1972

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1982

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For every 100-game Carlton player there’s probably a hundred more who disappear into the ether just as quickly as they appear.

William Harry, a one-game back pocket who donned the boots for the Blues almost 106 years ago, could be considered amongst the club’s great forgotten.

Until now.

That Harry’s tale can finally be told is due to the dedication of his grandson Lynn Harry. A long-time member and supporter, Lynn was inspired by a recent article featuring another Carlton one-gamer, Bill Carmody, who later laid his life on the line at Pozieres during The Great War.

“I read that story and realized that the club was still interested in documenting the lives of those players who managed only one game,” Lynn said, “and with my father being the last living link with our one-game player I thought it important to pursue William’s story.”

Turn back the hands to July 21, 1906, to the day Harry turned out for his team in what would prove a landmark season for the Carlton Football Club.

This was the season in which the legendary coach Jack Worrall led his players to Grand Final glory for the first of three premierships in succession and the first since Carlton’s admission to the Victorian football League some nine years previous.

Harry’s maiden appearance came in the 11th round, against Collingwood at Princes Park no less. Named in a back pocket, he worked in tandem with Norman “Hackenschmidt” Clark and Doug Gillespie to safeguard the goals on the last line.

Though the home team comfortably accounted for its much-despised inner-city neighbor to the tune of 37 points, Harry never took to the paddock in a Carlton lace-up again.

But who was he? And what became of him?

William Richard Harry was born in the old gold mining town of Eldorado, 254 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, in 1878 - the first of 12 children reared by Elizabeth Ann (nee Wellington) and John Hammer Harry - a Cornish tin miner named who’d set sail from his native St Austell in search of gold in the mid-1860s.

When gold and tin mining operations ceased in Eldorado around the turn of last century, the Harry family relocated to Chiltern-Rutherglen, to where mines had been active since the 1890s. There, young Harry toiled for Great Southern Mines, during which time (1903) he also married a 23 year-old local Chiltern girl named Margaret Henderson.

By then, Harry had chased the leather for the local Great Southern, Miners and Rutherglen teams. An early Rutherglen team photo depicts William standing with his arms by his side in a sleeveless guernsey and cap and sporting a dark moustache. A younger brother George can also be seen lying on his side in the bottom left hand corner of the image.

The Rutherglen team, with William standing at the back, 5th from right.

The circumstances which led to Harry’s recruitment to Carlton may never be known, although his grandson, Lynn Harry can appreciate the trepidation his forefather surely experienced.

As he said: “I can now understand how he felt about coming down to Carlton at the age of 27 to play footy, with a wife and two young children under three years-old living back home in Rutherglen”.

“But Jack Worrall must have seen something in my grandfather,” Lynn said. “I’ve only read in the history books these past couple of days that Jack had a real eye for talent, so much so that he could spot it on the other side of the spectators’ fence . . . it would have been really nice to know what he actually thought about William.”

Following his all-too-brief Carlton foray, Harry returned to Rutherglen and kept playing. On hanging up the boots, Harry armed himself with a whistle and umpired for a number of seasons, earning the curious nickname “Tidylum” from the locals. Origins of the nickname are sketchy, but Tidylum is thought to be Cornish.

William Harry with his family, Rutherglen, 1922.

Harry continued to work the Rutherglen mines until the gold ran out in about 1920. Three years later he relocated with his family to Footscray in search of labor.

He ultimately found work with Port Melbourne Woollen Mills and carried through his duties with the company for a number of years until his untimely passing in 1943.

Though he lived in Melbourne’s western suburbs, Harry regularly returned to his beloved Rutherglen to indulge his favourite pastimes of fishing and duck shooting.

As Lynn said, “Harry really had this like for the bush and to be out on the river and Dad told me he was crack shot.”

Tragically, those very indulgences contributed to Harry’s untimely demise.

Harry was a man of 64 years when he drowned in the Murray River, apparently as he attempted to retrieve a duck he had just shot down.

