Our deepest sympathy goes to Greg Lee, (Carlton Director & SOC Member) and his family with the recent loss of his wife Debbie after a long battle with cancer.
RIP Anne Jesaulenko
The Spirit of Carlton offers sincere condolences to Alex Jesaulenko and his family following the recent passing of his wife Anne after a short illness.
RIP Bernie Baxter
The Spirit of Carlton would like to extend our deep sympathy to the family of Bernie Baxter who sadly passed away on the 28th December after a short illness .
Bernie played 28 games for the Blues from 1949 to the1951 before going on to kick 692 goals for the Port Fairy Football club where the local scoreboard is named in his honour .
http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Bernie+Baxter
http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Guernsey+34
http://www.standard.net.au/story/1207109/port-fairy-mourns-larger-than-life-premiership-great-bernie-baxter/?cs=74
THE CARLTON BLUEPRINT
UNRAVELLING THE BIZARRE ESSAY Number 13 – Ted Hopkins
###Was Juddy tall enough for the Carlton Captaincy?
Whichever way, ‘pushed’ or ‘relinquished’ is immaterial. Chris Judd is no longer the Carlton Captain and not even a member of the team’s leadership group.
The move appears like the Prime Minister mysteriously announcing she is no longer interested in the job; instead of heading to Cabinet, she chooses to sit on the backbench.
How bizarre!
All teams thrive on good captaincy, and in Carlton’s case, premiership captains are revered.
In the modern era—at least from 1968 onwards—the typical profile of a Carlton premiership captain is a celebrated ‘big bloke’ who can play tall and fill a key position role; viz, John Nicholls (Big Nick) three times (1968, 70, 72), Mike Fitzpatrick twice (1981, 82), and Stephen Kernahan twice (1987, 95).
Although Alex Jesaulenko (1979), was a mere ‘six footer and a bit,’ overhead he was unstoppable and could dominate in the key positions of centre-half-forward or full-forward.
On face value, it appears there is a direct correlation between height and overhead ability and Carlton premiership captaincy success.
Judd does not fit the mould, prompting the question: Was he ever tall enough for the captaincy?
Oddly, he is a surprisingly tall 189cm—the same height as Big Nick—yet has played almost exclusively as a rover, an indication of the changing shape of our game. In his five seasons with Carlton and 105 games he has taken only 33 contested marks. His contested mark average of o.3 per game is #38 for all Blues players during this time.
Following this logic, he could never have succeeded as a Carlton premiership captain. His successor should be Matthew Kreuzer, not the current favourite candidates, all shorties, Marc Murphy, Kade Simpson, and Andrew Carrazzo.
However, beware!
Just because something correlates doesn’t means it’s true.
There are a myriad of reasons Judd has not become a premiership captain at Carlton and has now stepped aside; some obvious, some that can only be guessed at, some that will never be divulged, and plenty of pure bad luck.
He is a gold-plated player and individual serving the Blues and the role with great distinction. And he is a proven premiership captain at West Coast (2006, having assumed the role from the disgraced Ben Cousins).
As someone who is credited with igniting the modern day statistics revolution in Australian sport (The Stats Revolution published by Slattery Media), I am constantly bewildered by the selective use and misuse of data by coaches and commentators who are either statistically naive or pushing barrows.
Without the hint of a smile and headlined by major media outlets, newly appointed coach, Mick Malthouse, recently launched the Carlton Blueprint, including statistical benchmarks guaranteeing unprecedented success.
He claimed his superior game plan would improve the team by five to seven percent, “which I think is realistic. I won’t say 10 percent.”
He attributes another three to four percent improvement due to young players getting, “a year older, which is in my favour.”
His special understanding of the AFL fixture and preparation methods is expected to yield him “another two to three percent.”
And finally, better team selection policies and game day rotations will account for an additional, “two to three percent” improvement.
Based on these projections, it would appear Carlton is certain to win every game next season. The premierships cup is already in the cabinet.
How bizarre!
The wonder is the new coach and club is not officially pinged for false advertising.
More convincing than the Blueprint would have been a proper explanation as to why Judd is no longer captain.
So far, all that is offered are diplomatic niceties and weasel words.
The value of captaincy is one of those things that cannot be statistically verified. Only the views of the protagonists can provide insight.
Game theory attributes two main attributes for captaincy.
Firstly, consistency mixed with bursts of inspiration. In this domain, Judd is supreme. He rates highly for the leader who declares “come and follow me into the heat of battle.”
If there is criticism of this form of leadership, it is because teammates can become too dependent upon the leader, or retreat because they cannot meet the high expectation he has shown.
It which case, it is not Judd’s problem. It is a sign others surrounding the captain fall short.
If this is how the new coach and club see it and they are now throwing down the gauntlet by disconnecting the captain, then it should be said.
Otherwise, unfair speculation falls upon the capability and contribution of Judd.
The other main attribute for captaincy is strategic thinking and organisation.
The past three premiership captaincies are rated high in this regard—Nick Maxwell (Collingwood) Cameron Ling (Geelong), and co-captains Adam Goodes and Jarrad McVeigh (Sydney).
How a captain or team leaders deploys this attribute is mostly experienced internally. External observers can gain some insights when the captain is demonstrative on and off the field.
However, reticence and subtle demeanour can also be just as effective (which may be the case with Judd). Unless you are involved intimately with the club and the individual, it is difficult to know the score.
At Carlton (29 games 1967 – 1971), I had the privilege of playing under our revered captain, John Nicholls. Privately, he appeared introverted. On the field, he loomed large.
In the dressing room before my first game, the experienced and debonair centre-half-back, John Goold, sat quietly beside me and said, “If Big Nick says something to you on the field, do it.”
As second rover, for the first centre bounce I attended, Big Nick said, “stand over there.”
The ball hit me on the chest and I was away.
The second time I attended, again Big Nick issued instructions where I should stand.
The ball never came to me.
Afterwards, I asked ‘Gooldy’ what happened.
‘Gooldy’ said, “You were the decoy.”
You can’t put a price or a stat on good captaincy and leadership, but you know when it happens.
