe Anderson, Jeff Garlett and Chris Yarran.

At North there are 22 – Percy Johnson, Bertie Johnson, Allan Bloomfield, Barry Cable, Craig Holden, Phil Krakouer, Jim Krakouer, Derek Kickett, Andrew Krakouer, Adrian McAdam, Warren Campbell, Byron Pickett, Winston Abraham, Gary Dhurrkay, Shannon Motlop, Daniel Motlop, Eddie Sansbury, Djaran Whyman, Matt Campbell, Cruize Garlett, Daniel Wells and Lindsay Thomas.

Alf Egan
April 3, 1910 – January 1962

478th Carlton player
Guernsey no. 27
36 games, 20 goals 1931-’33
Senior debut: Round 3, 1931 v Essendon, aged 21 years, 43 days
Last game: Semi Final, 1933 v Geelong, aged 23 years, 159 days

Cyril Mann
April 31, 1918 – March 3, 1964

548th Carlton player
Guernsey no. 25 (1939), 27 (1940-’45) and 34 (1942)
42 games, 65 goals 1939-’42
Senior debut: Round 4, 1939 vs Footscray, aged 20 years, 255 days
Last game: Round 3, 1945 vs Essendon, aged 26 years, 247 days

Syd Jackson
July 1, 1944 –

808th Carlton player
Guernsey no.5
136 games, 165 goals 1969-’76
Senior debut: Round 1, 1969 vs St Kilda, aged 24 years 278 days
Last game: Preliminary Final, 1976 vs North Melbourne, aged 32 years 79 days
Premiership Player 1970, 1972
Carlton Hall of Fame 2006

Rod Waddell
May 23, 1957 –

898th Carlton player
Guernsey no.10
Five games, two goals 1981-’82
Senior debut : Round 18, 1981 vs Geelong, aged 23 years, 70 days
Last game : Round 8, 1982 vs Footscray, aged 24 years, 357 days

Mark Naley
March 11, 1961 –

940th Carlton player
Guernsey no.17
65 games, 74 goals 1987-’90
Senior debut: Round 1, 1987 vs Hawthorn, aged 26 years, 16 days
Last game: Round 21, 1990 vs Hawthorn, aged 29 years, 166 days
Premiership player 1987

Troy Bond
July 14, 1973 –

992nd Carlton player
Guernsey no.8
36 games, 26 goals 1994-’95
Senior debut: Round 1, 1994 v Adelaide, aged 20 years, 256 days
Last game: Preliminary Final, 1995 v North Melbourne, aged 22 years, 71 days
AFL Rising Star Nominee: Round 18, 1994

Justin Murphy
April 24, 1976 –

1007th Carlton player
Guernsey no.18
115 games, 105 goals 1996-2000 & 2000-’03
Senior debut: Round 1, 1996 vs Collingwood, aged 19 years, 342 days
Last game: Round 19, 2003 v Port Adelaide, aged 27 years, 108 days

Sean Charles
May 18, 1975 –

1022nd Carlton player
Guernsey no.10
One game, 0 goals 1998
Round 1, 1998 v Adelaide, aged 23 years, 314 days

Andrew Walker
May 18, 1986 –

1079th Carlton player
Guernsey no.1
179 games*, 118 goals* 2004 –
Senior debut: Round 5, 2004 vs West Coast, aged 17 years, 341 days
AFL Rising Star Nominee: Round 5, 2004

Cory McGrath
February 4, 1979 –

Guernsey no.20
50 games, four goals 2004-’06
Senior debut: Round 11, 2004 v Adelaide, aged 25 years, 122 days
Last game: Round 22, 2006 vs Sydney, aged 27 years, 211 days

Eddie Betts
November 26, 1986 –

1084th Carlton player
Guernsey no.19
184 games, 290 goals 2005-’13
Senior debut: Round 1, 2005 vs North Melbourne, aged 18 years, 120 days
Last Game: Semi Final, 2013 vs Sydney, aged 26 years, 262 days

Joe Anderson
December 24, 1988 –

1101st Carlton player
Guernsey no.26
17 games, 0 goals 2007-2010
Senior debut: Round 4, 2007 vs West Coast, aged 18 years, 118 days
Last Game: Round 11, 2010 vs Melbourne, aged 21 years, 162 days

Jeff Garlett
August 3, 1989 –

1116th Carlton player
Guernsey no.38
107 games*, 183 goals* 2009 –
Senior debut : Round 1, 2009 vs Richmond, aged 19 years, 235 days
AFL Rising Star Nominee: Round 19, 2010

Chris Yarran
December 19, 1990 –

1122nd Carlton player
Guernsey no.13
96 games*, 79 goals* 2009 –
Senior debut: Round 7, 2009 vs Fremantle, aged 18 years, 142 days
AFL Rising Star Nominee: Round 1, 2010

By Tony De Bolfo

David and Stephen Kernahan with Lance Whitnall in the Carlton rooms. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

“Big Red” barnstormed his way into the winner’s circle on Friday night – and if the North result is anything to go by he’ll be slapping backs at Paterson’s Stadium in a fortnight.