The following obituary appeared in the local Rutherglen newspaper.

On Sunday afternoon, February 21, 1943, a drowning fatality occurred in a lagoon of the Murray River opposite Gooramadda.
The victim was Mr. William Harry of Footscray.
Deceased was well-known throughout the district, having lived at Great southern for many years prior to coming to Rutherglen to live. He went to reside in Melbourne about 20 years ago, paying many visits to Rutherglen in the meantime.
In his young days he was a prominent footballer for the district, playing with Great Southern, Miners and Rutherglen. Known familiarly as “Tidylum”, Harry played many sterling games for the above team. When he completed his football career he took up umpiring.
The late Mr Harry came to Rutherglen for a holiday on Monday of last week and, desiring to spend some time on the river, went out to board with Mr and Mrs H. Connell on Tuesday.
He was in good health on Sunday and after lunch said he was going for a shot, taking a gun and cartridges with him. Mr McConnell rowed him across the river and waited for him on the river bank while deceased searched for game.
Mr McConnell heard a shot and when Mr Harry did not return in reasonable time he got anxious and went looking for him.
On the bank of the lagoon Mr McConnell found his cloths and looking into the lagoon saw Mr Harry’s head under the water about five feet in from the edge.
He immediately went into the water but it was too deep; Mr McConnell then got a long stick and drew the body to the bank.
Efforts to revive him failed and Mr McConnell motored into town and notified the police.
It is thought that he went into the lagoon after the game he had shot and became entangled in the weeds.
The body was brought to the river bank where it was examined by Doctor Davis, and evidence of identification taken, after which an order for burial was granted.
Deceased was a native of Eldorado, and was 64 years of age. The remains were taken to Melbourne for interment.

William Harry and his wife raised nine children during their lifetimes, the first eight of them born in Rutherglen. Of the nine, only the youngest child - Lynn’s father Keith - is still living.

Lynn Harry, William's grandson, at Visy Park earlier this week.

A grandson, Ian Harry, was later recruited to Carlton on the sayso of Ron Barassi and whilst not managing to break through with the Blues did complete a long and successful tenure as captain of VFA outfit Mordialloc.

Another grandson through marriage, Golden Square’s Ross Ousley, also represented Carlton in 23 senior matches from 1956-58.

As for Lynn, two cherished Carlton sites serve to perpetuate the memory of his grandfather . . . the very ground upon which William Harry once played and the trophy cabinet flanking the reception area at Visy Park.

“I never knew until now that my grandfather’s one and only game came in a premiership year,” Lynn said, “so I can now view the 1906 cup with a real interest and passion and can feel, in the slightest, tiniest way, that Harry has helped contribute to that Grand Final victory."

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The executive wishes to place on record its sincere thanks to you, as a valued participant in the Spirit of Carlton Past & Present  (SoC) for supporting the cause over these past five years, as together we’ve contributed to the resurgence and reinvigoration of the Carlton Football Club (CFC).

As you may be aware, the SoC has undergone significant structural changes in the lead-up to the 2012 season – primarily to ensure that the SoC works more closely with the CFC to utilise the Club’s substantial resources as it strives for its 17^th premiership and nears the 150^th anniversary of its existence.

Accordingly, the SOC will now conduct its activities more along the lines of a past players’ association to help realise its and the CFC’s short and long-term objectives.

The 2012 Executive Team is as follows;

David Rhys-Jones (President); Geoff Southby (Secretary); Jason Reddick (Treasurer/Public Officer (CFC)); Matthew Hogg, Alex Marcou, David McKay and Dennis Munari (Exec Members/General Committee); Mandy Hunter (Marketing Support (CFC)); and Jamie Sanderson (Website Manager).

2012 Membership is available at a reduced annual cost of $50 ($30 for pensioner members), with a subscription form attached for your convenience.

As the SoC is reverting back to a past & present players and officials group, membership will no longer be available to supporters.  As such, the SoC encourages you, as a passionate supporter, to acquire a CFC membership package.