The SOC and Our Donations
The SOC past and present has given over $400,000 of donations to the Carlton Football Club over the last five years. The majority has benefited the current playing group who is striving for premiership number 17 for the old navy blues. This major goal is what motivates every past player and official when they are officially part of the club and it motivates every past player and official when they are no longer officially part of the club.
The following list is the amount that the past players and supporters have provided in the past five years. It is substantial and important and was raised by past and present players of the club as well as passionate supporters of the club. It should not be forgotten that the past players association has been donating funds to the club and past players and officials in need for several decades.
We are here to not only support the present and future but also the past and present.
We are all Carlton and every single person who bleeds Carlton should give in their own personal way whether it is by volunteer time, money, attendance or otherwise, we are all Navy Blues and all have a common bond.
Support the club you love in the way you feel most comfortable with and we can all grow the club and each other together.
ALLOCATION OF SOC FUNDS TO CFC SINCE JUNE 2007
- Players room furniture $5,200.00
- Body Flow Recovery Vests $22,000.00
- Ice spa bath – recovery chillers $32,000.00
- Player Compendiums $3,000.00
- Players room stereo unit $6,000.00
- Player room plasma TV Donated by Kevin Heath of Sony
- Development room $28,000.00
- Hi- Tech Treadmill $85,000.00
- Motorized Training Cart $12,000
- Cold Flow Icing Equipment $15,000
- History Management Program $25,000
- Junior Academy Sponsorship $15,000
- New Tech Weights
Management System (Ipad) $29,000
- Players GPS Units $47,000
- 2 x Game Ready Recovery Units $9,200
- Qatar Altitude Training Venture $50,000
Altitude Room Equipment (Oct 2012)
- Touch Screen Player Pro
systems for gym x 2 @ $6k ea. $12,000
- Watt Bikes x 6 @ $2,975ea. $17,850
- Grinders x 2 @ $4,000ea. $8,000
- Versa Climbers x 2 @ $4,500 ea $9,000
- Rowing Machines x 2 @ $3,000 ea. $6,000
Oct, 2012 Total $436,050
UNRAVELLING THE BIZARRE ESSAYS – Big Data; Get It, and Get It Right
By Ted Hopkins
Stemming initially from University research centres, IT houses, business conferences and webinars, the name Big Data has started bobbing up and is spreading fast.
Typical is a recently glossy business magazine, Momentum, produced by the University Of Queensland that is headlined: ‘Big Data, Get it and get it right.’
How bizarre!
Since much of it is huge, difficult to grasp, and then assess.
Getting it is one thing, unravelling it is another.
I should know.
As early as 1995 I saw some of this phenomenon coming.
Instead of Big Data I called it Champion Data, the name of the small sport statistics company specialising AFL that I found and directed, from back then until October 2009.
The enterprise and my involvement subsequently triggered The Stats Revolution, which is the title of the book I have written on the subject, published by Slattery Media.
So much has changed in that period of almost 20 years—the humble statistic is no longer the humble statistic.
A vast difference now exists between Bruce McAvaney quoting archival statistics as embellished punctuation; compared to how numbers are collected, read, interpreted, and presented today.
In many respects, the numbers gathered now by armies of well-trained statisticians, their numbers available in real time, have now become the game and its language.
Players and teams are subjected to constant measurement by coaches, commentators, policy makers, consumers, and more recently fantasy football enthusiasts and betting interests.
The story of how statistics have infiltrated and evolved in AFL, their usefulness and abuse, is similar to other fields of endeavour.
Big Data is going to get bigger, more persuasive, and will not go away. At times it can be fruitful, and often dangerous. In between, there is lots of superfluous and meaningless junk.
To get the picture, let’s start with coaching an AFL team.
There are around 200 full-time coaching professionals spread around the 19 clubs. Add sports scientists, recruiters, and other specialists and the count is in excess of 500 on football department payrolls.
Game day commitments, recovery sessions, RDO’s and ensuring players are not subject to repetitive strain injuries means the actual time spent on the training track is limited.
What happens during the rest of the week?
Play table tennis? Eat lots of toast and jam?
Perhaps!
Mostly, the in-between time is spent sitting in front of computer screens poring over an ever-expanding array of statistics and multiple vision sources, or attending meetings in which PowerPoint has taken over as the Head Coach.
Legions of football coaches, commentators and their respective support staff have now become ‘Professional Analysts’ searching spreadsheets for the ‘data nuggets’ that will confirm their particular point-of-view.
There are even desktop applications that can do it ‘easily’ for them. Suddenly, coaches, commentators and officials can claim the title of ‘data savvy.’ Correlation and data mining are now lingua franca.
But this is just one way of looking at the Big Data question, albeit in its most obvious form.
Like an iceberg, there’s another thing happening under the surface.
It involves teams of highly skilled mathematicians, statisticians, code-cutters, visualisers, interpreters and their respective managers interrogating vast amounts of data.
Their collective priority is listening to what the data says.
Opinion is set aside because it can prove a distraction on the path of discovery. It is far too easy to mistake correlation with causation effects and to find misleading patterns in the data.
The sporting field and databases are rife with imperfections. Error and chance are also vital players.
In this alternative approach to Big Data, knowing the error rate is essential before any declaration of certainty is possible.
AFL season 2013 and the Grand Final provide a choice example of the differences between data used for spruiking or for knowledge.
From season start until the grand final a chorus of coaches and commentators declared ‘contested footy’ was the most critical factor for winning games.
Accordingly, it seemed players willing to use their heads as battering rams, became the way to ultimate success.
However, those who had been ‘listening to the data’ for discovery purposes knew otherwise.
Winning the contested footy count was obviously an advantage, but historically there were several other measures that rate significantly higher.
For example, kicking long to advantage proved consistently highest on the winning radar and poor kicking in the backline the worst thing.
As legendary coach Allan Jeans famously observed long before the advent of computers and Big Data, “there is no point winning the ball unless it is put it to good effect.”
In the grand final Sydney won the long kicks-to-advantage 78 to Hawthorn 53 and lost the contested footy count 140 to Hawthorn 170. They won the flag by 10 points.
How bizarre!
Big Data was right and wrong at the same time, depending on who was listening and who was spruiking.
Ted Hopkins is a Carlton premiership player and founder of Champion Data. His latest enterprize is TedSport, delving into the secrets of Big Data.
