David Crone played 22 games for the Blues. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

In the 117 seasons since the formation of the VFL, only four men can lay claim to having represented the Carlton Football Club at League level as both senior player and President. They are, in reverse order, Stephen Kernahan, Ian Collins, Horrie Clover and the first of them, David Crone.

And late last week, in response to the club’s request to seek the support of Members and supporters to help build the Carlton archive, Barry Crone came forward with a digitised copy of a precious and long-held family keepsake of his late great uncle.

The glorious studio image, which now finds its way into the football club’s collection, depicts David Crone in all his Carlton finery – from the uncluttered dark navy Blue guernsey with handwoven monogram down to his anklets and high cuts, Crone’s truly Carlton from top to toe.

Dated 11/9/1920, the image also carries Crone’s signature.

The photograph is an important one for the club, because it now brings balance to an image previously forwarded by another descendant John Ray, of Crone in civilian dress and Presidential mode.

A farmer’s son hailing from the Victorian town of Donald on the Richardson River, David Henry Crone was born in May of 1893. In the early days he plied his footballing craft as a budding young ruckman for South Ballarat and later completed a brief three-game stint with the now-defunct Fitzroy, before returning to the farm then joining Carlton on the cusp of the 1917 season.

Crone completed his senior debut against Richmond at Princes Oval in June of the ’17 season, in what was a meritorious 44-point win for the home team on the occasion of Rod McGregor’s historic 200th game for the club. Sporting the No.30 later worn by “Mick” Price, Vin Waite and his son Jarrad, Crone ably supported the team’s No.1 ruckman Harry Haughton.

Turning out in 18 senior matches for the Blues through 1917 and ’18, Crone was finally accepted for military service (having previously been rejected on medical grounds), but his departure for the frontline never happened because the war ended.

Having not left Australian shores, Crone was offered an immediate discharge – and yet he sought to volunteer for a tour of duty with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, whose task it was to secure all former German territories and installations in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

He spent a year in the tropics, and returned home to resume his on-field career at Carlton through 1920. Wearing the No.15 in his second stint, the 25 year-old managed four more senior appearances – the last of them at half-forward alongside Horrie Clover in the seventh round match against Geelong at Corio Oval, on Saturday, June 12, 1920.

Nine years later, Crone assumed the mantle as Carlton President – the club’s 17th since Robert McFarland in the club’s inaugural year of 1864 – and he ably served in that capacity for nine years until he was succeeded by KG (later Sir Kenneth) Luke on the eve of the drought-breaking 1938 Premiership season.

A true measure of Crone’s stature in the game is perhaps best be measured by the tribute paid by the then secretary Newton Chandler in the Carlton Football Club’s 1937 annual report, beneath the headline “THE PRESIDENT”;

“Sincere regret was expressed not only by the committee and Members of the Club but by the football patrons of Victoria when the resignation of Mr. D.H. Crone was announced. Mr. Crone, who had been a member of the Committee of Management for a period of 13 years (the last nine years as President), was a wonderful ambassador to the game. As Chairman of the Propaganda Committee – and other Sub-Committees of the Victorian Football League, Mr. Crone did much to foster the games in the schools, while his efforts to assist the game in the country was of great value to the Australian code. The time given in the interests of the game by some Club officials is little realised by Members. During the 13 years that Mr. Crone was a member of the committee he attended more than 2,000 meetings in connection with the management of your Club, and as a delegate to the Victorian Football League, Mr. Crone leaves behind a record of service which has not been surpassed in the history of the Club.”

David Crone was just 66 years-old when he died in November 1959. But today, some 55 years after the event, he is remembered.

As his descendant Barry proudly declared in the message accompanying his grand image: “Please see the attached copy of a photo of my great uncle, Dave Crone, who was a past player and long standing club president, and the reason that most of the next four generations of Crones have followed the Blues”.

If you have a precious item or items that help tell the tale that is uniquely Carlton’s, or like Barry Crone boast a precious image/s of Carlton’s past, please contact club historian Tony De Bolfo – 9389 6241 or tony.debolfo@carltonfc.com.au.

Football Administration Manager Shane O’Sullivan. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

Thirty-five years of exemplary service to Footscray, Brisbane and most notably Carlton has earned Shane O’Sullivan universal acknowledgement as the 2014 recipient of the AFL’s Jack Titus Award.

Endearingly known to those in the caper as “ShaneO”, O’Sullivan becomes the award’s 40th recipient since its inception in 1977, and only the fifth winner with Carlton connections after Newton Chandler in 1984, Bruce Comben (1989), Keith McKenzie (1993) and Wes Lofts (2001).

