Life Members gather in lead-up to AFL Round 1

PICTURED below are 63 Life Members of the Carlton Football Club, all posing for the mandatory team photograph to round out Carlton’s annual Life Members Luncheon at Kew Golf Club.

In attendance were former club officials, staff members and players honoured with Life Membership, from John Nicholls in 1965 through to Matthew Kreuzer in 2015.

Thirty-five premiership players – amongst them the four-time premiership greats Wayne Johnston, Peter Jones and David McKay – were there, together with 10 club best and fairests including the five-time winner John Nicholls after whom the award is named and the Club’s Brownlow Medallist Greg Williams.

The Life Members pictured in the team photo underneath the third paragraph are as follows:   

Standing left to right: Robert Walls, Jim Buckley, Dennis Munari, Mario Bortolotto, Lewis Bearman, Don Mathieson, Vince Loccisano, Sam Salamone, Marcus Rose, Craig Bradley, Matthew Kreuzer, Fraser Murphy, Rod Austin, Peter McConville, Andy Lukas, David Dickson, Trevor Keogh, Frank Brosnan (partially obscured), Peter Newbold, Laurie Carter, Mike Fitzpatrick, Rohan Bromley, Richard Newton, Barry Gill, Robbert Klomp, Stephen Kernahan, Neil Chandler, Marcus Clarke, Tom Alvin, Ian Wotherspoon, Ray Gilbert (partially obscured), Phil Maylin, David Rhys-Jones (partially obscured), Wayne Gilbert, Barry Armstrong, Adrian Gleeson, Phil Pinnell, Peter Kerr and Adrian Gallagher. 

Middle row: (kneeling) Bryan Quirk, (seated) Don Hall, David Nettlefold, George Varlamos, ?Ted Hopkins, David McKay, Syd Jackson, Peter Jones, David Parkin, Col Kinnear, Gordon Newton, Lionel Watts and Alan Espie (partially obscured). 

Front: Wayne Johnston, Alex Marcou, Shane Robertson, David Glascott, Shane O’Sullivan, Sharon McColl, Greg Williams, Stephen Gough and Greg Lee. 

Also present were premiership coaches Nicholls, David Parkin and Robert Walls; premiership captains Nicholls, Mike Fitzpatrick and Stephen Kernahan; and Norm Smith Medallists David Rhys-Jones and Williams.

Joining them all at the luncheon, underwritten by the Club, was Carlton President Luke Sayers.

Former Carlton CEO Stephen Gough, who together with Shane O’Sullivan, Sharon McColl and Frank Brosnan form the Life Members Committee which organised the event, said that the Luncheon provided Life Members across the decades with an opportunity to come together in a relaxed and informal manner.

“We actually cover Life Memberships from as far back as 1965, and all of the past eight premierships from 1968 onwards,” Gough said.

“The Luncheon is a great get-together which draws people back every year. We’ve managed three get-togethers in over four years due to Covid, which isn’t bad.

“Nobody has to get up to join a panel or wait for a raffle. The Luncheon basically serves as a day of reminiscing, of remembering old times. It’s a fantastic initiative by the Club, which recognises that Life Members are a very important part of the Club’s DNA and will be supported – so to Mark LoGiudice and now Luke Sayers, we’re very thankful.”

First-time attendees Marcus Clarke, Barry Gill, Syd Jackson, Matthew Kreuzer and Robert Walls were formally welcomed, and the recently-deceased Life Members Geoffrey Edelsten, John Elliott, Henry Gardner, Mark Naley, Alan Rees, Eric Salter and Sergio Silvagni were remembered, as was the late Graeme Whitnall.

See below for more photos from the day: all images courtesy of Vicki Walsh Photography.