RIP Ron Auchettl
By Tony De Bolfo
Ron Auchettl, the 19-game former Carlton ruck-rover who chased the leather through the Barassi years of the late 1960s, has died peacefully at his home in Eden Park at the age of 66.
Raised in the northern suburb of Merlynston, Ron presumably came to the attention of the famed recruiter Newton Chandler, who with the likes of former Carlton footballers Harry Vallence, Ansell Clarke, Stewart McLatchie and Ron Robertson served as talent scouts at the time. Whatever the case, he was part of the Princes Park recruiting intake of ’66 which included Robinvale’s Richard Vandenberg, Irymple’s Maurice Hengson and Maffra’s Bill Bennett, the 17 year-old who would later be part of the 1968 Grand Final triumph.
Ron made his senior debut in the 18th and final round of the ’66 season, having been named 20th man alongside John Morrison for the match against Geelong, which attracted more than 37,000 spectators to Princes Park. Sporting the No. 41 now worn by Levi Casboult, Ron was also amongst the Carlton 22 who confronted the Cats in the 1967 Preliminary Final. Named on a half-forward flank, he would contribute one goal to the Blues’ losing scoreline, in what doubled as 1964 Brownlow Medallist Gordon Collis’ 95thand final senior appearance.
As it happened, Ron’s 19th and final game would also come against the Cats, in the 17th round of 1969 at the same venue, on the occasion of Alex Jesaulenko’s 50th game for Carlton. By then, Auchettl had earned a four-year certificate for services to the club, together with teammates Peter Jones, Ian Robertson and the late Vin Waite.
Having been a runaway winner in his club’s reserve grade best and fairest count in 1967, Ron captained the Blues’ Reserves team in his final season of ’69 – but on the eve of the 1970 season, was cleared to Castlemaine.
The three-time Carlton premiership rover and club best and fairest Adrian Gallagher remembered Ron as a terrific clubman whose opportunities at senior level were few and far between for obvious reason.
“Ron’s favoured position was ruck-rover, but at the time you had Ron Barassi and Sergio Silvagni playing there,” Gallagher said.
“He was a handy bloke to have a round and he would have played more games. He was similarly built to Barassi and Silvagni, but because he was up against ‘Barass’ and ‘Serge’ he was never going to get too many runs.
“Ron was close but not quite there. He played a lot of good reserves games at Carlton and he would have been a good senior player there in any other era.”
A woodwork teacher at Whittlesea Secondary College until his retirement two years ago, Ron was regarded as a disciplined mentor who commanded great respect from his pupils.
Ron’s unusual surname, pronounced ‘Ocker-tell’, was understood to be a derivative of the Italian ‘Ochetto’, which was shelved at some point after the Victorian goldmining days of the 1850s when Ron’s forefathers sailed to Australia from the Ticino region of Italy’s north to stake their claim.
About three years ago, Ron was diagnosed with a form of leukemia which adversely impacted on his kidneys and prompted him to go on dialysis. More recently he developed pneumonia, which prompted his admission to the Alfred Hospital. Desperately ill, Ron rallied there, and was discharged just a few days ago.
Ron’s wish to be home was granted with a peaceful ending, and he died in the early hours of last Sunday morning. He is survived by his wife Lynette, son Peter, daughter Kerrie, daughter Jane, son-in-law Wally, grandson Hayden and twin granddaughters Allison and Annalise.
His funeral is to be held this Friday, December 7, commencing 10.30 am, at Cordell Fawkner Cemetery.
Major Project for Past Players
Over the next two years the Spirit of Carlton in conjunction with the Blueseum will be undertaking a mammoth project that will involve creating highlight videos for as many past players as possible. We are beginning from the 1960s and will gradually work through time. The great advantage of this project is that past players who may never have known there was vision of their playing days will rightly be honoured with an individual video. This will not only be a great thrill for many past players who may never have seen vision of their playing days but also for their families and the greater Carlton supporting community. We hope you enjoy these videos as we regularly release them over the next year or two.
Our first batch of videos includes:
John James
John Benetti
Tom Carroll
Maurie Sankey
Vasil Varlamos
John Reilly
Roger Hoggett
Taming the Tigers Luncheon Videos
We have now fully released the videos on our youtube channel SpiritofCarltonTV. So sit back and enjoy hearing from the past and the present.
Happy 80th Birthday to Ron Rhodes
Happy 80th birthday to Ron Rhodes today.
Ron played a single game for the blues in 1954, unfortunately we have no pictures, no contact details and very little information about Ron. If anyone out there can help us out we would love to be able to contact Ron and let the Carlton football community know more about Ron.
From the Blueseum:
——————-
Ron Rhodes
Career: 1954
Debut and Only Game: Round 11, 1954 v St Kilda, aged 21 years, 228 days
Carlton Player No. 682
Goals: 0
Height: 183cm
Weight: 86kg
DOB: 17 November, 1932
Ron Rhodes ran out in Navy Blue at VFL level for 1 game only, taking the field against the Saints in Round 11, 1954.
Rhodes was recruited from Princes Hill and graduated from the Blues U/19’s to the senior team.
Happy 70th Birthday to Wes Lofts
A very happy 70th birthday to Wes Lofts today!
——————
From the Blueseum.
Career : 1960 – 1970
Debut : Round 6, 1960 vs Geelong, aged 17 years, 194 days
Carlton Player No. 733
Games : 167
Goals : 65
Last Game : Round 22, 1970 vs Melbourne, aged 27 years, 287 days
Guernsey Nos. 47 (5 games) and 20 (162 games)
Height : 188 cm (6 ft. 2 in.)
Weight : 92 kg (14 stone, 7 lbs.)
DOB : November 15, 1942
Premiership Player 1968
Carlton Hall of Fame (1998)
A pivotal figure at the Carlton Football Club for forty years, Wesley Victor Lofts was a tough, uncompromising Premiership full-back, and later, one of the Blues’ most powerful and influential administrators. He first came under notice in 1959, as a seventeen year-old with Carlton’s Under 19 team. Big for his age, with a safe pair of hands and a long, accurate kick, he was fast-tracked through the Reserves, and made his senior debut at centre half-forward against Geelong in round 6, 1960.