The award – which carries the name of the much-respected former Richmond player, match committee member, vice-president and senior coach – will be bestowed upon O’Sullivan, now officiating as Carlton’s Football Administration Manager, at the League’s 2015 Annual General Meeting in March.

O’Sullivan knew nothing of his nomination, and only learned of his award by way of correspondence in the mail late last month.

“I got a letter from the League, and saw Gil’s (AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan’s) name at the bottom. I thought it must have been one of those Christmas wish cards, but when I opened it up I found out exactly what it was,” he said.

“It’s really humbling. To be included alongside some of the great names in footy to have won this award, well, I’m pretty chuffed about it. Keith McKenzie was actually my very first boss as General Manager when I first came to Carlton, and I’m very pleased to be in the company of others like Graeme Richmond, Ian Drake and Jim Cardwell.”

O’Sullivan’s League football odyssey commenced as Promotions Officer in the Carlton Premiership year of 1979. His responsibilities back then included organising clinics and training schedules for Under 19, reserve and senior players, and liaising with the club’s local and country regions.

The following year, he was promoted to Assistant General Manager, a position he retained through the back-to-back Premiership seasons of 1981 and ’82.

For O’Sullivan it only seems like yesterday that he first reported for work –  the week “Jezza” led out the likes of Doull, Jones and Maclure in the opening round of the ’79 season against Geelong.

Shane O’Sullivan rushes in to break up the infamous stoush between Percy Jones and Tony Jewelll in 1980. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

“Wes Lofts was standing there in his big, long overcoat and I just couldn’t believe I was beginning work and it was football I was working in,” O’Sullivan said.

“You dream about playing League football and I trained at Richmond in 1978 and early ’79 although I wasn’t good enough.

“But the next best thing is to remain involved and earn a living out of it, and 35 years later you wonder where in the heck all those years have gone.”

At the end of the ’82 season, and after much cajoling from the then Footscray President Dr Tony Capes, O’Sullivan accepted the position of Bulldogs General Manager. The role presented numerous challenges, but the club made real progress under the GM’s watch – and he was an integral figure in the push for Michael Malthouse’s appointment as Senior Coach in ’84.

Always one to help grow the game, O’Sullivan accepted the role of General Manager of Football for the Brisbane Bears Football Club when it was admitted into the competition on the eve of the 1987 season. At that pivotal moment he helped establish the foundations and culture of the new club, and was chiefly responsible for assembling the Bears’ playing list, appointing coaches and sourcing a training base.

For six years, O’Sullivan committed his energies to Brisbane, forging healthy relationships with the respective senior coaches Peter Knights, Paul Feltham, Norm Dare and Robert Walls before returning to Melbourne at the conclusion of season ’92.

After a brief stint with VFA outfit Oakleigh as Senior Coach in ’93 (during which time he also assisted North Melbourne in a part-time capacity in recruiting), O’Sullivan’s working life came full circle with his appointment as Carlton Recruiting Manager, a position he retained for 12 years. Since 2004, he’s served as Carlton’s Football Administration Manager, a role which sees him working closely with coaches, players, and staff in all departments.

In his 25 years at Carlton, O’Sullivan has worked closely as trusted adviser to no fewer than seven Senior Coaches – Alex Jesaulenko, Peter Jones, David Parkin, Wayne Brittain, Dennis Pagan, Brett Ratten and Michael Malthouse.

Shane O’Sullivan has worked with Mick Malthouse at the Bulldogs and Carlton. (Photo: AFL Photos)

Similarly, he has also built strong relationships with the players, and played a significant part in their development both on and off the field.

The Carlton Football Club, through its CEO Steven Trigg, formally nominated O’Sullivan for the award last November, with Testimonials from former Carlton Senior Coach David Parkin, current Senior Coach Mick Malthouse and current player Chris Judd.

“Over the past 35 years, Shane has given outstanding service to the game of Australian Rules Football through his extraordinary contribution to a number of AFL Football Clubs,” Trigg said.

“The commitment, innovation and initiative Shane has consistently demonstrated in carrying out his duties in the various positions he has held, makes him a highly credentialed nomination for the Jack Titus Award.”

The following Testimonials, submitted to the AFL by Carlton at the time of O’Sullivan’s nomination for the Jack Titus Award, best reflect the depth and breadth of the man’s contribution to Australian Rules, commencing in 1979 and spanning some five decades.

No doubt he’s a survivor, particularly so in the wake of the salary cap fall-out when he had to summon all his survival instincts.

“Without being over the top about it, Carlton means everything to me. Carlton was where I started, the club was good enough to again put me on when I came back and I suppose that when the Elliott era ended I was lucky to survive because people were put off and I’m indebted to those who kept me here,” he said.

