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Player interactions over the years

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KohPhi

KohPhi

Brownlow Medallist
Sweet F.A. 300+ Games Played in the SFA Veteran 10k Posts Longest SFA Game Thread Ever Baghdad Bombers - Sweet F.A. SFA Bushfire Appeal SFA Good Friday Appeal drazah memorial Beyond Blue donor
Jul 24, 2015
23,865
98,421
AFL Club
Carlton
Yep... another typical thread to help us (well maybe me) pass the time till we see some footy action.
Very simple, what are some of your experiences meeting our Blue heroes
For mine;
Positive
Peter Dean was an absolute ripper and had a few beers with him in the Social Club in the 90's.
Tony Lynn was an absolute star off the field as well.
Not a Blue but I spent some time with Fraser Gehrig in QLD a few years back and was a ripper.
Negative
Tommy Alvin was a flog.
 
Ripping idea KohPhi!

Matty Hogg was a friend of a friend. I was at a party one night and he was there. We had both had a few and I cornered him about the 99 Prelim and what he said to Bewick when he went onto him in the third quarter from memory. We also had a chat about his scuffle with Brian Royal. Lovely bloke.
 
HARKER said:
Not happy with a certain AFL player that kept hitting on my wife.
Well, there were a few but one was particularly persistent.

Met plenty of AFL players but Brendan Gale was a particularly impressive individual.
Click to expand...

How torn would you be if it was Cripps hitting on her....
 

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I had John Elliot hit on my wife in the Social Club one night even though he had seen us obviously together. The look on his face when she burst out laughing was priceless. She then patted him on his shoulder and walked away. He got so angry..Started walking up to us and one of his cronies whispered something in his ear and he quickly turned around and left.
At the time, I was having a beer with a now deceased Carlton supporting "colourful identity" that I knew through local footy.
To say good ole Johnny boy changed his tune very quickly is an understatement! :p
 
Fetched tennis balls for Wayne Harmes and Jimmy Buckley who were having a social game of tennis in 1979 and my footy team was coached for a day by Vincent Catoggio in 1980. Spent some time with Alan Mangels as part of my work a few years back.
 
I've been lucky enough to work closely with many past players through the Blueseum and the Spirit of Carlton for about 10 years. Would have personally met or had correspondence with between 200 and 300 of the Blues past players over the years.

As a general rule they are great people to interact with. The exceptions to the rule really are a tiny minority when you compare it to other similar cohorts in society.

I especially love talking to the older generation about what the club was like and their experiences with it in the old days. The late Alan Greenshields was a true gentleman and a wonderful person to talk with. Other blokes such as Bill Redmond, Ron Robertson, Ken Hands, Ken Hopper and others are regulars at the club for SOC functions even though they played for the Blues in the 40s and 50s.

There are a few special mentions as past players who have spent a lot of time behind the scenes basically as volunteers spending hours of their time helping the club and fellow past players in everything from fundraising to player welfare. Some of the work they volunteer to do is not the most glamorous type of work you can think about, but they still do it year in year out to help out the club.

Blokes like David McKay, Geoff Southby, Brett Scholl, Matthew Hogg, Dennis Munari, Ken Sheldon, Alex Marcou, Mark Maclure, David Parkin, Mil Hanna, Ian Collins, David Rhys-Jones, Jimmy Buckley, Mark Naley, Ken Hunter, Spiro Kourkoumelis, John Nicholls, Richard Dennis, Ross Ditchburn and I have probably missed a few have all put in extra effort for the club behind the scenes and do it from a love of the club.

I can give a little insight into some of the past players I have had the most involvement with -

David McKay - A very intelligent man with whom you can talk about politics, finance and any number of topics for hours. Takes no prisoners in his humour and opinions and one of the true pioneers in AFL player unions and the eventual AFLPA.

Geoff Southby - Much like his playing days this is a man who just gets the job done. Geoff would have put in thousands of hours of work behind the scenes at the club since his playing days, a lot of it pretty dour, like taking minutes and making sure others were doing what they needed to do. Geoff is one of those rare individuals who never fails to say thanks in reply with an email.

Alex Marcou - This is the sort of bloke you need around you all the time. He is a ball of positivity and makes everyone around him feel like they are 10 feet tall. I can see why the 79-82 teams were so successfull with blokes like Alex around the group.