Although he began his career in guernsey 47, Lofts was wearing number 20 on his back when Carlton met Essendon in the 1962 Grand Final. Playing at centre half-back, Lofts held the Bombers’ star Ken Fraser goalless, even though Essendon as a team proved too good for the Blues, and won by 32 points. Soon afterwards, when Carlton’s popular full-back Peter Barry announced his retirement, Lofts was pencilled-in as Barry’s replacement. The move was quickly justified by Lofts, who took to the key defensive post as though born to it. At 188 cm and 92 kg he was one of the biggest key defenders in the game, as well as being hard, aggressive, and a good user of the football when he got it.
By season’s end in 1963, he had announced his arrival as a VFL footballer, and capped a good year by being selected in the Victorian state team. The mid-sixties was a dry era for Carlton, when internal squabbles and poor on-field performance culminated in the overthrow of the committee. Then came the sensational defection of Melbourne legend Ron Barassi from the Demons to the Blues. Barassi’s arrival galvanised the club, and built the foundations of two decades of glory for the old Dark Navy Blues. Under Barassi, Carlton climbed back into the finals in 1967, only to tumble out again with two straight losses, yet the signs were good. Lofts continued to play tough, often ruthless football at full-back, and was rewarded with Victorian state selection for the second time.
The Blues sustained momentum throughout the ’68 season, finishing second behind Essendon after the home and away rounds. An impressive five-goal demolition of the Bombers in the second Semi Final then put the Blues straight into another Grand Final. A week later, Essendon comfortably beat Geelong to earn a rematch for the flag, with Carlton suddenly the market favourite. Then, when Lofts’ regular opponent Ken Fraser was ruled out of the decider by injury, the Bombers surprised everyone by naming a slim, spectacle-wearing teenager Geoff Blethyn to play only his third game in Fraser’s place.
It seemed like a mismatch against Lofts, but Blethyn played one of the great Grand Final games. In a dour, low-scoring match, the Essendon tyro kicked four goals in the Bombers’ score of 8.5 (53), although it wasn’t enough. Carlton claimed their ninth flag with a justified, but inaccurate scoreline of 7.14 (56) to scrape in by three points. After eight seasons and three attempts, Wes Lofts had finally achieved his dream of playing in a Premiership team for the Blues.
Two years later, his hopes of a second Premiership medal were dashed when he was left out of Carlton’s team on the eve of the 1970 finals. Blues coach Ron Barassi later explained that the selection committee made the decision to drop Lofts only because of the outstanding form of Collingwood’s star full-forward Peter McKenna, who had troubled Lofts with his pace off the mark in both of their meetings throughout the year, and kicked bags of eight and nine goals respectively. With no second prize on offer on Grand Final day, the Blues simply had to contain McKenna, and were looking for a more pacy opponent for Collingwood’s trump card.
Understandably, Big Wes was gutted, and no doubt wracked by very mixed emotions when McKenna booted another nine goals in the second Semi Final to lead the Magpies to a third straight victory over Carlton – this time by 77 points. Although the Baggers rebounded to thrash St Kilda in the Preliminary Final and earn one last crack at Collingwood, the Pies went into the 1970 Grand Final as overwhelming favourites. At half-time in that amazing game, McKenna had booted five goals and Collingwood led by 44 points. Then came one of the turning points in the history of the Carlton Football Club, and indeed the game as a whole. Barassi rang the changes, brought reserve Ted Hopkins on to field, and told his team to back themselves; to run and keep running – and to “handball, handball, handball”. Carlton came storming back to do the impossible, and snatched the greatest of all Grand Final wins.
The euphoria of the post-match celebrations in succeeding weeks understandably overshadowed Wes Lofts’ decision to retire. Without a lot of fanfare, he called it a day aged 27, after 167 games and 65 goals in ten seasons. His playing days had ended, but his most influential years at Princes Park were still in the future.
In 1978, Lofts was elected to the Carlton committee and appointed Chairman of Selectors. Over succeeding years, while building up a formidable private business profile of his own, he was a driving force in just about every important policy decision taken by the club. It was Lofts who convinced Ian Rice to stand for President in 1980, and it was he who brought business heavyweights John Elliott, Richard Pratt and others to the Carlton board. He retained a strong influence in the recruiting area and deserves a lot of credit for his work in laying the foundations for Carlton’s string of Premierships in 1981, 1982, 1987, and 1995.
When John Elliott was elected President of Carlton in the eighties, he and Lofts began a close working relationship spanning twenty years. For most of that time, it was a period of success and prosperity – until the new century dawned and Carlton’s financial dealings with its players were subjected to intense scrutiny by the AFL. Perhaps the biggest crisis in the long history of the Blues resulted, with the club fined almost one million dollars and denied access to the best young football talent in the country for a period of three years. That double blow resulted in the first two wooden spoons ever for the Blues, and plunged the club into deep financial crisis.
In 2002, John Elliott was voted out of office by the members. Wes Lofts resigned from his position on the Board of Directors shortly before the vote.
Sports visionary Dr. Cheffers dies
By Tony De Bolfo
Emeritus Professor Dr. John Cheffers, the four-game Carlton footballer who won a handsome international reputation as an academic, researcher, coach, author and public speaker, and who served as a Director of the Australian Institute of Sport, has died at the age of 76.
Born in Melbourne on May 13, 1936, John Theodore Francis Cheffers was schooled at Melbourne High and later graduated from the University of Melbourne. A son Andrew described Dr. Cheffers as “a man on a mission” in terms of his commitment to higher knowledge (and more of that later), but there can be no doubting his sporting prowess either.
Recruited to Carlton from Kew Amateurs, Dr. Cheffers was just 18 years and 338 days old when he won a call-up for his first senior match for the old dark Navy Blues, against North Melbourne at Princes Park in the opening round of 1955. That Saturday afternoon he booted two goals from centre half-forward, in what was a comprehensive 69-point rout of the Kangaroos.
Dr. Cheffers wore the No.32 recently vacated by the game’s record holder in the guernsey Bret Thornton. But he unfortunately succumbed to injury (“after a most promising debut” according to Carlton’s 1955 Annual Report) and managed just three more senior appearances in the dark Navy Blue.
