2. Carn the Blues

My memorable memento is not something I would ever wear. It belonged to my father and, when he passed away it came to me and I cannot throw it out…his Carlton cap.

Ever since I have been old enough to understand anything about Australian Rules Football, and the effect it has on people, I have known there were two teams, Carlton (the blues) and Richmond (the tigers) that they were mortal enemies. I was of the naïve belief that all boys supported Carlton and all girls supported Richmond as this was the way it was for my parents and my grandparents. It was only as I grew up and mixed with more people that I realised there were more than two teams in the competition!

In our house, in south—east Melbourne, football was popular and, in the days when all games were on a Saturday afternoon, my father could often be found with the transistor radio nearby, turned up to full volume, on whichever station was broadcasting the Carlton game. His mood could vary, depending on how the game was going! My mother, meanwhile, was a passionate Richmond supporter, having grown up in East Malvern in the days when “zones” decided where players went, and attending Lloyd Street Central School, where several players, including the Hafeys*, were enrolled. Her mother, too, barracked for Richmond and thus began a long-standing tradition of support for the team, which continues through the next couple of generations at least, with a notable exception, but we’ll come to that later…

Sometimes, if Richmond and Carlton were playing, we would go to the game. This had been something my parents did before they were married and continued to do before my sister and I were considered old enough to sit through a whole game. There was one grand final, in 1969, they both attended, choosing not to sit together, only for my mother to find my father (having been provoked by an “over the top” Richmond supporter) in a punch up after the game…yes, Carlton had lost. Football can certainly incite passion! When Waverley Park was built, it was much easier to get to games and we loved to cheer on our team. My father was often bullied mercilessly by my sister and me should Richmond be victorious – his restraint towards us was quite admirable!

When we moved to Sydney, at the end of 1973, both teams were performing well and yet again had played in the Grand Final, with a Richmond victory. We tried very hard in the ensuing years to continue following Victorian football, but often it was quite difficult to find any coverage of it, except maybe a small piece in the newspapers. Only the Grand Final was guaranteed to be broadcast live – Richmond played in 1974 and won the flag as we cheered them on from our loungeroom. In 1990, when the Australian Football League was born there was more media coverage and it was easier to follow, but by then we had lots of other interests and our teams, particularly the tigers, were in decline.

Sporting paraphernalia was not as common in the 1950s and 60s, except for scarves and beanies in team colours, usually knitted by passionate supporters. I have no recollection of either of my parents owning a footy scarf or beanie, but at some stage in his later life someone bought my father that Carlton cap, which he wore proudly to keep the sun off his bald head. My daughter Kirsty, who was dating a Carlton member in the nineties, gave him a Carlton jacket which had been part of the training gear for a player the previous season. He loved that jacket and often wore it when the weather was cold, much to my mother’s horror! In 2021, when he entered the nursing home, I bought him a Carlton garden gnome, to sit on a shelf near the entrance to his room. Many staff who had ties to Melbourne commented on his gnome and he would always respond with “Carn the Blues”!

My naive early theory that all boys barracked for Carlton and girls for Richmond was overturned when I married a tigers supporter and had my own son, Brett, who also barracks for the tigers. Brett’s two sons also follow Richmond, but as my daughter in law, Sarah, is a Carlton supporter, I think she is looking to her own daughter to follow her lead…her great grandfather would have been very proud! Maybe she’d like a cap?

For me, that cap is more than just fabric and stitching. It represents a lifetime of memories, of Saturday afternoons by the radio, of family rivalries and traditions, of a father’s unwavering passion. It reminds me that loyalty—whether to a football team or to the people we love—doesn’t fade with time. It only grows stronger.

 *Tom Hafey played for Richmond in the 1950s and went on to coach them to four premierships in the 1960s and 70s. He is a Richmond legend.