And he continues to adapt, for it’s adapt or die – and here’s his trade secret.

“It’s just the love of the game and always being prepared to pitch in and do anything that you can,” O’Sullivan said.

“I’d like to think I keep moving with the times. Each year I try to reinvent myself a little bit to keep moving so that you’re not considered an old timer – and when you’re in a footy club all the young people keep you young.”
David Parkin
“My association with Shane O’Sullivan extends over a period of more than thirty years. For five decades I’ve had the privilege of working in Australian Football with a number of exceptional administrators, but none more competent and committed than Shane.

Without ever getting frustrated (in what is a consistently pressured environment) he has always carried out his management tasks, with a set of very professional and personal attributes, second to none. This man, across three AFL Clubs, in a variety of administrative roles, has serviced the needs of players, coaches, support staff and Boards, in a very special, caring and effective way.

Shane’s outstanding service to the game makes him a worthy recipient of the Jack Titus Award.”

Mick Malthouse
“There’s no one in my mind more worthy of winning an award for services to football than Shane O’Sullivan.

My history with Shane goes back a long way, so this is a very brief account of a long association.

I first met Shane in the late 1970s. He was a young man coming down from Bunyip in the bush, trying to make his way into VFL football. In reality, who can make it when you’re a left footer, slow, short and a little bit tubby? But he was desperate and no one would try harder than Shane would. As it turned out, Shane didn’t make it on the field, but it was no surprise to see him later become involved in the game in an administration capacity at Carlton.

My next association with Shane was when he appointed me as coach of the Footscray Football Club in 1984. He made myself, my wife and my kids feel very welcome at the club and he set standards for me there, in regard to family relationships, that I would take on to West Coast and Collingwood. Shane is the kind of person who builds relationships with people based on mutual trust, loyalty, and pride in getting things done.

From Footscray Shane went to Brisbane where he did the hard yards, before arriving back at Carlton. Of course, we reintroduced ourselves at Carlton two years ago, but in between although he was part of the opposition, he never treated it as such. No matter where we both worked, Shane always treated me as a great friend and a football person.

Shane O’Sullivan has given so much of his life to football and he’s still passionately in love with it. He loves nothing better than to see young men succeed – and he helps them do that by letting them worry about football and he will worry about everything else for them. He is the most giving person I have ever struck in football, because for Shane it’s all about making sure that things happen for people and he will take care of the rest.

If you delved further into Shane’s work in the AFL, you would find that it spans in so many directions in regards to knowledge of the game, helping people, promoting the game and a hunger to succeed. To sum it up: for a person to have a heart attack on the bench and apologise for that because he missed the last half of the game … well, it says so much about Shane O’Sullivan.”

Chris Judd
“Shane O’Sullivan has been a wonderful servant to the Carlton Football Club and in many ways is the type of employee that has almost become extinct in modern day football. As AFL footy has become a bigger and bigger business, many employees in administrative positions hold climbing up the corporate ladder and furthering their own careers as a more important pursuit than seeing the football club they work for achieve success and in turn bring happiness to the hundreds of thousands of supporters that follow it.
 
In the current era, Shane’s passion for the success of the Carlton Football Club stands out. There’s no job too small, no ego and no nonsense. If he was involved at a local footy club, he’d be the guy chopping up the oranges and making sure the drinks were filled, while also chasing down sponsors as well to keep the club a float. Whilst at Carlton he isn’t called on for as wide an array of tasks as this, he’s the sort of guy who you could never imagine saying ‘I’m not doing that, because that’s not my job’. I’ve known Shane since I was sixteen and travelled to Ireland and he’s someone who treated me just as well when I was a sixteen year-old hoping to break into the AFL as he did when I was Captain of the club, and I’ve always enjoyed having him at Carlton.”

Tom Simmons during his playing days with the Blues. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

Tom Simmons, whose football prowess at Princes Park in the post-World War II years of Henfry and Deacon was more than matched by his prodigious talents as a professional athlete, was also it seems a man of letters.

A little over 12 months since his passing at the age of 84, Tom’s written recollections penned in his final days have been forwarded to the club by his son Tony.

The letters offer a unique insight into Tom’s formative years in East Brunswick and his all-too-brief Carlton playing career.

Recruited to Carlton from Northcote District juniors in Melbourne’s inner-city north, Thomas Edwin Francis Simmons’ reputation on the track preceded him. Standing six foot in the old measurement, he had taken the 100 and 200-yard championships of Melbourne Technical Schools, together with the high and long-jump titles, and had also triumphed in the 220-yard dash at the Inter-Technical schools championship at Olympic Park.