Ken Hands, the Carlton captain of that year, recalled the robustly-built footballer in the No.32. “John was a fair-headed fellow, stood about 5’11, played at centre half-forward, but didn’t play a lot. Other than that I can’t tell you that much more,” Hands said.
Though he had dreamed of one day representing his country in the decathlon, Dr. Cheffers’ hopes were dashed when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee just weeks before the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. According to Andrew, “My father was trialling for the Olympics in the long jump, and on one particular jump his knee went the other way and his foot hit his head”.
“With such an injury back then, that was it, yet he actually did play football for a year afterwards at Box Hill, but because he had a limp he had to reinvent the way he played,” Andrew said. “One way to do that was to put the opposition off with his mind games because he couldn’t outrun them.”
Dr. Cheffers later officiated as a fitness advisor at Hawthorn. He also came to prominence as an athletics coach and one female athlete under his tutelage, Jean Roberts excelled as a Commonwealth Games silver and bronze medallist in the discus and shotput through the 1960s and ’70s.
In 1968, Dr. Cheffers was appointed head coach of what was a multi-racial athletics team in Zimbabwe (then known asRhodesia). The team was denied the opportunity to compete in the XIXth summer Olympiad by the Mexican Government and Dr. Cheffers, who strongly believed that politics ought not interfere with sport, penned the book “A Wilderness of Spite: Rhodesia Denied”.
The following year, Dr. Cheffers assumed the role as head athletic coach for the Papua New Guinea team, which he led to the third South Pacific Games in Port Moresby.
Upon receiving his Masters of Education in 1970 and his Doctorate of Education in 1973, both from Philadelphia’sTemple University, Dr. Cheffers relocated to Boston and was headquartered at Boston University. As an SED Professor Emeritus, he founded the BU School of Education’s Tuesday-Thursday Physical Education Program – a program recognized internationally for its unconventional teaching and learning environment.
Having advised the International Olympic Committee and the New England patriots on crowd control, Dr. Cheffers’ views on the issue were much-valued. He was once quoted as saying in The New York Times: “The love-hate relationship which spawns so much violence by fans is often ingrained in our youth by the dubious ethic that finishing first is the most important thing in sports. The result is that many fans are frustrated athletes who simultaneously love and hate the ‘heroes’ they watch in stadiums and arenas. When a team wins, a fan shouting, ‘We’re No. 1,’ really means, ‘I’m No. 1.’ ”
In 1984, Dr. Cheffers assumed the directorship of the Australian Institute of Sport from the inaugural Director Don Talbot and served in that capacity for what would prove an eventful two years. After Dr. Cheffers assumed control, a substantial number of AIS athletes and coaches were named in the Australian contingent for the Los Angeles Olympiad, with a total of 24 medals (four gold, eight silver and 12 bronze) hard won in competition.
Regrettably, the Labor Government’s autumn mini-budget of 1985 proved disappointing, prompting Dr. Cheffers to accuse the House of Representatives Expenditure Review Committee of a “lack of vision” and foul play”. That said, Dr. Cheffers continued to enthusiastically promote the AIS’s cause so that the Institute became a well-known peak body in the eyes of the Australian sporting public, and as Australian Sports Commission CEO Simon Hollingsworth recently observed, he had a marked impact on the AIS and the national high performance sport system during his time in Canberra.
“John was not just an excellent athlete and coach, he clearly was a student of sport and spent his life dedicated to helping others understand the value of sport and develop a passion for it,” Hollingsworth said.
Following his term at the AIS, Dr. Cheffers returned to academia and was elected President of AIESEP (Association Internationale des Ecoles Superieures d’Education Physique). He would serve in that capacity until 1998, which reflected the equally high regard that was held for him across the globe.
Steven Wright, who teaches at the University of New Hampshire, regarded Dr. Cheffers a visionary who “thought outside the box.”
“He had a different view of what physical education could and should be that differed from a lot of his contemporaries,” Wright told The Boston Globe. “He was all about being humanistic and being the best for kids.”
Recently admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Cheffers died in his sleep on October 28 whilst on a plane en route from San Francisco to Sydney with another of his sons, Mark. According to Andrew, “John was four hours out of San Francisco, sitting in first class and halfway to heaven”.
To the end, Dr. Cheffers followed his beloved Blues. “He was a dedicated Carlton supporter and just as dedicated in his hatred of Collingwood,” Andrew said.
Dr. Cheffers is survived by his wife Margaret, sons Paul, Mark and Andrew, daughter Leigh, their spouses and 17 grandchildren. He was buried at Murrumbateman Cemetery in New South Wales on November 5 and a memorial is planned for Endicott College, Massachusetts, in the New Year.
Dr John Cheffers.
The following is an edited version of Dr. Cheffers’ eulogy, recently delivered by his son Mark, which has kindly been made available by the Cheffers family for publication here.
“To begin with, I wanted to relay a story about Dad that I just heard recently. It is about a Melbourne University graduate who was apprenticing his new career as a teacher.
It was his first day as a student teacher and as such was relegated to the back of the classroom under the tutelage of a master teacher. Much to his surprise, this master teacher spent much of his time using a leather strap to routinely smack the young students. They were all terrified.
At some point after watching one of the kids take a particularly nasty belt, this young student teacher stepped forward and took the strap from the master teacher’s hand, refusing after a boisterous exchange to give it back to him. Following this, the master teacher stormed out of the room to the Headmaster’s office to have this young teacher fired for his insolence.
Years of education and commitment had led Dad to this place, and there he was, ready to let it all go for the sake of protecting these students.
Thirty minutes later, the Headmaster came into the classroom and offered the student teacher the job. The Headmaster had not understood what had taken place in that classroom until revealed by the young teacher. The master teacher had been fired and the student teacher was my father.
Now I mention this story because it gives some insight into the man who would later become a tireless advocate for the advancement of higher knowledge in teacher education, women’s place in sports, minorities of all stripes, sports interaction for the disabled, the utilization of sports to enhance the place of third world countries . . . and a loyal friend to so many people around the world.
One of his favourite admonitions to me as I would leave the house as a young man was to always seek to ‘push back the barriers of darkness’. This was an apt saying for his life. He was always trying to push back the barriers of darkness; in sports education, academia and life in general. And one of his other favourite quotes was ‘What then says Plato’s ghost?’, from a Yeats poem you will hear later. This poem takes each point in time that one seems to have been successful and asks ‘What then?’ – you are here, time is short and God has allowed you to stay a bit longer, so what now?’. This was a life’s cause for him, to never stop trying to contribute to the world, no matter his physical state.
