Blog

Another great part of our video archive is revealed with Greg Champion’s rendition of ‘The Ballad of Bruce Doull”.

Please check out the following video on youtube. It is a documentary about Peter Motley and well worth a look.

Thank you to everyone who attended our passionate supporters themed match day function yesterday at the Carlton vs Adelaide game. While the result was far from ideal it was fantastic to see around 100 in attendance on the day. Ian Robertsonwas fantastic as MC and interviewed past players, Lance Whitnall and Jimmy Buckley at half time in the game. There were give-aways of footys and SOC shirts to many of the kids in the room and our raffle which had five prizes was well supported.

 

 

Our next match day event is exclusively for SOC member and is just next week in the game against Melbourne at the MCG.

Premium seats and access to the Past Players Room in the Ponsford stand are available FREE for SOC members, all you need is a ticket/barcode to get into the ground.

Ring Mandy Hunter on 03 9389 6256 before 9am on Wednesday to secure your seats.

Happy 60th to Max today!

 

—————–

From the Blueseum

 
Career: 1974

Debut: Round 15, 1974 v Richmond, aged 22 years, 54 days
Games: 5
Goals: Nil
Last game: Round 19, 1974 v Footscray, aged 22 years, 82 days
Guernsey No. 22
Height: 178cm (5’10”)
Weight: 85 kg (13.7)
DOB: May 20, 1952

Wearing guernsey #22, O’Halloran played 5 games for Carlton after crossing from Footscray in 1974 where he played 13 games for 2 goals in his time at the Bulldogs (1972 to 1974). O’Halloran shared his debut with Alan Mangels.

O’Halloran was originally from Ulverstone in Tasmania.

The Spirit of Carlton Past and Present would like to express our condolences to the family of Les Carr who passed away at the age of 83 last Friday.

His funeral is at Yarrawonga this Wednesday at 2.30 pm.

Les is survived by his wife Betty.

Les played 9 senior games for the Blues in 1947-48.

 

——–

From the Blueseum:

 

Career: 1947-48
Debut: Round 12, 1947 v Melbourne, aged 18 year, 44 days
Carlton Player No. 619
Games: 9
Goals: 0
Last game: Round 13, 1948 v Fitzroy, aged 19 years, 56 days
Guernsey No. 34
Height: 173cm
Weight: 70kg
DOB: 22 May, 1929

Wearing guernsey #34, Carr played 9 games after debuting in Season 1947.

Carr was recruited from Bacchus Marsh.

Happy 60th to David Dickson today!

 

——————–

From the Blueseum:

 

Career : 1972 – 1976
Debut : Round 3, 1972 vs South Melbourne, aged 19 years, 338 days
Carlton Player No. 834
Games : 66
Goals : 23
Last Game : Round 22, 1976 vs Footscray, aged 24 years, 108 days
Guernsey No. 27
Height : 182 cm (5 ft. 11 in.)
Weight : 72 kg (11 stone, 5 lbs.)
DOB : May 12, 1951
Premiership Player 1972

In another vivid example of triumph over adversity, David Dickson overcame a disadvantaged upbringing – and the tragic early death of both of his parents – to play an important role in Carlton’s 1972 Premiership. Four years later, his on-field career was curtailed by a knee injury, so he moved on to coaching, and became an outstanding mentor to a generation of Victoria’s best young players.

Dickson grew up in suburban Coburg, and first attracted the attention of VFA club Preston when he began dominating inter-school matches for Newlands State High School. By 1971 he was a star in the red and white colours of Preston, and it wasn’t long before a number of VFL clubs – in particular Carlton – were taking a keen interest in the fiercely-determined centreman with pace, good foot skills and a happy knack of drawing the football. However, the 19 year-old was a reluctant recruit at first. “I never really wanted to go to Carlton, because I never thought I was good enough,” Dickson said, many years later, “but Bert Deacon and John Nicholls talked me into it, and they became like surrogate fathers to me, because I lost both of my parents at a young age.”

Following an impressive pre-season and a couple of reserves matches, Dickson was selected for his first senior game against South Melbourne at the Lake Oval in round 3, 1972. Wearing guernsey number 27, and sharing the roving duties with Adrian Gallagher, he started with the joy of a six-goal victory. In rounds 4 and 5 he was relegated to the bench, before his breakout match came in a home game for the Blues against Geelong at Princes Park in round 6. Playing on a wing, alongside champion Alex Jesaulenko, Dickson controlled his side of the ground that afternoon and confidently pushed forward to kick three goals, as the Navy Blues destroyed the Cats by 49 points. From then on, and throughout the following two seasons, he was a first-choice senior player.

