The pair was photographed at the No.22 locker that was Harvey’s through the early 1950s, and the No.16 of his father’s, Harvey Louis Dunn, a 71-game senior Carlton player through the mid-to-late 1920s.
“To sit at locker No.16, the number Dad wore through the 1920s, and to sit at my old no.22 locker is really great. To see the facilities as they are now, remembering how they were then, is quite simply amazing,” Harvey said.
“I find it unbelievable to see the improvement around the club, compared to what it was in the old days. Back then we had to crawl through a little timber entrance, a cubby hole, just to get into the joint. We’d walk two or three paces, turn right, and we’d be standing in the rub-down rooms.
“If my father was around, and I’m sure he’s looking down, he’d also be saying ‘I just can’t believe what’s going on here’. It’s why I’m just so proud to be part of this great club and why I feel that way whenever I see the CFC monogram.”
Fletcher, a grade 3 student at Parkdale Primary, who carries the No.5 of Chris Judd on the back of his own guernsey and is a regular attendee at Carlton home matches, was equally impressed.
“I’ve never seen Pa’s locker before. It’s really cool,” he said.
League records indicate that Harvey Dunn jnr. was officially cleared to play for Carlton’s senior team in accordance with the newly-introduced father/son rule (50 games-plus) on May 11, 1951. Next was Melbourne’s Ronald Dale Barassi (March 15, 1953); South Melbourne’s Hugh McLaughlin and Bob Pratt junior (April 15, 1953); whose fathers all represented their respective clubs with distinction.
“Many years ago there was an article in the paper that Ron Barassi was the first player recruited under the rule, but I was in fact the first. I also dispute the above date my clearance came through and I’ll tell you why,” Harvey said in a previous interview.
“When the under 19s were up and running I was residentially bound to North because I lived in Flemington. I wanted to go to Carlton because of Dad so I applied for a clearance from North, but they wouldn’t give me one. Instead they asked me to train and I trained there for one night in 1949, but I didn’t want to go to North because I was Carlton-mad.
“Now my father knew there was a father-son ruling being considered at the League, so he advised that instead of me going to North in ’49 that I play for Box Hill, then in the Eastern District Football League.
“During that year the League brought in the father-son rule, so in 1950 I transferred to Carlton and won the best and fairest in the thirds. I also played in the 1951 and ’53 reserve grade Grand Finals and we won them both.”
An extremely energetic 80 years young, Harvey still retains the Carlton guernsey he wore with pride through the 1951 Grand Final triumph. He tells a wonderful tale about that treasured garment, in keeping with the edict issued by the former Carlton President Sir Kenneth Luke - “Respect the guernsey and the guernsey will always respect you”.
“On Grand Final day 1951, when we were getting the pre-match address from the coach and all the officials were around, we were told in no uncertain terms ‘If you are fortunate enough to win the match (which we thought we had the team to do) on no account are you to swap your guernsey with an opposing player . . . that’s because the Carlton guernsey had to be earned and was not something to be given away’,” Harvey said.
“That’s something which has always stuck in my mind, and thinking back on it now I didn’t want any other guernsey anyway. The Carlton guernsey was the guernsey I got and still have."
