You could forgive one of the young player’s on Carlton’s list for not giving much thought to Bob Chitty while running around on the training track or playing in front of thousands of supporters at a game. After all, Chitty’s exploits for the Blues were in the distant past in the 1930s and 1940s with little connection to the players of today.
The current day playing list may be surprised to know there are as little as six kicks of separation from them to the era of Bob Chitty. Carlton players past and present are much more connected than we may think. To illustrate this example for each ‘kick’ to occur each player must have played in the same senior Carlton team.
Here is the timeline.
1. Andrew Carrazzo, team-mate with Anthony Koutoufides in the round 21 match of 2004.
2. Anthony Koutoufides, team-mate with Stephen Kernahan in the round 13 match of 1992.
3. Stephen Kernahan, team-mate with Bruce Doull in the round 1 match of 1986.
4. Bruce Doull, team-mate with John Nicholls in the round 5 game of 1969.
5. John Nicholls, team-mate with Ken Hands in the round 1 game of 1957.
6. Ken Hands, team-mate with Bob Chitty in the round 5 game of 1945.
Bob Chitty debuted for Carlton in Round 7 of 1937.
Here is an artist’s impression of what this may have looked like.