With the permission of son Tony, Tom’s personal memoirs of another time at Carlton and in the neighborhood can now be reproduced, in the first of two parts.

Part 1 – My early life

This record of my life begins before I came into the world! My mother was hit by a cable tram in Sydney Road Brunswick just after she became pregnant. She was caught under the front bogie of the tram. A crane had to be used to lift the tram in order to release my mother. She was not badly injured. This incident typified the toughness and endurability of my mother’s life until she passed away at the age of 99 years 11 months.

I was born at home in a rather small 2-bed room tenement house in East Brunswick. We had a “wash house” in which was installed a tin bath, two concrete sinks (one of which had a wringer attached), a wood fried copper for boiling up the washing. In order to have a bath, hot water from the copper had to be bucketed into the tin bath and cold water from the tap was used to adjust the temperature. I lived in that house for 18 years with my parents and younger brother Harry.

My father served in the Great War from 1914-18 and participated in the Gallipoli Campaign. He was exposed to nerve gas that had an effect on his health until his death in 1956.

I had a happy, uneventful childhood in a rather poor working class suburb. For 10 years I attended the South Brunswick State School and I suppose I was an ordinary student. At the age of eight I broke my leg and for seven weeks I was pulled to school by my brother in a two- wheel box cart.

During summer evenings and weekends I joined a group of carefree neighbourhood kids playing street cricket, using a telephone pole as the wicket. We would often play a game, which was popular amongst street-kids called “Tip-Cat” and it involved striking a wedged shaped piece of wood about six inches long to make it leap far enough above the ground to enable it to be hit as far as possible down the road. Avoiding windows was a problem.

Tom Simmons during his days with the Blues. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

During the football season, us street kids could not afford the luxury of a proper leather football but we had heaps of fun in the street kicking around a paper ball made by rolling up newspaper into an elongated ball three inches wide and six inches long wrapped with string.

When my brother and I were about seven years old we had a paper delivery round. We did that for 10 years. We signed in at the newsagent shop at 5am, got our stack of newspapers and did our deliveries on foot to houses in about ten streets. After completing the paper rounds at 6am, I would eat a few sausage rolls and go back to the newsagent to get some more papers (The Sun, The Age, The Argus and The Sporting Globe) to sell on the trams. I would jump on a tram and sell papers. After two stops I would get off and wait for the next tram. I would do this for 5-6 stops then cross the road and work the trams on the other line until I got back to the shop. We were home by 7am so we had to chase breakfast and do cleaning chores because our mother had an early morning cleaning job (which she did for 40 years!)

Another of my jobs as a kid was with a rather large bread factory (this was before the present hot-bread shops). My job was to help a bread-carter with home deliveries, which were done from a horse- drawn cart. When we got back to the factory, I had the responsibility to unsaddle the horse, hose him down then lead him to his stall and make sure he had enough chaff.

My mother, who was not all religious, made me attend from the age of nine Sunday School at the Anglican Church in Brunswick. My friends and I would muck around and I do not recall learning anything about God! The church formed a basketball team in 1944. Although I was only 15 years I played for two years and the team were champions. Some players in the competition went onto to play VFL football.

I attended the YMCA in City Rd, across the bridge in Swanston Street from the age of eight to 15. There was a heated pool but no bags were allowed. I played basketball and did athletics. I attended summer camps at Shorten on Westernport Bay. At the age of 16,  I won the State Championship for 200 yards.

Part 2 – My football career

I was not involved in competitive football until the age of 18 when I joined Northcote Juniors Football Club.

In the VFL in those days, clubs were allocated zones. If you lived in a certain zone you could not join a football club in another zone. I lived in East Brunswick, which was a Carlton zone. That restrictive system was abandoned in 1960.

During my first and only season with Northcote Juniors, a Carlton scout Jim Francis attended one or two matches looking for potential Carlton recruits. The next year I couldn’t believe I was invited to attend training at Carlton and was given the opportunity to become a member of the senior list of players. In those days each VFL club had a team playing in each of the three grades – the Thirds for kids from 14 to 18 years, the Seconds for players aged 16 to 30 and the Firsts where the players ranged from 18 to 33. In my case I was asked to train with the senior team in mid-1949 and went straight into the Firsts team without playing any matches in the Seconds or Thirds competition.

Carlton was a famous football club and I was greatly honoured and found that when I first ran out onto Princes Park with my teammates most of them were seasoned stars.

I enjoyed the training sessions each Tuesday and Thursday from 4.30pm to 6.30pm. as the youngest member of the team I was determined to improve my skills and earn the respect of my teammates. Fortunately I had a high level of physical fitness and in fact I was the fastest player in the team. My friends thought I had an obsession with fitness. They were probably right! In 1949 very few of the team possessed a car. In the streets I would be doing running and I enjoyed doing broad jumps over driveways on the footpaths.

