25th May: Alex and Hal Hanton
89 YEARS OF AGE!
Alex and Harold Hanton lock hands as they pose for the camera . . . and there’s a glorious symbolism in it all.
For the identical twins – whose lives have been shaped by the bleak ordeals of The Great Depression, the horrors of world conflict, and the relative diversions of post-war Princes Park – togetherness has undoubtedly proved the survival mechanism.
The recent years have not been easy. The brothers, now closing in on their 89th birthday – are both blind, and Harold is confined to a wheelchair thesedays – not that those physical impositions have tinkered with their recollections.
Harold Roy and Alexander George Hanton were born in Frankston on May 25, 1922. Harold preceded Alex by 20 minutes.
Two years later the Hanton family relocated to inner city West Brunswick, and in time the twins chased the leather for St David’s in the local Church football competition.
In August 1942, Alex and Harold enlisted for wartime duties in Western Australia, as signalmen for the Army’s B Australian Corps. Service would take them to Townsville, the tip of Cape York, back to Melbourne, and finally to Bougainville, before their discharge in 1946.
By then they’d participated in many a wartime scratch match with League luminaries – the likes of Les Foote, “Tarzan” Glass, Denis Cordner and the great Laurie Nash.
Alex relates a terrific tale of the time he and Nash crossed paths on a football field, in Townsville of all places, when brotherly love intervened. To read the full article click here.
27th May: Ted Hopkins
Playing Career : 1968 – 1971
Debut : Round 8, 1968 vs Fitzroy, aged 19 years, 14 days
Carlton Player No. 805
Games : 29
Goals : 10
Last Game : Round 1, 1971 vs North Melbourne, aged 21 years, 310 days
Guernsey No. 7
Height : 177 cm (5 ft. 9½ in.)
Weight : 68 kg (10 stone, 9 lbs.)
DOB : May 27, 1949
Premiership Player 1970
“Get ready, Teddy – you’re on”. These five words, barked by Blues’ coach Ron Barassi to 19th man Ted Hopkins at half-time in the 1970 VFL Grand Final, were the catalyst for one of Carlton’s greatest victories.
Our opponent Collingwood went into that epic final as hot favourites. The Magpies had beaten the Blues comfortably twice in the home and away rounds, and again a fortnight previously in the second semi-final. In the Grand Final they dominated the first half to lead by 44 points at the long break. In the Magpie rooms during the long break, the champagne was already on ice, and the back-slapping had begun. Collingwood and its throngs of delirious supporters believed that at last, they had another Premiership in the bag.
In the Carlton rooms, Barassi was praying for a miracle, and decided to gamble on a bold tactic he had been nurturing for years. He told his team to abandon the defensive side of their game, and to attack at every opportunity – from everywhere on the ground – using handball and hard-running teamwork to unsettle their opponents. He moved star ruckman John Nicholls to full-forward, Alex Jesaulenko to centre half-forward, and brought blonde rover Ted Hopkins onto the field in a forward pocket. For more read…… here.
27th May: Peter Hall
Career : 1971 – 1974
Debut : Round 12, 1971 vs North Melbourne, aged 19 years 22 days
Carlton Player No. 829
Games : 36
Goals : 13
Last Game : Round 20, 1974 vs Fitzroy, aged 22 years, 81 days
Guernsey No. 31
Height : 182 cm (5 ft. 11 in.)
Weight : 80 kg (12 stone, 8 lbs.)
DOB : May 27, 1952
Peter Hall was a classy utility who won Castlemaine Football Club’s Under 19 Best and Fairest award in 1969. That fine season by the 17 year-old impressed Carlton’s scouts, including our Chairman of Selectors Jack Wrout, who was very keen to get the youngster into the Old Dark Navy Blue.
Hall told Wrout that his main aim in life was to obtain a University degree or two, but while he was studying, he would be happy to pull on his boots for Carlton. He enrolled in an Arts Degree course at Monash University in 1971, and played his first match for the Blues in June of that year against North Melbourne at Princes Park. Carlton dominated all day to thrash the ‘Roos by 91 points, with rugged full-forward Ricky McLean kicking seven goals.
While Hall was a stylish player with good pace and balance, he was more at home in the spaces of a half-forward flank than taking on the ruck-roving role he was expected to compete for. Carlton’s brilliant midfield division of that time boasted the names Jesaulenko, Gallagher, Keogh, Robertson, Quirk, Chandler and three or four others, so places in the side were hard earned……
In 1988 – on the back of his high profile and sporting success – he stood for election to Parliament as a National Party candidate and won his seat with a comfortable majority. Since then, he has risen to hold a number of senior positions with the Nationals – in particular, as Party Leader in the Legislative Council, holding the shadow portfolios of Education and Resources and Environment. On election to Government in November 2010, Peter was appointed Minister for Higher Education and Skills and Minister responsible for the Teaching Profession. For more read …. here.
28th May: Matt Clape
Career : 1995 – 1998
Debut : Round 1, 1995 vs Collingwood, aged 25 years, 308 days
Carlton Player No. 1002
Games : 58
Goals : 48
Last Game : Round 10, 1998 vs Brisbane, aged 29 years, 1 day
Guernsey No. 6
Height : 187 cm (6 ft. 1 in.)
Weight : 86 kg (13 stone, 8 lbs.)