So as we consider his life and contribution to the world, what happened to the young teacher? What was his life’s work and passion? Let me give you a few numbers, all of which do not add up to who he was but are instructive nonetheless.
As compiled by my always loyal and dedicated mother, much of which she helped produce, he published 18 books, wrote 42 chapters for books, had 55 articles accepted for publication in scholarly journals and wrote hundreds of articles for daily press publications. In addition, he gave 22 major speeches worldwide, participated in 29 distinguished speakers series, spoke at countless other venues including more than 100 places as the Executive Director of the Institute of Sport. Finally, he prepared five special reports for the International Olympic Committee, had been appointed by five countries including Australia and the United States to assist with Olympic coaching and undertook over 146 international teaching and coaching appointments.
As many of you know, he was busy. He spent 30-plus years at Boston University, retiring as a full professor with the honorary title of Professor Emeritus. He spent almost 20 years as the president of the most prestigious international organization in sports education in the world (AIESEP), retiring from that position with the honour title President Emeritus.
Yes, he was a true ambassador for Australia, having logged by my count more than one million miles in the air. And let me add, I cannot think of a more appropriate way for him to pass into the next world than on a United Flight, in first class, on his way back to Australia, to his family and his home in Murrumbateman.
I think he was looking forward to growling about how badly his old team Carlton had played, or of how his other club Hawthorn, at which he was once head trainer, had fared in the Grand Final. I could go on, but most of you don’t remember him in that way. Most of us remember him as the always irrepressible, gregarious, positive, innovative, loyal and larger than life man that he was. He had a gift for teaching, communication and moving hearts.
He was loyal to a fault and always loved the underdog. I mean, what kind of person in his right mind would take on the role of chief coach in athletics for countries like Papua New Guinea and the Rhodesia? In the 1970s and 80s, who would have taken on the role of fighting the scourge that steroids had become to sports and sportsmanship? I can remember asking him one time about his passion to rid sports of steroids and he simply said to me, ‘Try finding a Russian medallist of a decade ago who is still alive’. What man in the 1960s would have taken on the role of head coach of a women’s track and field team in Victoria? So much of his life was dedicated to advancing the prestige and honour of women in sports, not in a theoretical sense, but in a hands-on way in the trenches. And what man would have moved a major university to allow him to integrate on-site teaching to include both children from the poorest districts in Boston as well as children from the Perkins School for the Blind?
As I look around, I see many of his friends who knew him from each of these aspects of his life. That is why yo are here and again speaking for my family, and the sometimes crusty but always irrepressible old bastard who has left us, I thank you.”
AFL Combined Past Players: Ken McKaige Bowls Day
Calling all past and present players and officials! Here is your opportunity to represent the Carlton Football Club again in competition with the AFL Combined Past Players bowls day where teams compete for the Ken McKaige Cup.
Details of the day are below, please contact Len Davies using the contact details below if you would like to take part in the day. If you are an SOC member we will pay for your participation.
2012 Bowls Day Flyer – November
Happy 40th to Ben Sexton
Happy 40th to Ben Sexton!
From the Blueseum:
Career: 1996
Debut: Round 3, 1996 v Fremantle, aged 23 years, 168 days
1008th Carlton Player
Games: 4
Goals: 1
Last game: Round 14, 1996 v North Melbourne, aged 23 years, 250 days
Guernsey No. 25
Height: 191cm
Weight: 90kg
DOB: 29 October, 1972
Ben Sexton was originally drafted by the Western Bulldogs (then Footscray) who must have been impressed by the performance of Michael Sexton, Ben’s older brother and Carlton star.
Unfortunately for Ben his time at the Western Oval ended a few years later. Sexton played from 1991 to 1995, in this time he played 39 games and booted 32 goals.
Ben was traded to Carlton for James Cook after the 1995 Premiership win, and was welcomed with open arms. It was clear that Carlton were hoping for another Sexton in Michael’s mold. Instead, Ben played only 4 games, mostly in defence. However, he did kick a goal. Another brother Stephen Sexton played at Carlton but only at reserves level in 1995.
Ben was delisted after the 1996 season.
Honorary former Carlton Treasurer dies
By Tony De Bolfo
Noel Ascot Blackburn, the Carlton Football Club’s former Honorary Treasurer and Finance Committeeman through the mid-1970s and early 80s, died in Portland last Sunday at the age of 84.
Blackburn assumed duties as Treasurer from John Perriam (the former Carlton director who still serves the club’s finance department in a part-time capacity) in June 1974 during the reign of George Harris. He came in at a particularly trying time for the club’s administrators, given that the then secretary Bert Deacon – Carlton’s first Brownlow Medallist – had suddenly died whilst in office some five months previous.
Deacon was replaced by Allen Cowie (who himself died in office just two years later) and it was Cowie, according to Perriam, who encouraged Blackburn to join.
“Allen Cowie, Noel and myself all worked at International Harvester . . . that’s how we got to know eachother,” Perriam said.
“At International Harvester in those days there was an internal chief auditor who used to tour the states and Noel was junior auditor to the chief. He was a smart fellow and a good bloke.
“Noel never really followed the football until Allen first joined Carlton in the early 1960s. When Allen got involved Noel became interested and in the end he joined Carlton.”
Blackburn was a Carlton devotee who leant the club countless hours negotiating contracts with some of the club’s true greats of the game including Alex Jesaulenko no less.
At the other extreme, he manned ticketing booths at the club, selling finals admission passes to supporters who had faithfully queued at the ground for hours.
Notwithstanding the on-field achievements which punctuated his time in administration, Blackburn lent his energies as a director of the Carlton Football Club Social Club with the likes of Perc Bentley, Laurie Kerr and Ian Rice. He was also party to the planning for the construction of the old Hawthorn Stand (now the Richard Pratt Stand) at Visy Park.
He was also there when the club successfully negotiated an unprecedented naming rights sponsorship with the American-based AVCO Financial Services Ltd. for what was then the largest sum ever afforded a VFL club – $135,000 over three years.