Ian Collins - I know many here have strong opinions on Ian either way, but I can tell you from personal experience and hearing many many stories about how the club and the AFL was run when Ian was around that his one true love is the Carlton Football Club. In recent years Ian has been very generous in the time he has given to the Spirit of Carlton, he could be off laying on the deck of a cruise ship every day if he wanted, but he still gets in early mornings and helps out where he can. The most knowledgable person I have ever met with respect to the history of the club. If I could mine his brain for the Blueseum it would be 10 times the website it is today, he knows everything, including much of the history before his time at the club.

Jimmy Buckley - I would classify Jimmy Buckley as having the sharpest mind of any Carlton past player I have met (make that anyone I have met really). He is one of those special people with a photographic memory, while this helps amazingly with the hundred of hilarious stories he can recite from 30 and 40 years ago like they happened yesterday there is a lot more to it. I used to have a few beers in the social club in the 1990s and Jimmy would be there and I would occasionally have a casual chat. But is was not until 10 years ago that I met him in an official sense working for the Spirit of Carlton. Now I am just a pleb, a supporter and 99% of the time I get introduced to a past player and then meet them again several months later I have to introduce myself again, this is normal anywhere. Not with Jimmy though, we probably only saw each other once every 6 months at the beginning and he knew my name at every meeting. I see him more often now and you can see how his mind operates, he is one of the most perceptive people I have ever met.

John Nicholls - Very generous guy who loves the history of the club. Always there when the club needs it even now.
 

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SpiritOfCarlton said:
I've been lucky enough to work closely with many past players through the Blueseum and the Spirit of Carlton for about 10 years. Would have personally met or had correspondence with between 200 and 300 of the Blues past players over the years.

As a general rule they are great people to interact with. The exceptions to the rule really are a tiny minority when you compare it to other similar cohorts in society.

I especially love talking to the older generation about what the club was like and their experiences with it in the old days. The late Alan Greenshields was a true gentleman and a wonderful person to talk with. Other blokes such as Bill Redmond, Ron Robertson, Ken Hands, Ken Hopper and others are regulars at the club for SOC functions even though they played for the Blues in the 40s and 50s.

There are a few special mentions as past players who have spent a lot of time behind the scenes basically as volunteers spending hours of their time helping the club and fellow past players in everything from fundraising to player welfare. Some of the work they volunteer to do is not the most glamorous type of work you can think about, but they still do it year in year out to help out the club.

Blokes like David McKay, Geoff Southby, Brett Scholl, Matthew Hogg, Dennis Munari, Ken Sheldon, Alex Marcou, Mark Maclure, David Parkin, Mil Hanna, Ian Collins, David Rhys-Jones, Jimmy Buckley, Mark Naley, Ken Hunter, Spiro Kourkoumelis, John Nicholls, Richard Dennis, Ross Ditchburn and I have probably missed a few have all put in extra effort for the club behind the scenes and do it from a love of the club.

I can give a little insight into some of the past players I have had the most involvement with -

David McKay - A very intelligent man with whom you can talk about politics, finance and any number of topics for hours. Takes no prisoners in his humour and opinions and one of the true pioneers in AFL player unions and the eventual AFLPA.

Geoff Southby - Much like his playing days this is a man who just gets the job done. Geoff would have put in thousands of hours of work behind the scenes at the club since his playing days, a lot of it pretty dour, like taking minutes and making sure others were doing what they needed to do. Geoff is one of those rare individuals who never fails to say thanks in reply with an email.

Alex Marcou - This is the sort of bloke you need around you all the time. He is a ball of positivity and makes everyone around him feel like they are 10 feet tall. I can see why the 79-82 teams were so successfull with blokes like Alex around the group.

Ian Collins - I know many here have strong opinions on Ian either way, but I can tell you from personal experience and hearing many many stories about how the club and the AFL was run when Ian was around that his one true love is the Carlton Football Club. In recent years Ian has been very generous in the time he has given to the Spirit of Carlton, he could be off laying on the deck of a cruise ship every day if he wanted, but he still gets in early mornings and helps out where he can. The most knowledgable person I have ever met with respect to the history of the club. If I could mine his brain for the Blueseum it would be 10 times the website it is today, he knows everything, including much of the history before his time at the club.

Jimmy Buckley - I would classify Jimmy Buckley as having the sharpest mind of any Carlton past player I have met (make that anyone I have met really). He is one of those special people with a photographic memory, while this helps amazingly with the hundred of hilarious stories he can recite from 30 and 40 years ago like they happened yesterday there is a lot more to it. I used to have a few beers in the social club in the 1990s and Jimmy would be there and I would occasionally have a casual chat. But is was not until 10 years ago that I met him in an official sense working for the Spirit of Carlton. Now I am just a pleb, a supporter and 99% of the time I get introduced to a past player and then meet them again several months later I have to introduce myself again, this is normal anywhere. Not with Jimmy though, we probably only saw each other once every 6 months at the beginning and he knew my name at every meeting. I see him more often now and you can see how his mind operates, he is one of the most perceptive people I have ever met.