DOB : 28 May, 1969
Premiership Player 1995
There are lots of great stories in footy; some obvious – like Premierships, great careers, wins from behind – and then there are some that you have to think about a bit more, like when a player is discarded by one club, and goes on to be a star somewhere else. The Matt Clape story fits squarely into this latter category.
Originally from East Perth, Clape was a lively, mid-sized forward who played 29 matches for the West Coast Eagles between 1992 and 1994 without claiming a place in either of their two Premiership teams. Despite misgivings among the Eagles’ coaching staff, he was then delisted, and picked up by the Blues in the 1995 Pre-Season Draft, along with Glenn Manton from Essendon. Both players proved to be great acquisitions, and key players in the mighty 1995 Premiership win by Carlton over Geelong.
At first Clape was groomed as a defender by the Eagles, but couldn’t cement a regular place in their team that was rich in similar types. When he played only six matches in 1994 it seemed obvious that his time was up with the Eagles, although coach Mick Malthouse later admitted that after Matt was discarded, he hoped that the decision “wouldn’t turn around and bite us on the bum,” which indeed it did. For more read …. here.
30th May: Kris Massie
Career: 1998-2001
Debut: Round 8, 1998 vs West Coast
1026th Carlton Player
Games: 43 (Carlton) (131 Overall)
Goals: 12 (Carlton) (TBD Overall)
Last Game: Round 11, 2001 vs Richmond
Guernsey No. 3
Height: 188cm
Weight: 83kg
DOB: 30 May, 1980
AFL Rising Star Nominee: Round 20, 1998
Taken with Pick #7 in the 1997 National Draft, from the Dandenong Stingrays, Massie was a star Centre Half Back in school (Glen Waverley High School) and junior league football. Originally likened to Carlton legend Stephen Silvagni for his bow legs, long hair and occasional brilliant and desperate marking, Massie was expected to become a key defender for the next decade.
At 188cms, this was going to be difficult. Massie didn’t grow any more, and the Blues set about using him as a half back flanker and occasional midfield tagger. Some promising games and a Rising Star nomination on the one hand, a fair few games in the reserves on the other: Massie showed a bit but not enough to command a spot in the team. Injuries didn’t help either. For more read … here.
31st May: Justin Madden
Career : 1983 – 1996 (On the list in 1997)
Debut : Round 7, 1983 vs Sydney, aged 21 years, 341 days
Carlton Player No. 909
Games : 287
Goals : 170
Last Game : Semi Final, 1996 vs Brisbane, aged 35 years, 106 days
Guernsey No. 44
Height : 206 cm (6 ft. 9 in.)
Weight : 107 kg (16 stone, 10 lbs.)
DOB : 31 May, 1961
Premiership Player 1987, 1995
Best and Fairest 1985, 1991
All Australian 1987, 1995
For much of the 1980’s and 1990’s, Justin ‘Harry’ Madden was seen as the goofy giant in Carlton’s number 44 guernsey; a smiling, good-natured, loping giraffe of a footballer who never seemed to take the game – or his participation in it – very seriously at all. Laconic, and with a wry sense of humour that made him enormously popular with supporters and team-mates alike, ‘Harry’ always claimed that someone as awkward and uncoordinated as him was a blight on the game.
The real truth is that Madden was one of Carlton’s great ruckmen; a 206-centimetre beanpole with outstanding tap skills, strong hands and a reliable left foot when shooting for goal. In a marathon 18-year AFL career that began at Essendon and flourished at Carlton, Harry played 332 senior games and kicked 190 goals between 1980 and 1996. Included in that tally were four Grand Finals, highlighted by Carlton Premierships in 1987 and 1995. He was voted Best and Fairest for the Blues twice, All Australian twice, and in 1985 went within one vote of sharing the Brownlow Medal with Footscray’s Brad Hardie. For more read …. here.
31st May: Stephen Silvagni
Career : 1985 – 2001
Debut : Round 7, 1985 v Sydney, aged 17 years, 346 days
Carlton Player No. 927
Games : 312
Goals : 202
Last Game : Semi Final, 2001 v Richmond, aged 34 years, 107 days
Guernsey No. 1
Height : 194 cm
Weight : 99 kg
DOB : 31 May, 1967
Premiership Player : 1987, 1995
Best and Fairest : 1990, 1996
All Australian : 1988, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999
VFL AFL Team of the Century: Full Back
Team of the Century: Full Back
Carlton Hall of Fame: 1996
VFL AFL Hall of Fame: 2005
Victorian State Player: 1988, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999
Mark of the Year: 1988
Track watchers at Carlton Football Club in the early 1980’s would have noticed a young Stephen Silvagni eagerly helping out at most training sessions. Whether it was retrieving footballs from over the fence, kicking end-to end with the players, or even helping to serve up the after-training meal, the skinny, dark-haired son of assistant coach and club selector Serge Silvagni spent much of his spare time at Princes Park.
It was a fabulous era for the Old Dark Navy Blues, with three Premierships in four years from 1979 to 1982. And it was a time of inspiration for the boy who would go on to forge his own magnificent career – one that would later see him recognised as one of the legends of the game. While Stephen’s formative years were spent in the close presence of some of Carlton’s greatest players (including his own father) Sergio and mum Rita deliberately kept Stephen’s football education low key. They encouraged their son to place his emphasis on his studies at Marcellin College, Bulleen while confining himself to school football. For more read …. here.