Blackburn is survived by his wife Bonnie of 59 years, daughters Robyn, Debbie, Suzie and Karen and their partners, and seven grandchildren.
His funeral takes place this Saturday at Portland’s St Stephen’s Anglican Church, commencing at 11.00am, with a private cremation to follow.
Happy 70th Birthday to Ian Collins
Happy 70th Birthday to Ian Collins today!
From the Blueseum:
Career : 1961 – 1971
Debut : Round 1, 1961 vs St Kilda, aged 18 years, 173 days
Carlton Player No. 737
Games : 161
Goals : 49
Last Game : Round 22, 1971 vs Collingwood, aged 28 years, 308 days
Guernsey No. 19
Height : 175 cm ( 5 ft. 9 in.)
Weight : 73.5 kg (11 stone, 8 lbs.)
DOB : 24 October, 1942
Premiership Player 1968
Carlton Hall of Fame (2001)
President: 2003 – 2006
A courageous, uncompromising back pocket in the Blues’ 1968 Premiership team, Ian Collins went on to serve as Secretary-Manager and President through some of Carlton Football Club’s most successful, and later, most turbulent times.
After rejecting overtures from St Kilda and Melbourne, Collins arrived at Princes Park in 1960. He was widely regarded as a ready-made league footballer following an impressive junior career at his home town of Sale in Gippsland, from where he had starred in various representative teams as a quick and skilful centreman or half-forward flanker. At 175 cm and 74 kg he struggled at first to cement a regular place in a team not short of smaller, pacey types, until he was tried as a back pocket in his second year. Almost immediately, he made the last line his territory, and began forging a reputation as a courageous and difficult opponent in the number 19 guernsey.
In 1962 Carlton made the finals after many years in the football wilderness, and played Geelong in the Preliminary Final for the right to meet Essendon for the flag. In a willing, sometimes spiteful encounter, Collins suffered a broken jaw and a split tongue. Carlton won the match, so Collins was determined he would be playing the following week. Somehow, he managed to conceal the severity of the injury, and was far from our worst performer. Essendon, however proved too good.
Six years on, Carlton met the Bombers again for the 1968 Premiership, and turned the tables to claim our first flag in 21 seasons. Collins was solid as always on a great day when wingman Garry Crane was the Blues’ best in a hard-fought three point win. Alongside Collins at full-back as usual was Wes Lofts, and the duo were a daunting proposition. Later, Lofts served as the Blues’ Chairman of Selectors for many years, and he and Collins forged a strong partnership at board level.
Collins might well have collected a second Premiership medal if he had not suffered a serious achilles tendon tear that cost him the entire 1970 football season. While it was a severe blow to his sporting aspirations, the forced holiday did have an upside, in that “Collo” was at least able to complete his tertiary studies in accountancy. The skills he acquired were to prove more than handy when he announced his retirement from league football following the 1971 final series. He was 29, with 161 games and 49 goals to his credit. He spent the following season of 1972 as captain-coach of VFA club Port Melbourne (where one of his players was his former coach at Carlton, Ron Barassi), then hung up his boots for good to prepare for bigger things.
Happy 92nd Birthday to Dan Beauvais
Happy 92nd birthday to Dan Beavais!
From the Blueseum:
Career : 1945
Debut: Round 8, 1945 vs Geelong, aged 24 years, 232 days
Carlton Player No. 607
Games : 4
Goals : 5
Last Game : Round 12, 1945 vs Melbourne, aged 24 years, 260 days
Guernsey No. 17
Height : 187 cm (6 ft. 1 in.)
Weight : 86 kg ( 13 stone, 8 lbs.)
DOB: 20 October, 1920
Dan Beauvais had a brief 4-game career at Princes Park in 1945 – one of the most tumultuous years in history. It was the year when World War II finally ended with the atomic bombing of two Japanese cities, and when the Carlton football club won a famous, controversial seventh VFL flag in the ‘Bloodbath’ Grand Final victory over South Melbourne.
One of ten young men to wear the Old Dark Navy Blue for the first time in 1945 was Dan Beauvais, a 24 year-old from Jeparit who did well when he came off the bench and kicked two goals in Carlton’s good win over Geelong at Kardinia Park in round 8.
Beauvais was rewarded with a place in one forward pocket the following week (alongside Lance Collins and Ron Hines) and put through another three majors during Carlton’s 9-point loss to Footscray at Princes Park. After this sixth loss of the year, the Blues were languishing in ninth place on the ladder, well out of finals contention.
However, a shock win over second -placed North Melbourne at Arden Street in round 10 revived the Blues spirit, especially when Collins returned to form at full-forward and kicked six terrific goals. Beauvais didn’t trouble the scorers that afternoon, but was still a little unlucky to lose his place in the side when the versatile Ken Baxter returned from injury the next week, and Carlton at home beat South Melbourne by six points.
Beauvais spent just that one week in the seconds before he was recalled as 19th man for round 12 against Melbourne. He sat on the pine throughout the game, even as Melbourne rattled home, kicking 4.1 to Carlton’s 2.1 in the last quarter at Punt Road. The Blues held on to win by 1 point, and moved to within 8 points of the top four.
Even so, Beauvais was apparently dissatisfied with his progress at Carlton, and soon afterward decided to switch clubs to Hawthorn. Carlton wanted him to stay, and the matter dragged on for some weeks until Dan was eventually released. Thereafter, while the Blues continued climbing the mountain toward the finals and eventually succeeded, Beauvais joined the Hawks, and played another seven matches before retiring in 1946.
“Our Hero” – the Tommy Downs story
By Tony De Bolfo
He stood just five feet three, but there was a lot of dirt in Tommy Downs . . . and while his time at Carlton only took in 56 games, few before or since can lay claim to causing greater controversy.Born in inner city Fitzroy in 1901, Tommy cut his teeth – quite literally we suspect – at Preston in the rough and tumble of the VFA. These were the immediate years post-World War I, and took Tommy through to 1921 when he joined neighbouring club Northcote.
At Northcote, Tommy won a handsome reputation as a footballer, earning what was then known as the Recorder Cup for competition Best and Fairest player in 1925. In time, Tommy attracted the interest of Carlton’s talent scouts and by early 1927, when the first market tremors hit the United States’ financial markets, he resolved to make a go of it at Princes Park.
