CARLTON’S three-time premiership ruckman Mike Fitzpatrick - the man who would ultimately chair the AFL Commission to oversee the game he so capably played - has responded with pride following his recent induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

For Fitzpatrick - a member of the 1979 Grand Final-winning team under captain-coach Alex Jesaulenko and captain of the David Parkin-coached back-to-back victors of 1981 and ’82 - the induction rounds out his football life.

“Because I was Chairman of the AFL for the best part of 10 years, I had the task of ringing people up and telling them they were in the Australian Football Hall of Fame. It was one of the most pleasant calls one made at any time… and invariably whoever it was was very flattered, very pleased,” Fitzpatrick said in explaining the circumstances of his induction.

“(But) I was sitting at my desk a few months ago now when Richard [Goyder, Fitzpatrick’s successor as AFL Chairman] rang me and said ‘You probably know what this call is all about’, and I said ‘I’ve got no idea what this call is all about’.

“He was pretty frank about it being the Hall of Fame and I was, yeah, very pleased. It’s a real accolade surrounding your footy career that makes you really think it’s appreciated by others.”

Fitzpatrick was one of eight football identities - together with Terry Cashion, Bill Dempsey, Brent Harvey, Matthew Pavlich, Michael Taylor, Ted Tyson and Nicky Winmar - inducted into the Hall in June. Sharing the induction ceremony with Fitzpatrick in Melbourne was his partner Helen Sykes and fellow family members, along with his old fellow Carlton premiership ruckman Peter Jones and premiership coach David Parkin.  

Recruited to Carlton from Subiaco in the same year (1975) he was awarded a Rhodes scholarship, Fitzpatrick’s on-field appearances were naturally curtailed due to academia commitments. But timing is everything and Carlton was on the cusp of greatness when in 1979 he fully committed to the Club’s cause.

And the rest, as they say, is football history. There were 150 games through nine seasons, amongst them the three victorious Grand Finals, a club Best and Fairest award in 1979, the captaincy from 1980-’83 and Western Australian and Victorian state football representation.

“Yes, it’s about the achievements, but it’s also about the lifelong friendships with the guys I played with,” said Fitzpatrick when asked what Carlton meant to him.

“We have pretty consistent reunions because we won a lot of flags and whenever you come across these guys in the street there’s that natural feeling of something we did together which was terrific and fully enjoyable.”

Fitzpatrick spoke of his induction into the Hall, in a to-camera interview recorded for the Carlton Football Club archive at IKON Park. He also took the opportunity to cast a discerning eye over the Club’s new redevelopment at the old ground.