The football season comprised 20 home and away games. I was fortunate to play 17 games in my first season and was awarded the best first year player.

In my second season I was seriously injured in a match against Collingwood during the 11th game. My right knee was badly damaged in a collision with an opposing player. I had two torn cartilages. Surgery was performed by a top orthopaedic surgeon to remove the cartilage, but I missed the remainder of the season.

During the summer months I regained my physical fitness but my knee did not regain its strength. I was not confident that my knee would allow me to play out a match with my former vigour and strength so reluctantly I retired from football.

I was devastated.

My short career of 28 games ended abruptly during that match against Collingwood. In those days playing for a VFL club was all about loyalty and team spirit. The only financial reward was a payment of £4 [about $8] per game.

Company Sergeant-Major David Gillespie. (Photo: Supplied)

Almost 62,000 men made the ultimate sacrifice in the war to end all wars. Included in that awful casualty list were 11 young men who had represented Carlton in at least one senior game at League level, but would never again hear the roar of the crowd.

Almost all of them lie in foreign soil where they fell – many with no known grave.

But one who did return was the mortally wounded David Gillespie.

To mark Remembrance Day, this is his story

David Francis Gillespie led his twin brother Doug into the world on December 13, 1887. The boys were born not far from the old Carlton ground, on the site of the Royal Melbourne Zoo, where their father worked as a zookeeper and their mother in the kiosk. Both David and Doug would later play for Carlton – a feat emulated only by the Hanton twins Hal and Alex, who turned out for the Blues in the mid-1940s.

Over the next 11 years Doug and Dave’s parents, Glaswegians James Gillespie and Mary Gallagher, would raise another three sons and three daughters as the clan settled in the Carlton district. Doug and Dave each pursued their respective careers – Doug as a gardener, Dave as a constable of police – and Dave would follow Doug from the Gillespie home in Gatehouse Street to the Carlton ground on Royal Parade

David would represent Carlton in five senior matches through 1907 and ’08. Doug would turn out in 90, amongst them the Grand Final conquests of 1907 and ’08.

When James died in 1913, Mary was left to fend for her eight children. A year later, following the outbreak of World War I, she was then placed in the harrowing position of having to farewell each of her five sons, for all of them answered the call. Sergeant Doug Gillespie, a gardener by profession, was 26 years old when he enlisted in December 1914. Promoted to sergeant in Egypt in March 1916, he was later struck down with illness and transferred to France in June 1917, before securing leave to Australia in December the following year.

All five Gillespie brothers – Doug, Gordon, Robert, William and David – were struck down with serious illness or wounded. David fatally.

As with his twin brother Doug, David Francis Gillespie, was an early volunteer for front line military service. Upon joining the 59th battalion, Dave soon found himself a part of the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign.

Having somehow survived the campaign, the now-promoted Sergeant followed his battalion into the unspeakable horror that was trench warfare on France’s Western Front. It was March 1916, and by the following May, Dave’s outstanding leadership qualities were again acknowledged, with a further promotion to the rank of Company Sergeant-Major.

But his all-too-short existence was nearing its tragic end.

On July 19, 1916, Dave was leading his men in an assault on German positions near Armentieres when an artillery shell exploded close behind him. Shrapnel tore into his lower back and one arm, inflicting grievous injuries.

Dave Gillespie’s grave at Coburg cemetery. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

Miraculously still alive, Dave was evacuated to a hospital behind the lines and quickly repatriated to England. A series of operations followed, but it was obvious that his spinal cord had been shattered, and his stomach and intestines were irreparably damaged.

Returning to Melbourne aboard the hospital ship Wiltshire on the eve of the New Year – December 31, 1916 – the mortally wounded soldier was slowly stretchered down the gangway. From there he was taken to Caulfield Military Hospital where, despite the best efforts of the medical staff, he succumbed to peritonitis.

Dave Gillespie died in the Australian General hospital in Caulfield, on March 27, 1917. The Carlton Football Club was well-represented when Dave was laid to rest with full military honours at Coburg cemetery, and the players wore black armbands in tribute at their next match.

A little under seven years later, Dave’s grieving mother Mary was laid to rest in the same grave.

A touching memorial to Dave Gillespie (and other soldiers of the district lost in wartime) stands on tranquil ground on Royal Parade, not far from the Carlton Recreation Reserve where he and twin brother Doug once played. An inscription at the base of that memorial says simply: WE DIED FOR COUNTRY, LIVE YE FOR IT