At Carlton, Tommy followed in the footsteps of his late cousin Lyle Downs, a more tragic figure there never was. In July 1921, Lyle, then 24, had collapsed and died of a heart attack in the change rooms after being party to an innocuous Thursday evening training session at the old Carlton ground.
It’s fair and reasonable to assume that Tommy’s time at Carlton through the 1927-’29, ’31 and ’33 would have landed him more than his game quota of 56 had he not been suspended for a total of 60 games in all (which is precisely 38 more than our very own David Rhys-Jones).
In all, Tommy had his number taken three times on a total of four charges, and clearly he reserved much of his fire and brimstone for Richmond. On the first occasion, in the 1928 semi-final against the Tigers, he was booked and duly rubbed out for 12 games for striking Jack Fincher (and Richmond’s Allan Geddes copped eight for biffing Tommy).
In the wake of the 1929 Preliminary Final, Tommy was also found guilty on two charges; one of striking, and the other of elbowing Richmond’s Don Harris. With the VFL judiciary under intense pressure to clean up the game, Tommy was used as the scapegoat and copped a whopping 19-game suspension for his troubles.
Then came the ill-fated return match against Richmond at Punt Road Oval in July, when Richmond’s captain Maurie Hunter reeled out a pack, and the field umpire reached for his book.
Found guilty of the worst crime in football – kicking – Tommy was suspended for 29 games, which ruled him out of the remainder of 1931, and all of 1932. But both player and club were united in their belief that Tommy was innocent of the charge, and that he had been convicted on his record rather than the evidence.
Support for Tommy in Carlton town was vociferous. In September of ’31, more than 1000 supporters converged on Princes Park to debate the case and lend morale backing to their beloved Blue. It was reported that at times the then President Dave Crone had difficulty controlling the mob, as devotees criticised the then VFL for failing to quash the verdict and contributed funds to support Downs’
A meeting of Carlton members was also called to protest the decision, and a crowd of around 2000 packed Brunswick Town Hall. Tommy’s case was taken up by Robert Menzies, QC (later Sir Robert, Prime Minister of Australia and Carlton’s No.1 ticketholder). Regrettably there was no avenue of appeal in place at that time, so Tommy and the club were forced to pay a very high price for what turned out to be an umpire’s mistake.
Tommy Downs and his golfing friends enjoy a well-deserved drink.
Some years later, The Sporting Globe published a photograph taken by a Richmond spectator at the match, which clearly showed that it was not Downs who had made contact with Hunter, but a teammate who had accidentally laid boot on the Tigers’ front man.
Despite the massive backlash, Tommy quietly served out his suspension, and came back to play again at Carlton in 1933. By then 32, he managed six games and six goals before retiring for good.
Tommy Downs died at the age of 80 in the Carlton premiership year of 1981. Recently a relative, Anne Downs, came forward with some wonderful images and documents relating to Tommy’s colourful career, including a poem drafted on the eve of his comeback in the ’33 season.
The following poem, entitled Our Hero and penned by a supporter unknown, is an 80-year throwback to Carlton in the days of coach Dan Minogue.
We’re waiting for the coming of our nippy little Rover,
They say that Carlton’s not a team without our Horrie Clover,
True he keeps them firm and steady, helps them take a stand,
But to even things up nicely, needs Downsie there on hand.
He waits his opportunities, and whenever there’s a chance,
He’s got the ball before them, his opponents lend a dance.
We hope he’s feeling fit and fine, before the Tigers he toes the line,
And when he hears the Tigers roar, remember twas them he did penance for,
And show them how to play the game, on him for lameness there’ll be no blame.
Cheers for our Hero, to welcome him back,
For Carlton had yet another trump in their pack.
The Magpies may warble, the Tigers loud roar,
Or any of the others that’s left in the four.
We’ve got what we wanted, our weakness made strong,
We’ll show to each team as we journey along.
Hats off! Cheer again, for premiers to be,
With the help we’ll receive from our Rover Downsie.
Carlton midfielder Max Howell dies
By Tony De Bolfo
Max Howell, the 12-game Carlton centreman who joined the Blues on the end of their premiership season of 1947, has died at the age of 84.
Howell, the Benalla boy who appears in the club’s official portrait of the ’47 Premiership squad, first broke into the Blues’ senior line-up in the seventh round of ’48.
Named on a wing, he got his chance against Melbourne on the MCG after the ’47 Premiership player Fred Fitzgibbon was ruled out with injury. This was Norm Smith’s 200th senior appearance for the Redlegs who duly won by 51 points despite the best efforts of Carlton’s Ollie Grieve on the last line.
Howell managed to hold his place for another week, before Fitzgibbon was declared fit again for round nine. He returned to the reserves, but won a recall to play in the back pocket in three more games mid-season.
Howell managed just three senior appearances in 1949, each as 20th man, then was assigned the roving role by Senior Coach Perc Bentley in the opening round of 1950, once again against Melbourne. He kicked his one and only goal for the Blues that afternoon.
At Princes Park the following Saturday he was part of the winner’s circle after Ray Garby and Ken Baxter each booted five goals in a high-scoring mid-table clash against North Melbourne. Howell lined up at half-forward in that one, but didn’t trouble the scorers.
That would prove to be Howell’s last match for Carlton, and he promptly pursued his career with VFA outfit Oakleigh.
The former Carlton Premiership ruckman and coach Ken Hands, a lifelong friend of Howell’s, conceded that Max was “an in an out one” in his seasons as a player at Princes Park.
“I couldn’t tell you much about Max’s time at Carlton, because he was there all too briefly in the late 1940s,” Hands said. “I know that he went to Oakleigh after he couldn’t cut it at Carlton and was a premiership player there. For a time he also worked at KG Luke’s as a metal spinner before going door-to-door and for many years he was a keen golfer.
“Max was a terrific bloke. He was always spot on – he was never any different. Over the past two years he was in hospital more than anywhere else, but he never gave up and he fought all the way.”
Max is survived by Mavis, his wife of 61 years; sons John and Peter, daughters-in-law Karen and Dianne; and seven grandchildren whom, according to a death notice placed by son John, he brainwashed into barracking for the mighty Blues.