The Carlton Football Club, as with any sporting institution, is about the people – and while only a few are immortalised on the Hall of Fame wall, so many more make their own unique impression.

This is the story of one such person - the late Raymond John Mulder Q.G.M., who died last August just two days after his 86^th birthday. Ray’s lifelong love for Carlton came to light when members of the Mulder clan recently returned to the old ground to cast his ashes upon it.

To quote Ray’s wife Anita: “What I did with the ashes was up to me – and the Carlton Football Club was part of his life”.

That day, Anita also came armed with a silver-plated cup thought to have been presented to her husband for finishing runner-up in the Best & Fairest award for Under 21 outfit Carlton Colts.

For years, the trophy - made available by club benefactor Norm Robinson – gathered dust on the loungeroom mantelpiece in the Mulder family home in Kingsbury.

The silver-plated cup thought to have been presented to Ray Moulder. (Photo: Carlton Media)

It also doubled as a conversation piece, as Mulder’s wife Anita revealed.

“As you can see, Ray’s surname was incorrectly etched into the trophy as ‘Moulder’,” Anita said. “Anyone who ever saw that trophy used to comment on it, and Ray himself used to say ‘I never thought it was mine’. I turned to him once and said it could have been worse – it could have been ‘muddler’.”

Ray was born on August 9, 1930, the youngest son of Mary and George “Snow” Mulder who fashioned the original Skipping Girl sign for Claude Neon. Ray’s early years were spent at the family home at 777 Drummond Street, next door to the local mosque, while his future wife’s family were domiciled in nearby Station Street.

As Mulder was later employed at Reid Brothers brass finishers up the road in Bouverie Street, Carlton was always THE team for him and the Mulder clan.

“Ray had had two brothers and they followed Carlton everywhere,” Anita said. “Their Dad used to take them all to Princes Park and they’d stand behind the goals.”

Ray Mulder and the 1949 Carlton Colts. (Photo: Carlton Media)

Though he turned out for the Blues as a player of some note at junior level, Mulder never pursued his on-field career. Instead he joined the Victoria Police and upheld the right for 29 years - initially at Russell Street which took in the local Carlton beat.

“Ray never really played footy afterwards because work saw to that. He used to work ten days straight in those days and the pay wasn’t great,” Anita said.

But 2nd Constable Mulder was not lost to the club. On one occasion, in a match at Princes Park against South Melbourne in the early 1960s, Mulder, at the time off duty, famously arrested a spectator he saw bag the matchday football as it disappeared into the crowd behind the eastern end goals. 

The spectator was subsequently fined £12 “in default 12 days gaol” and in a moment’s remorse to the beak was reported saying: “I have never done anything like this before. I don’t know what came over me. I would like to apologise to the court and to the Carlton Football Club”.

As a member of the constabulary, Mulder was a noticeable presence on Lygon Street. To the shoptraders, many of them Italian migrants, he was dubbed ‘Elliot Ness’ - a term of endearment because he looked out for them.

Mulder’s son Chris remembered his father relating the tale of a Lygon Street café owner getting grief from the powers that be for unauthorised use of a billiard table on his premises.

“Dad encouraged the bloke to change the table’s cloth from green to red so that when the matter went to court the case would be dismissed – based on the definition of a billiard table which carried green cloth, not red,” Chris said.

The late Ray Mulder. (Photo: Supplied)

Ray later served the force as a police reservist, but on February 3, 1978 was confronted with a life and death scenario he probably thought he’d avoided in his years on patrol.

Off duty that day, Ray and Sergeant Brendan Bannon, each of whom were shopping separately, happened upon a cash office robbery at a supermarket in Reservoir.

The following was reported in the London Gazette of September 1979:

Sergeant Bannan heard the cashier's cries over the address system and made his way to the office: as he reached the doorway one of the robbers held him at gunpoint and made the officer and the cashier face the wall with their hands above their heads. Unknown to the men, Sergeant Bannan was still in possession of his service revolver and at the first opportunity produced his weapon, announced his identity and ordered them to surrender.

The gunman turned and faced the Sergeant and a series of shots were exchanged in a running battle between them as the robbers withdrew with the money. Sergeant Bannan repeatedly called on the men to surrender but the armed criminal continued to fire at him as he pursued them through the store.

Meanwhile Police Reservist Mulder had heard a number of shots fired from the direction of the Cash Office, but he was unaware that Sergeant Bannan was involved in the shooting and, as he cleared customers from the store, he saw an armed man carrying an over-night bag run from the Cash Office towards the main entrance. Mr. Mulder followed the armed raider who turned and pointed the pistol at him from a distance of about 15 feet. He dived at the offender who brushed him aside and the armed man pointed the pistol at him and then ran off. Mr. Mulder kicked at the second offender as he ran past him and succeeded in knocking a bag containing money from his grasp.

Mr. Mulder got to his feet, ran after the two gunmen and was then overtaken by Sergeant Bannan during his pursuit of the men from the store. Mr. Mulder caught up with the Sergeant who had brought down one offender and was wrestling with him on the ground while the other man who was armed pointed his pistol at him. As the Police Reservist approached the armed man pointed his weapon at him and then turned and fled. Sergeant Bannan gave chase while Mr. Mulder subdued the unarmed offender whom the Sergeant had detained. 

Sergeant Bannan displayed outstanding gallantry when at very grave risk to himself he persisted in his pursuit of the offenders, in the face of gunfire, as they attempted, to escape. Police Reservist Mulder also displayed bravery of a high order when, despite being threatened by the armed offender, he went to the assistance of Sergeant Bannan.

In the apprehension of two masked offenders during which time shots were exchanged, Sergeant Bannon was subsequently awarded the George Medal for bravery and gallantry. 

Similarly, Reservist Mulder earned the Queen’s Gallantry Medal.

In the aftermath of Ray’s passing, members of the Mulder family arranged for a plaque to be displayed at Ikon Park. The plaque, upon which bronze letters are set against a background of blue, serves to perpetuate the memory of a brave Victorian whose football club meant everything to him.

The plaque simply reads;