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By Tony De Bolfo

Imagine you’re a 19 year-old country kid earning “Mr. Football” as your first opponent? This was the daunting prospect facing the former Carlton aerialist David McKay.

Somehow, the boy from Newlyn survived, emerging unscathed from his direct dealings with the late Ted Whitten, in a back pocket at the Western Oval in the wild and heady days of flower power.

It was the third round of 1969 – the first of McKay’s 263 games over a 13-season career for Carlton. And what a career – the premierships of 1970, 1972, 1979 and 1981 – the last of which he sealed with his final kick in footy.

A truly agile big man blessed with wonderful inflight judgement, McKay quickly became a crowd favourite – whether floating across the pack a la Royce Hart, or leaping high over three or four sets of shoulders to take yet another “specky”.

Curiously though, it wasn’t why he was earned the nickname “Swan”. That was afforded him by his fearsome former teammate Ricky McLean.

To hear David McKay reflect on his outstanding playing career in the latest of the “Our History” podcasts for carltonfc.com.au, click here.

By Tony De Bolfo

Cyril Mann during his playing days for the Blues. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

Cyril Mann never talked about his Indigenous heritage. When a heart attack claimed his life at just 45, stories of the Yorta Yorta went to the grave with him.

That happened in March 1964, when Cyril was laid to rest in Preston Cemetery – a few kilometres north of the Carlton ground where the high-flying centre half-forward crafted a 42-game career either side of his wartime duties.

For all these years, Cyril’s Indigenous links were not known to either Carlton or the AFL.

Only now, and with the assistance of his surviving daughter Karen Mann-Brooks, can Cyril’s connection with his people be revealed – and it’s a splendid connection.

Karen recently confirmed that Cyril’s maternal grandfather was the great William Cooper, who hailed from the Yorta Yorta territory near the junction of the Goulburn and Murray Rivers. William is remembered as the Australian Aboriginal political activist, much-respected community leader and genuine man of stature whose extraordinary lifetime achievements cannot be properly acknowledged in the limited space available here.

William Cooper.

“It was only after Dad died that my great aunty Sally, William Cooper’s daughter, told us a lot of things,” said Karen, who now lives in Andrew Walker’s home town of Echuca, not far from Cumeroogunga where Cooper is buried.

“I don’t remember a lot about Dad because I was only eight when he died. But Mum used to talk a lot about Dad, that he played for Carlton and that he loved Carlton.

“And I do remember on my birthdays that he’d take me up Plenty Road to the shoe shop and he’d buy me two pairs of shoes. That was really good.”

Cyril Stanley Mann, the oldest of three children of Charles and Jessie (nee Cooper) Mann, was born in Carlton on August 31, 1918. He was educated at the local St Augustine’s Primary School.

Details of Cyril’s early years are unfortunately scant and Karen admitted in retrospect that she should have asked her late mother more questions.

But faded newspaper clippings reveal that Cyril represented Southampton Tigers as an Under 16 Footscray footballer of renown, having taken out the Mall Medal for best player in the comp.

The story goes that Cyril was later recruited to Carlton from Silvan, east of Melbourne in the Yarra Valley, on the sayso of the then captain-coach Brighton Diggins, who was taken by the player’s aerial skills in a local league finals match the previous season.

A munitions maker by profession, Cyril’s first senior appearance in a dark Navy Blue guernsey came in the fourth round of 1939, against Footscray at the Western Oval. Diggins led the visitors out, they won easily and Cyril, named on a forward flank alongside Jack Wrout, booted a goal on debut.

Cyril, whose uncle Lynch Cooper took out the 1928 Stawell Gift, was a real eye-catcher. His inherent athleticism was noted by football scribes of the day, not the least of whom was Carlton’s first 200-gamer Rod “Wee” McGregor. A cartoonist perhaps paid Cyril the greatest compliment, captioning his drawing of the high-flyer with the words “Mann marks in positions unthought of by Nash, Todd and Pratt”.

But when Great Britain, France and most of the British Commonwealth declared war on Germany, Cyril, like many, registered for active service.

He continued to play while waiting for the call to arms. He was there in September ’41, (booting three and two goals respectively in Carlton’s second semi and preliminary final losses to Melbourne and Essendon on the MCG) and he managed another five senior appearances through 1942 before finally being called into uniform.

Cyril served in the 2/23 Battalion, which helped defend Tobruk, before his discharge in April 1944.

Karen Mann-Brooks with a photo of her late father, Cyril.

Almost two years later, he saddled up for the Blues again, in what would be Carlton’s Peace and Victory Premiership of 1945. But for reasons unclear he managed just three home and away matches before calling it a day in May of that year.

Cyril furthered his playing career in the Association with Brunswick and, later, Port Melbourne. He earned the plaudits of The Association Football Recorder correspondent for “defeating Ron Todd in the air” and as the club’s reigning B & F starred at centre half-back when the Borough beat Sandringham in the ’47 Grand Final.