In October of his debut year, Dickson was one of 20 Bluebagger heroes who wrote their names into football history with a magnificent upset Grand Final victory over Richmond in the highest-scoring VFL/AFL Premiership decider ever played. Despite a gruelling finals campaign that included a draw, and a heavy defeat by the Tigers only a fortnight beforehand, John Nicholls made eight positional changes to his team on Grand Final day and promptly smashed the yellow and black by 37 points. Carlton’s centre line of Dickson, Barry Armstrong and Ian Robertson was supreme for three quarters on that fabulous afternoon, and only eased up in the last term when the game was well and truly won.

Twelve months later, the Blues and the Tigers met again for the ’73 flag, only this time the result was reversed. Hell-bent on revenge, Richmond went hard at the man first and the ball second, and Carlton had no answer. Dickson’s second and last Grand Final as a player ended with the sour taste of a five-goal defeat.

By that stage of his career, ‘Dicko’ had missed only one game in two seasons. However that all went pear-shaped early in 1974 when he strained a knee ligament, was restricted to 16 games for the year, and promptly twisted the other knee. The damage was severe, forcing him into a full reconstruction that wasn’t a complete success. It took almost two years – until round 11, 1976 – for him to fight his way back into Carlton’s senior team, but his knees still weren’t right, and his career at Princes Park ended with a hard-fought draw against Footscray in the last home and away round of the year.

In 1977, Dickson was traded by Carlton to Collingwood in exchange for the Magpies’ veteran full-forward Peter McKenna – a surprise move that David found difficult to accept for some time. In a short stay at Victoria Park he didn’t play a senior match, and like McKenna, had retired from the VFL by year’s end. But he still had a passion for the game, and in 1978 he was appointed coach of the Bayswater Football Club – beginning a new phase of his life that would occupy the next 30 years.

After later coaching Preston (1993), Noble Park, then Balwyn in the Eastern Football League (and taking Balwyn to their first Premiership in 56 years) it was the advent of the elite TAC Cup Under 18 competition in 1992 that brought Dickson’s abilities to fruition. “The TAC Cup was a new concept, and the way to go with modern football development, ” he later explained.

“I spoke to Kevin Sheehan (AFL National Talent Identification Manager) about getting involved, and he said ‘you’re too much about winning ‘Dicko’- we’re about developing players’. A few years later, I was with the Oakleigh Chargers and Kevin rang me and said; `we want you to coach the Victorian Under-18 Metropolitan’. I was really surprised. I didn’t think a young bloke coming out of the commission area of Coburg was able to coach at that level.”

But coach he could, as he ably demonstrated over the next decade, as his representative teams dominated the AFL under-18 National Championships while a long list of players that he had helped develop were drafted by AFL clubs. Between 1997 and 2008, Dickson coached Vic Metro to a staggering 34 wins from 38 matches – and when he retired in July 2008, his team had just won their eighth National Under-18 Championship from the twelve contested since 1997. “I think my time’s up – it’s a younger man’s game,” he said on the day he called time on his coaching career. “To be quite truthful, you’ve got to know when your time’s up. I’ve been doing it for 12 years, and I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved. When I was first appointed, I walked into (former VFL chief executive) Ken Gannon’s office and the first words he said were: ‘If you don’t win the national championships this year, I’ll sack you!’

“Well, we’ve won eight national championships out of twelve, and that’s a great achievement, but we’ve also averaged 17 (drafted) players a year, and in 11 years we’ve had 180 players enter the AFL ranks. No-one else has ever got near that.”

SOC “Thank You to Passionate Supporters” Match day Event

 

CFC v Adelaide at Etihad Sun May 20, Endeavour Room

The SOC wants to pay tribute to and thank the many passionate supporter past  members who have given us and the CFC great support over the past five years.

Please join many past players and officials at this function to celebrate your contribution and enjoy a great game of footy in the comfort of the Endeavour Room at Etihad Stadium.  Get in early.   Tickets including a prime seat are $50 each

 

Round 8, CARLTON vs ADELAIDE CROWS, Etihad Stadium, Sunday May 20, 3:15pm

To secure your tickets to this event please ring Mandy Hunter on 03 9389 6256.

Tickets are available up until 9:00am on the Wednesday before each game.

See you there

Geoff Southby SOC

We are excited to announce that tickets are now available for our huge luncheon on the 3rd of August celebrating the 1972 and 1982 premierships. Our ‘Taming the Tiger’ luncheon will feature John Nicholls and David Parkin as key speakers, so join the ’72 and ’82 premiership teams for a very special event.

To get your tickets download the following form using THIS LINK.

Jean Garby, wife of Carlton’47 premiership player Ray Garby (passed away March 2009) passed away peacefully on May 1, 2012, aged 88 years. Loving wife of Ray for 62 years and mother of two, grandmother of nine and great-grandmother of seven.

Our condolences to the Garby family.