However, please note the SoC has set aside the match day event on May 6 for you to join past players and officials in a special SoC tribute to CFC supporters for contributing to the cause over the past five years. Ticketing and seating will be available to you at a cost on the day, with more details to follow.

Key events for 2012 are a Theme Lunch celebrating the 40^th & 30^th Anniversaries of the 1972 & 1982 premierships scheduled for Friday, August 3 at Etihad Stadium; and a Past Players’ Annual dinner scheduled for Wednesday, September 12 at Visy Park.

Two matchday events have also been confirmed for Etihad Stadium – a Past Player Father/Son & Daughter Day (Round 6, Sunday, May 6); and 1987 Premiership 25^th Anniversary Day (Round 8, Sunday, May 20).

The Golf Day and Dinner will not be staged in 2012.

The SoC can also confirm the distribution of funds to the following key categories in 2012 - CFC Players (new tech equipment and facilities for team and individual performance improvement); needy past player welfare & support; SoC/CFC history management; and administration & running costs

In closing, all at the SoC look forward to your on-going valued support in 2012 in what will unquestionably be an exciting season for the Mighty Blues.

Yours sincerely,

The Executive, SoC

This year the function will be held on Friday the 3rd of August.

Join the 1972 and 1982 premiership teams as well as the entire current playing group to celebrate the 30th and 40th anniversaries of these momentous occassions when the Blues "Tamed the Tigers".

Plannning is now underway for this event and we will keep you updated with information as it comes to hand.

So go to your calendar now and put a big circle around the 3rd of August  and we will see you there!

Kevan Hamilton

Career : 1956
Debut : Round 3, 1956 vs St Kilda, aged 22 years, 86 days
Carlton Player No. 703
Games : 11
Goals : 22
Last Game : Round 17, 1956 vs Richmond, aged 22 years, 191 days
Guernsey No. 5
Height : 180 cm (5 ft. 11 in.)
Weight : 81 kg (12 stone, 10 lbs.)
DOB : February 1, 1934
Club Leading Goalkicker 1956

Nicknamed 'Icy', Kevan Hamilton found his way to Princes Park in 1956 from McKinnon via Melbourne seconds. A tall rover-forward, he started his career impressively with eight goals in his first two matches, and by midway through the year was regularly selected as first rover.

But thereafter his form tailed off, and his goal-scoring opportunities dried up as opposition teams starved him of opportunity. While Carlton wound up fifth on the ladder and missed out on a finals berth by just two points, the lack of a consistently reliable goal-scorer proved the team’s main drawback – as shown by Hamilton's total of 22 goals from only 11 matches. That was good enough to win him our club goal-kicking award, but it was one of the lowest tallies for the Blues in 50 years.

‘Icy’ finished up at Carlton after just that one season, and returned to McKinnon as captain-coach in the Federal League.

Stephen Edgar

Career : 1990 - 1991
Debut : Round 1, 1990 vs Sydney, aged 23 years, 58 days
Carlton Player No. 965
Games : 14
Goals : 1
Last Game : Round 9, 1991 vs Richmond, aged 24 years, 106 days
Guernsey No. 9
Height : 175 cm (5 ft. 9 in.)
Weight : 76 kg (12 stone, 0 lbs.)
DOB : 1 February, 1967

Edgar was drafted from East Fremantle, WA with Carlton’s selection 7 in the 1989 National Draft. A lightly-framed defender with good all-round skills, he had represented his home state against a VFA representative team in 1988, and impressed enough at WAFL level with the Sharks to convince Carlton to pick him up.

Edgar played his debut game for the Blues against Sydney at Princes Park in round 1, 1990. Stationed in a back pocket alongside Adrian Bassett and David Kernahan, he was travelling alright at half-time, when his team led by 45 points - but after that, Sydney came roaring back to squeeze out the Blues by 5 points in a tight finish.

