A recent welcome visitor to Ikon Park was sprightly octogenarian and dedicated Carlton member Brian Sprague.
Sprague is as Blue as you can get. He delights in telling the tale that he was born in what is now the Royal Oak’s Saloon Bar on the corner of nearby Nicholson and Freeman Streets, but was once Sister Williams’ private hospital – and he’s been following the club with a fervour ever since.
During the week, Sprague came armed with a glorious item of Carlton football ephemera – a hand-crafted football-shaped pottery whiskey jug carrying the members of the old dark Navy Blues’ first team to take the field in League competition.
The quaint jug carries the names of each Carlton player who laced a boot for that historic opening round contest, against Fitzroy at Brunswick Street on the afternoon of Saturday, May 8, 1897.
Not surprisingly, Sprague’s craving for all things Carlton wasn’t lost on a mutual friend, nor indeed the late potter John Jongebloed, who not so long ago plied his craft as a hobby on the Mornington Peninsula.
Brian Sprague and the old blue jug. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)
“The story is that a fellow by the name of John Jongbloed used to make jugs. Now John came upon the idea of making a jug for every club in the League, but in doing so had to get the approval of the AFL,” Sprague said.
“Now John found that the bureaucratic nonsense he had to go through wasn’t worth the effort, which is when a friend of mine mentioned to him that I was a Carlton supporter. As I understand it, John made this jug especially for me as an example of what he had in mind for the other clubs.
“As far as I know, this is the only jug of its type in Victoria, the only one in Australia and no doubt the only one in the world.”
By Sprague’s reckoning, Jongebloed fashioned the auld urn in 2008. According to Sprague, the part-time potter died earlier this year at the age of 92 “and unfortunately I never met him”.
Not surprisingly, Sprague keeps the jug close, although he claims he’s never put the item to practical purpose in pouring a scotch to raise to Marc Murphy and his men.
As he said with a twinkle: “I’m a teetotaller”.