Cyril married Evelyn Pendelbury, a Fitzroy girl whom Karen suspects he met at a social on the night after a Carlton game, and together they raised three children – a son Keith and daughters Lorraine and Karen.

Recently, Karen and her husband Warren caught up with this reporter for a cuppa on High Street in Preston, not far from the old Mann family home at 16 Eisenhower Street, Reservoir, where she spent her formative years.

Karen’s love of the club for which her late father once played has not waned – the legacy of those happy times where she followed her mother to the old Carlton ground and in turn led her own children through the turnstiles there.

Then there’s her love for the people of the Yorta Yorta.

“I am proud of that Aboriginal link and I always tell everyone I have Aboriginal in me,” Karen said.

“Perhaps my father was a victim of the times and it was never spoken about, but you grow up now and it doesn’t matter what you are, does it?”

To learn more of the life of William Cooper, click here.

Cyril Stanley Mann

August 31, 1918 – March 3, 1964

Carlton player no. 548

Recruited from Silvan

Career 1939-1942 & 1945

Senior debut: Round 4, 1939 versus Footscray, aged 20 years, 255 days

Final game Round 3, 1945 versus Essendon, aged 26 years, 247 days

Guernsey No 25 (1939-40), 27 (1941 & 45) & 34 (1942)

Games 42

Goals 65

Carlton’s known Indigenous footballers

Alf Egan – 36 games, 20 goals, 1931-1933

Cyril Mann – 42 games, 65 goals, 1939-1942 & 1945

Syd Jackson – 136 games, 165 goals, 1969-1976

Rod Waddell – five games, two goals, 1981-1982

Mark Naley – 65 games, 74 goals, 1987-1990

Troy Bond – 36 games, 26 goals, 1994-1995

Sean Charles – one game, 0 goals, 1998

Justin Murphy – 115 games, 105 goals, 1996-2000 & 2002-2003

Andrew Walker – 150 games, 115 goals, 2004 –

Eddie Betts – 170 games, 270 goals, 2005 –

Cory McGrath – 50 games, four goals, 2004-2006

Joe Anderson – 17 games, 0 goals, 2007-2010

Chris Yarran – 69 games, 53 goals, 2009 –

Jeffery Garlett – 84 games, 149 goals, 2009 –

Tony De Bolfo is the Carlton Football Club’s Historian. You can follow him on Twitter: @CFC_DeBolfo

By Tony De Bolfo

 

“The only thing I remember about the flight was sitting in the plane and looking out the window at the clouds and thinking ‘’I wonder if this is Australia?’ or ‘I wonder if that’s Australia”, always thinking one of those clouds was Australia.” It was quite a realistic thought at the time . . . a kid’s imagination running wild.”

Milham Hanna quite literally walked in off the street, but in truth he came to Carlton from half way round the world. Born in Kantara in Northern Lebanon, Mil found his feet in neighboring East Brunswick, just a short tram ride down Sydney Road to the front entrance of the place then known as Princes Park.

Arriving in Melbourne with his mother and sister on Cup Day 1971, Mil, then five years old, had a premonition he would one day play for the Carlton Football Club. It would happen some 15 years later with disastrous consequences at VFL Park, but it would end 189 games later with a Premiership medallion to show for it.

“Now I look back and think about what I’d be doing if I was still in the little village of Northern Lebanon,” Milham said.

Click here to listen to Part 1 of the Milham Hanna story.

Click here to listen to Part 2 of the Milham Hanna story.

Follow Tony De Bolfo on Twitter: @CFC_DeBolfo

By Tony De Bolfo

The Carlton Football Club is mourning the passing of its 1956 Club Best and Fairest and dual Victorian representative Doug Beasy, who died in Mildura last night after a short illness. He was 83.

The second son of the 1932 Carlton captain Maurie Beasy, and a great uncle to the Hawthorn midfielder Brendan Whitecross, Doug was born on April 16, 1930 and raised in the Beasy family home in the old Victorian goldfields town of Dunolly.

Football soon became part of Doug’s life and success just as quickly followed. In 1948 at the age of 18 he took out Dunolly’s club best and fairest, and by ’49 he’d found his way to Princes Park.

A primary school teacher by profession, Doug had difficulties balancing his work and football commitments in those early days. As his younger brother Graham recalled: “Early on he (Doug) was teaching at Chum Creek, just north of Healesville, and twice a week he’d travel from there to Carlton to train”.

In the opening round of 1951, against Hawthorn at Princes Park, Doug broke through for what was the first of 129 senior appearances for the old dark Navy Blues. He booted one goal from a flank on a day in which fellow debutant Keith Warburton kicked seven from full-forward.

Wearing the Guernsey later made famous by Gordon Collis, Brent Crosswell and Mark Naley, Doug completed the ’51 season with an outstanding showing in his team’s reserve grade triumph over Essendon. He then established himself in Carlton’s senior 20, featuring in all 20 appearances in ’52 and polling the third-most votes for his club in the Brownlow behind Ollie Grieve and Fred Davies.