“I reckon I’m a lucky charm – I’ll be back,” said Lance Whitnall, the former Carlton Captain, club best and fairest and All-Australian representative.

Whitnall is one of those former players who still fronts up on matchdays to cast a discerning eye over today’s team. Another is David Kernahan, who was also  on hand in the rooms as the players belted out one of the more passionate versions of Lily of Laguna.

Whitnall said it all for the former players when he said “I get to as many games as I can and I love watching the boys play”.

“It was great to see the boys notch a great win like that tonight and fantastic to see blokes like ‘Waitey’ (Jarred Waite) get up like that.”

Whitnall, a 216-game centre half-forward through 11 seasons for the Blues, was always known for his football smarts – and only too happy to cast astute judgment on today’s Carlton model and where it was heading.“The club is certainly heading in the right direction, that’s for sure,” Whitnall said. “Funny game football. Last week everyone was down, this week they’re all up again, which just goes to show it turns around pretty quickly.

Resplendent in suit and tie as a guest at the Carlton President’s Luncheon, Whitnall still chases the occasional footy for Glenroy reserves as a fill-in and oversees the fortunes of the senior team as Coach.

Has the game taken its physical toll? “My knees are hurting a bit and I’ve already been told I have to go under the knife, so it will happen at some stage.”

By Tony De Bolfo

Adrian Butler with commemorative medal no.522. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

Commemorative medal no.522 means everything to Adrian Butler. The medal, signifying that his late father Bert was the 522^nd man to represent the Carlton Football Club at senior League level, now serves as a wonderful throwback to happy times for him.

“This medal makes me very proud that long gone past players are not forgotten,” Adrian said.

“The Butlers have been lifelong Carlton supporters, influenced by my father. My brother is Carlton, my son is a mad Carlton supporter, so to have this medal alongside the ’38 Premiership medallion makes me very proud.”

Adrian’s keen sense of sporting history is truly palpable, the legacy of his involvement with the Melbourne Cricket Club as an MCG tour guide. In collecting his medal at Visy Park, Adrian came armed with precious mementoes of Bert’s 25-game career from 1935-38 and again through the war years of 1941 and ’44.

The ’38 Premiership medallion to which Adrian refers was awarded to Bert despite the fact that he never made the cut for the 19-man team led by captain-coach Brighton Diggins which completed that drought-breaking triumph over Collingwood.

Adrian has completed his research into that medallion and believes a total of 25 players who contributed to the cause through the 38 season, received Premiership Medallions, Bert included, “which is interesting when you consider that these days if you don’t make it you don’t get a medallion”.

“Dad was unlucky. He’d established himself in the team, was best man on the ground the week before he got injured, and then six weeks before the finals, in the dying minutes of the match against Richmond, Jack Dyer cleaned him up, smashed his collarbone and he didn’t play again that season,” Adrian said.

“I remember coming in here to past player functions and old ‘Mocca’ Johnson telling me that Dyer was never game to take on the big blokes . . . which says a lot because Dad was a rover.”

Bert Butler (far right) with Carlton captain Bob Atkinson, prior to a training session at Princes Park circa 1944. (Photo: Supplied)

Adrian said that it was important that the club recognised its grand history, even beyond the 1930s when his father, who died in 1999, shared roving duties at Princes Park with the late Edward “Ansell” Clarke.

Past players and/or their descendants wishing to collect their individually numbered 150^th year commemorative medallions from the club can contact Tony De Bolfo on 9389 6241 or tony.debolfo@carltonfc.com.au

By Tony De Bolfo

Mac Wilson, relaxing at his Thornbury home, August 2009. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

In the long history of the Carlton Football Club, only one former player, Newton Septimus Weston Chandler – “the grand old man of Princes Park” as he is remembered – has lived to be 100.

Chandler, the 69-game footballer, recruiter, secretary, vice-president and treasurer, was in fact 103 years, 186 days when he finally met his maker on March 24, 1997.

Today, 17 years later, Carlton lays claim to its second member of the “Ton Up Club” when Mac Wilson celebrates his 100^th birthday. By then, he will have received his congratulatory message from the Queen, together with a card signed by members of Carlton’s current playing group, amongst them Dennis Armfield who wears Wilson’s old No.27 on his back.

Andrew McDonald “Mac” Wilson was born in the Yarra Valley town of Woori Yallock on July 9, 1914, 19 days before the official outbreak of the First World War. Not long after, his family relocated to the Nyah region on the other side of Swan Hill in the Mallee, only to return to Woori in 1934.