John Nicholls - Very generous guy who loves the history of the club. Always there when the club needs it even now.
Click to expand...

I saw Kouta walking down Lygon St once.



I think it was Kouta?
 
Excellent topic. Really great idea...

Over the years I've met a few...
met Sticks and Diesel at a job I had as a young man. Formal wear hire. They had to return to my work to pick up their tuxedos. I printed out a picture of each of them and put it in a single frame next to each other. Not before I got them to sign them...
"To a great bloke a footballer, keep kicking those goals, Stephen Kernahan"
And...
"To the man who taught me everything I know, Greg Williams"

Yep! I made them write those things. I have it stored away somewhere. I'll find it and post a pic...
 
Along with Sticks and Diesel, I've met and chatted with...

Fraser Brown
Ratts
Alex Marcou
Dean Rice
Ange (woof) Christou (dated a friend of mine many years ago)
Kouta (spent almost an hour talking footy with my son. Just an absolute gentleman)
David Parkin. (Spoke about my 1995 letter)
Brent Heaver

Almost forgot. When I used to drink, I had a big night out chatting and drinking with Mark Maclure. The first words that slurred out of my drunken mouth were...
"Hey... do you know who you used to be?..."
I then proceeded to "take a specky" on him and shouted "Maaaacluuuaaaarrrrr!!!"
 
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Soapy V said:
I spent a year playing footy in brisbane in the 80's with "Alby". Ripping bloke. Was a sales rep for a chemical company?
Click to expand...

He was the owner of his own company when I dealt with him.
 
Went to a trivia night at some hotel (maybe Sheraton) in 94 or 95 and Brad Pearce, Kouta, Ange and Glenn Manton were all on our table.
Ange and Kouta were just a couple of young Northern Suburbs "wogs", Manton was odd and Pearce was just Pearce. Fun night..
 

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Went to a Carlton function last year.

Spoke to a bunch of players, but Doc stood head and shoulders above the rest.

Very well spoken, mature, amiable, open. Sense of humour too.

Couldn't believe he was only 22. Only one conversation, but got the feeling he would make anyone talking to him feel comfortable.

Chatted to bolts. Spoke in his usual idioms, but you could smell the enthusiasm and passion. You can tell he's a 'leave no stone unturned' kind of guy and won't take any shortcuts.
 
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Not quite as glamorous, but was seated next to Setanta on a Melb-Syd flight about a year ago.

I got so excited, until he sat down, put on massive headphones and closed his eyes. All he was missing was a 'do not disturb' sign.

I so wanted to chat to him, but I took his cue and left him in peace. Maybe I should have offered him my leg room. We were in economy and he needed it more than I did!
 
I've had the pleasure of meeting a few past and present players in my travels and agree the older breed come off more favourably. That's not to say many of the current crop aren't perfectly pleasant and polite, but the older guys just seem far more comfortable in the presence of fans.

Sticks was tremendous. So down to earth and approachable. Because of his size he's a fairly impressive figure, but in my dealings with him the thing that struck me more than anything else was how and why he was captain. No matter if you're the coach, the president, the fan or the garbage man, he'll treat you with the same amount of respect. Always says, "thanks mate," when when it's him that has helped you out, too. Still a great ambassador for the club.

Rhys, too, like Sticks is just a genuine, down to earth guy. Loves a chat, especially about the Blues, and is comfortable in just about anyone's company.

My son was outside Princes Park one day and Fev walked by, smiled, cheerfully said 'hey mate' all whilst an awkward, clearly awestruck 13-14 year old kid couldn't muster anything aside from an empty stare.
 
Not me but the old man had a punch up with David Kernahan in a pub after a game once and reckons he won. The way he tells it Kernahan went off to lick his wounds then came back with a group of other players and some South American lads hid my old man in their group and ushered him out the door.

He was also at the 21st of a mutual friend of his and Fev. Reckons he gave Fev a bit of a mouthful about needing to knuckle down and make the most of his talent. He says Fev appeared to listen and take most of it in, then was wheeled home in a shopping trolley later that evening.
 

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Player interactions over the years

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