Edgar was one of those to lose his place after that debacle. He wasn’t able to force his way back into the seniors until round 18, but then played out the season on the last line of defence as Carlton wound up an inconsistent year ranked eighth on the ladder. When the finals got underway, the Blues’ seconds – with Edgar solid in a back pocket - brought some optimism back with a good win over Melbourne in the Reserves Grand Final.

 
By Tony De Bolfo

Betty Austin has seen fit to right the wrongs about her late father. In doing so she’s made available some terrific images and documents to perpetuate the memory of Alex Doyle, Carlton’s 53-game player through the Depression years.

For some time it’s been incorrectly reported that Alex embarked on a career as playing coach of Tasmanian football club Cananore on the completion of his playing career at Princes Park.

Not so says Betty. To Cananore’s chagrin, the deal fell through when Carlton refused Alex a clearance.

Instead, she says her father maintained a long-term involvement with the game in and around the Melbourne metropolitan area, as he committed his energies to his employer, the Fire Brigade.

The son of John and Elizabeth Doyle, Alex was one of three siblings born in the Victorian wheat district town of Murtoa on July 29, 1904. He was but an infant when his father was transferred to Yackandandah with the railways and later Horsham, where Alex plied his craft as a junior footballer.

Alex represented the Wimmera with great distinction on a number of occasions during football’s equivalent of cricket’s country week. In 1926, he took part in a kicking competition then sponsored by The Sporting Globe and convened by its football writer “Jumbo” Sharland. Alex thought he’d taken the chocolates with a drop kick measuring 72 yards five inches, only to be trumped by Echuca’s fabled Chinese footballer Les Kew-Ming with a 75-yarder.

By now, Alex’s feats were prompting intense interest amongst the inner city clubs Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn and of course, the good guys. The following handwritten letter, penned by the then Carlton Secretary and all-time great Carlton footballer Horrie Clover in December 1926, attests to this fact.

“Mr. Doyle,

Dear Sir,

Having heard many favorable reports of your outstanding ability on the football field I have much pleasure on behalf of the Carlton Club in extending to you a cordial invitation to join our Club for next football season.

Trusting that you will give this matter your earnest and favorable consideration and hoping that you will favor me with a reply at your earliest convenience.

I am, yours faithfully,

Horrie Clover

Secretary.”

For whatever reason, Alex opted to delay his introduction to VFL football and it wasn’t until late 1928 that he resolved to commit to Carlton, together with Horsham’s Frank Gill and Warracknabeal’s Charlie “Snowy” Parsons.

“Of course it was around about this time that everybody was looking for work and all these people had written to Dad not only to place him as a footballer but to offer him a job as well. This played a big part in Depression times,” Betty says.

The following letter to Alex, penned on a Carlton letterhead dated September 6, 1928, sets the scene at time when coin was still being cast about despite the dire economic circumstances.

“Dear Sir,

I am instructed by my committee to advise you that Messrs Crone and Clover reported that they interviewed you in Horsham during the week and were successful in inducing you to throw in your lot with us next season.

I can assure you that we are congratulating ourselves in securing your services and I am sure that you will not regret the step you have taken and we think a few men of your stamp will help us to be the premier league side for season 1929.

We have not broadcasted the fact that you have signed up with us, not even to our Committee, until the commencement of next season.

If you should be approached by other League clubs for your services next season be careful not to sign up with them because if you do you will disqualify yourself not only for playing with Carlton but also Melbourne football owing to the fact that you have signed up with more than one club. I would suggest if you are approached (and I am certain you will be especially if you play in Melbourne in Show Week) to tell those who approached you that you are going to Carlton next season.

I am looking forward with pleasure to meeting you in Melbourne at that time.

On behalf of my Committee I desire to thank you for signing up with us and I hope that your association with the Carlton Football Club will be a successful one as well as a profitable one.

Hoping that I shall have the pleasure of meeting you in the near future.