Having played at Piangil where the ’45 Carlton Premiership player Jim Mooring also chased the leather, Wilson later returned to Woori Yallock for a season (and he’d later represent the Woori team in its first Grand Final victory in ’47), before joining Sunshine with the promise of a job. Sunshine, in the Footscray sub-district League, must have doubled as football’s school of hard knocks for Mac, although one of his contemporaries there at the time was none other than the fearsome Bob Chitty, later the Carlton captain, Premiership player, dual best and fairest and lord protector.

“He (Chitty) was a hard tough fellow and he trained just as hard as what he played you know,” Wilson said in a recent interview. “If you happened to knock him over at training you were likely to get into a fight with Chitty.”

Wilson, like Chitty, would ultimately cross to Carlton – in the former’s case on the recommendation of Mooring, as Wilson explained.

“During the war the Air Force used to play games at Carlton, and my brother was in the Air Force. Anyway, he and I were walking around the ground looking at things and I was particularly good friends with Jimmy Mooring and Jimmy came from Piangil and he was a mate of mine,” Wilson said.

“Now he was walking around with Harry Bell (the then Carlton secretary) and he (Mooring) said to Bell, ‘This is the chap I’ve been telling you about’. Bell asked me then, ‘Come out and have a go’ and I said ‘Yeah, righto’ – but I wasn’t much interested in it . . . I liked playing football but I wasn’t much interested in playing League football. I was too shy I was.”

Wilson’s nine-game career would encompass the 1933 and ’44 seasons, at a time when the Allies gained momentum in World War II.

A late starter, (Wilson was 29 years, 21 days when he completed his senior League debut), he joined Carlton from Footscray District League club Sunshine at a time when young men continued to volunteer for military service and footballers were something of a rare commodity.

Seven of Wilson’s nine matches for Carlton would be as 19^th man. Remarkably, his first and last games would result in 100+-point thrashings of Collingwood and Geelong, and his first full game would be a final.

According to the record books, Wilson followed his captain Jim Francis onto the field for the first time in Round 12, 1943, in what was the match with the black and whites at Victoria Park. Warming the pine as 19^th man, Wilson must have sat there in awe as Francis (with eight goals) and Jack Wrout (seven) completed the rout, 28.10 (178) to the black and whites’ 11.8 (74).

It may well be that Mac didn’t get a run in this match, as he cites the Round 14 match versus Essendon at Windy Hill – Francis’ last game – as his first real League foray. As he said: “Arthur Sanger broke his arm and I was 19^th man . . . and the first bloke I played on was ‘Dicky’ Reynolds”.

Wilson took his place in the dugout in three of his team’s last four games of the ’43 season, ending with Fitzroy at Brunswick Street Oval. The visitors’ 15-point win in that one earned them another shot at the Maroons in the first Semi Final, and Wilson got the call-up fir his first full game at half-back, replacing the injured Frank Anderson.

Regrettably, Fitzroy emerged 51-point victors and duly ended Carlton’s September campaign.

In February of the following year, Wilson enlisted in the RAAF, where basic training deprived him of any football for months. Not until Round 8 did Wilson make himself available and he got the call-up for another encounter with Collingwood, this time at Princes Park.

This time, Carlton won.

Wilson sat on the bench twice more, before taking his place in the starting line-up for the Round 17 match against Geelong at Princes Park. Another serving member of the RAAF turned out for the first time in that one – the West Australian-born future Carlton Premiership captain and club champion Ern Henfry – who was near-best on the ground in the Blues’ 106-point demolition of the Pivotonians.

Wilson was either unavailable or omitted for what proved to be a controversial last game of the home and away season against Footscray the following weekend, when a hotly-disputed goal after the final bell gave the Bulldogs victory by one point and forced Carlton out of finals contention.

By then it was all over for Mac the player – but 70 years on, Mac the man is still going strong.

Top ten oldest surviving Carlton past footballers

1.     Mac Wilson, born July 9, 1914

2.     Keith Rae, born July 30, 1917

3.     Harcourt Dowsley, born July 15, 1919

4.     Doug Williams, born February 3, 1923

5.     Ron Hines, born July 11, 1923

6.     Ken Hopper, born June 8, 1924

7.     Alex Way, born August 13, 1925

8.     Allan Greenshields, born January 22, 1926

9.     Ken Hands, born October 26, 1926

10.   Jim Davies , born December 6, 1926

AFL’s top six oldest surviving past footballers

1.     Mac Wilson (Carlton), born  9/07/1914

2.     Ken Feltscheer (Melbourne, Hawthorn), born  June 9, 1915

3.     Keith Rae (Carlton, Richmond), born July 30, 1917

4.     Bob Sayers (Fitzroy) October 26, 1917

5.     Cec Austen (Hawthorn), November 30, 1918

6.     Bill A. Duckworth (Collingwood) June 10, 1918