John Leatham’s 70th

Happy 70th birthday to John Leatham.

—————-

From the Blueseum.


Career : 1967
Debut : Round 3, 1967 vs North Melbourne, aged 20 years, 249 days
Carlton Player No. 796
Games : 2
Goals : 0
Last Game : Round 4, 1967 vs Melbourne, aged 20 years, 256 days
Guernsey No. 45 (1967).
Height : 183 cm (6 ft. 0 in)
Weight : 76 kg (12 stone, 0 lbs.)
DOB : 23 August, 1946

Only the second Blue to wear guernsey number 45 in a senior game for Carlton (after Gil Lockhart in 1966) John Leatham was a speedy wingman recruited from Maffra Rovers in the North Gippsland Football League. He donned the navy blue strip for two consecutive games early in 1967, but couldn’t settle in at Princes Park, and his career was over by season’s end.

Leatham made his debut for Carlton against North Melbourne at Princes Park in round 3, 1967. His centreline partners on that cloudy afternoon were Ian Robertson and Cliff Stewart, and the Blues ran out comfortable winners by 16 points.

The following week in round 4, Carlton’s unbeaten run continued when a sharp Blues combination shook Melbourne off early in the contest, and then thrashed the Demons by ten goals. Although just about every Bagger got a swag of possessions, the match committee still made changes for round 5, and Leatham was one of those omitted.

No doubt deeply disappointed, he played only one or two further Reserves matches before deciding to forsake the dream of VFL football, and was back playing in the country only a few weeks later.

Here at the Blueseum, we believe that John was the first ex-player to contribute information to his own biography – and for that we are most grateful.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *