Happy 72nd Birthday to Chris Pavlou
Career : 1958 – 1961
Debut : Round 2, 1958 v North Melbourne
Carlton Player No. 713
Games : 31
Goals : 9
Last game: Round 14, 1961 v Footscray
Guernsey No. 35
Height: 170 cms
Weight: 64 kgs
DOB: August 18, 1939
Chris Pavlou came to Carlton from Frankston and made his debut under coach Jim Francis in 1958. A quick, skilful winger who was soon considered a future star by the Blues, he had his promising career cruelly ended by a serious knee injury in 1961, at just 22 years of age.
After coaching Frankston in 1979, he returned to Princes Park and involved himself in a wide range of club activities on and off the field. An effective, long-serving President of the Carlton Past Players Association, he was later elected to the Club’s Board of Directors.
Fraser Brown
Career: 1989 – 2000
Debut: Round 1, 1989 vs Footscray
954th Carlton Player
Games: 177
Goals: 99
Last Game: Preliminary Final, 2000 vs Essendon
Guernsey No. 20
Height: 181cm
Weight: 90kg
DOB: 18 August, 1970
Premiership Player: 1995
Best and Fairest: 1998
Fraser Brown was not just a Club Favourite or a hard-at-it midfielder, he has become part of footy folklore after his game-saving pile-driving tackle of despised Bomber Dean Wallis to take the Blues through the Preliminary Final against the fancied Essendon team and allow us to play-off for the Premiership in the 1999 Grand Final. More on Brown’s exploits on this day are explored in the exclusive Blueseum article – ‘Bomber Blues’.
The shaggy-haired Brown, who wore #20 in 177 games for the Blues, was a tough and fair midfielder with the occasional stint forward. He was a solid ‘inside’ midfielder with creative disposal, but lacked a yard in pace. And when we say ‘solid’ we mean ‘brick solid’ given his 90 kilo, 181 cm frame. He formed an amazing engine room with other Legends Greg Williams and Brett Ratten, providing considerable ball winning ability to the Carlton teams of the 1990’s.
23 games in each of 1993 and 1994 at over 20 possessions a game showed the worth of “Dog”, but he increased that in our Premiership Year of 1995. The mind goes back to the week before the Grand Final when there was a picture of Dog in one of those oxygen chambers, in an effort to get his ankle up & ready for the game. 21 stats in the big day was a great effort and Brown would win his only premiership for the Blues.
Big games midfield were interspersed with the occasional star game up forward, including kicking 7.0 against the Tigers in 1994. Brown was a very accurate kick with a distinctive running shuffle and deliberate ball drop.
He had an excellent season in 1998, taking out the Best & Fairest, and then a strong 1999 including his heriocs later in the year. He continued playing until Season 2000, playing 10 games but missing a fair part of that season through suspension and injuries before moving into a career of property development.
Brown was originally from Lilydale. His career would have been even greater had it not been for consistent hamstring and back problems (and the occasional suspension)! But his efforts in our great teams of the 1990’s, and of course in the ’99 Prelim, were duly recognised when “Dog” was inducted into the Carlton Hall of Fame in 2006.
Thanks to the Blueseum for player bios and pics.