Yours faithfully,

PJ Cain

Secretary

PS. To keep yourself free from complications you will have to refuse any offers of money that might be made to you by other League Clubs.”

Alex took up lodgings as a boarder at No.52 Garton Street in the shadows of the Legends Stand. In time he would meet his future wife “Nellie” Lannge who lived with her family in the house next door.

The Carlton team of the 1930's. Alex stands fourth from the left, back row.

He fronted for the first night of training under the watch of resident Senior coach and lifelong friend Dan Minogue at the Carlton ground at 4.45pm on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 12, 1929. So began what was to prove a brief but beautiful friendship for player and club which would take in 53 senior matches over three seasons through The Great Depression.

Wearing the No.19 now proudly sported by Eddie Betts, Alex pitted his skills against the likes of Melbourne’s Ivor Warne-Smith and St Kilda’s Colin Watson, the two greatest adversaries he ever confronted.

He won the hearts and minds of all Carltonians from bottom to top and a glorious certificate of appreciation, signed by President David Crone and Secretary Newton Chandler acknowledges the high regard in which Alex was held.

But luck would not run with the Carlton teams in which he featured, with both the 1929 and ’31 outfits falling six points agonizingly short of Richmond and Geelong in the respective preliminary finals of those years.

Remarkably, Alex also fronted up for Wednesday League games during the late 1920s early 30s. in those days, games comprised teams from the Air Force, Victoria Police, Yellow Cabs, Red and Checker Cabs, Post and Telegraph, Railways, the Victoria Market, Waterside Workers and of course, the fire brigade.

“The football was good and attracted quite a following as well as a lot of newspaper interest,” a brigade scribe later reported.

“To say the games were rugged and the boys were fractious is an understatement, so much so that with all the fights it was inevitable the competition had to fold up and fold up it did.

“The brigade were in the Wednesday League for years and withdrew for a number of reasons, mainly because the brawls and bad language had brought the competition into bad odour.”

By then, Alex’s future as a fireman was already assured. In January 1932, after accepting an invitation to contest a vacant employment position within the brigade, Alex won the role.

Thirty-five years later, he would receive a letter from the brigade carrying a seal of recognition for 35 years service.

Alex’s commitment to the MFB didn’t curtail his football involvement though. Rather, it enhanced it. In seasons 1933 and ’34, for example, he represented the then VFA club Preston whilst headquartered at the North Melbourne brigade and in 1935 he took up a position as Essendon’s reserve grade coach. A stint with the Oakleigh brigade came later, during which time Alex hooked up with the local football club as a selector.

Of course, Alex’s wife “Nellie”, son John and daughter Betty dutifully followed husband and father from station to station and as Betty said: “Wherever we moved with the fire brigade he got involved with footy”.

For years until his retirement, Alex maintained his passion for the great Australian game and for the old dark Navy Blues. Failing eyesight eventually put paid to his attendance at Carlton games and his final years were spent quietly at a home in East Doncaster.

After suffering a heart attack, Alex died in nearby Box Hill Hospital on January 21, 1973. He is buried in Springvale Cemetery with his beloved wife who survived him by some six years.

Today, Alex’s legacy lives on through Betty - a greater Carlton supporter there never was - together with his many grandchildren and great grandchildren, many of whom will be there come March 29 to cheer Chris Judd and the boys on.

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Career : 1999 - 2009
Debut : Round 17, 1999 vs Collingwood, aged 18 years, 185 days
Carlton Player No. 1034
Games : 187
Goals : 575
Guernsey No. 25
Last Game : Elimination Final, 2009 vs Brisbane, aged 28 years, 229 days
Height : 188 cm (6 ft. 2 in.)
Weight : 101 kg (15 stone, 12 lbs.)
DOB : 20 January, 1981
Coleman Medal 2006, 2009
All Australian 2006, 2008, 2009
Club Leading Goalkicker: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Victorian State Player: 2008
Allen Aylett Medal: 2008