The ill-fated First-Semi of ’52 doubled as Doug’s maiden finals appearance (and the first of only three in his entire playing career). A last-minute behind kicked by the then Fitzroy captain Alan Ruthven gave the Gorillas the narrowest of victories in that match, and Warburton nearly died of internal bleeding after receiving a knock to the abdomen early in the contest.

In June 1955, Doug and his old teammate the late John James were named for Victoria against South Australia at the MCG. Doug, named 20th man for that one, emerged from the dugout late and had little influence, but two years later, against Tasmania at North Hobart Oval, booted three goals in the Big V’s 25-point win.

In between, Doug edged out James to take Carlton’s Best and Fairest award – the Robert Reynolds Trophy as it was known then.

In the 14th round of 1957, Doug got his name on the locker with game No.100, and kicked three goals for good measure against Footscray at Princes Park. He would later be part of the Blues outfit that went down to Hawthorn in the ’57 first-semi, having shared roving duties with Leo Brereton – on a day in which the MCG was hit with a massive hailstorm at half-time.

Doug’s time at Carlton came to an end when he limped from the field in the ’59 second semi-final against Melbourne. The team went down by 44 points, but the player couldn’t get his body right for the following week’s prelim and so he called it a day.

In 1960, Doug accepted the position of captain-coach of VFA club Box Hill. Lining up in the centre for the Mustangs, Doug duly took out the 1961 Liston Trophy for the Association’s best and fairest player.

Throughout it all, Doug maintained his commitment to teaching, and he taught in a variety of schools including Mitcham, Merbein, Portland, St Arnaud and ultimately Mildura.

On his retirement as an educator, Doug just as frenetically pursued a variety of hobbies and activities.

“He was a self-taught musician who taught himself to play piano, piano accordion and brass instruments. He played double bass tuba in the local district band and this year’s ANZAC Day Service in Mildura was the first he’d missed,” Graham said.

“He was very involved with his local community, with the church and with Rotary for which he served as District Governor. His last project was to get a men’s shed built for retired fellows living in Mildura. I took him to see that workshop just a few days before he couldn’t leave his house anymore.”

Graham said he received an email from Doug on the latter’s birthday in April advising that he had been unwell for some weeks.  “More recently, Doug spent some time at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne and he returned to his home in Mildura two weeks ago . . . but he’d never previously been sick in his life,” Graham said.

Collis, Carlton’s 1964 Brownlow Medallist who inherited Doug’s No.17 jumper, said he was privileged to have held a telephone conversation with the man just three days before his passing.

“I had a really nice chat with Doug. We spoke about the old No.17 and he was telling me how impressed he was with the new boy (Sam Rowe) who’s wearing it now,” Collis said.

The Carlton Football Club is the poorer for Doug’s passing, as are the good people of Mildura. Graham perhaps put it best when he said of his older brother – “He was a man of high integrity, a giant of a man”.

“He had concern for all in his community and he was involved in sorts of different activities. He was a man of the people,” Graham said.

Doug Beasy is survived by his older brother Lloyd, younger brother Graham and younger sister Merle.

He is also survived by his beloved wife Alys, with whom he celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last Thursday, their children Ian, Alyson, Craig and Meryn, their respective spouses, 12 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Funeral details are yet to be finalised, but the service will be held at the Mildura Church of Christ.

As a mark of respect to Doug, the Carlton senior players will wear black armbands into tonight’s match with St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.
Douglas Edward Beasy

Carlton career: 129 games, 124 goals, 1951-1959

Carlton Player No. 647

Guernsey No. 17

Senior Debut: Round 1, 1951 versus Hawthorn (aged 21 years, four days)

Last Game: Second Semi-Final, 1959 versus Melbourne (aged 29 years, 148 days)

Honors: Carlton Best and Fairest 1956; Victorian Representative 1955 & 1957

By Tony De Bolfo

“ . . . if it wasn’t for my football, I know my life as part of Australia’s Stolen Generation could have been starkly different . . . I worked for what I got and there was a lot that I lost in terms of my family, culture, my language and important things like that. I had a lot of help from people who supported me and I worked hard to reward them by not failing.”

So said Syd Jackson, the dual Carlton premiership player, in an interview with Sean Gorman back in 2011.

Syd’s is an extraordinary life story. Taken away by formal arrest warrant when he was only three, separated from his family for twenty years and reunited with his parents only twice before they died, the pain of separation was truly profound for him.

In that context, the Great Australian Game served as a panacea for the prodigiously-gifted player. It took Syd from from Roelands Native Mission in the Western Australian port city of Bunbury, to the big smoke in Perth and ultimately to the big time in Melbourne as one of the great League footballers of his generation.

In all, Syd wore the famous No.5 dark Navy Blue guernsey into 136 senior matches between 1969 and ’76. Recently, he came back to Carlton to reflect on his life and times in the era of “Polly” Farmer, John Nicholls and Ron Barassi for the latest “Our History” podcast exclusive to carltonfc.com.au.

To hear Syd Jackson’s story, click here.

Follow Tony De Bolfo on Twitter: @CFC_DeBolfo