The Gardiner, Heatley and Harris Stands have cast their imposing shadows over Princes Park for a collective period of more than 215 years.
And last night, in the dying days of both the Heatley and Harris Stands, the descendants of the Carlton Football Club’s three former Presidents - Robert Heatley, George Harris and Alderman John Gardiner JP - came together for the first time.
It happened in the Carlton Social Club, in what was a “Captain’s Club” tribute to Princes Park’s old stands. Amongst those in attendance were the grandsons of Robert Heatley (Foster Heatley and David Adams), the great grandsons of John Gardiner (Bill Ward and David Kidney) and the daughter of the late George Harris (Christine Plain).
clockwise from left Foster Heatley, Bill Ward, David Adams, David Kidney and Christine Plain
The Harris and Heatley families understand that their stands are to make way for the club’s multi-million dollar redevelopment of the area into an elite high-performance training facility.
The club has assured that both the Heatley and Harris names will be acknowledged in the new precinct and the families themselves understand that whatever happens is in the best interests of the club. As Christine Plain told the captive audience, “Tonight there’s that same sort of buzz as there was in the old days and I hope it doesn’t die with the demolition of this grandstand”.
David Adams, now 78, recalled taking his place with “Gramps” Heatley by the flagpole when the premiership pennant marking Carlton’s 1938 Grand Final victory over Collingwood was unfurled.
"As was the case last Sunday, they (Collingwood) were favoured to win and we rolled them in the end," Adams declared.
Adams also recalled proudly sporting the famed No.22 of his boyhood idol the late Harry “Soapy” Vallence, adding, “Today’s players should realise that they will have an impact for more than 60 or 70 years after they play”.
Carlton’s new recruits of 2008 were introduced to the captive audience congregating in the Laurie Kerr Bar and Bistro on the first floor of the social club – Dennis Armfield, Steven Browne, David Ellard, Richard Hadley, Lachie Hill, Aaron Joseph, Matthew Kreuzer, Darren Pfeiffer and Michael Shields.
Kreuzer, introduced to the collective strains of “Kroooooooooozah”, revealed that he wasn’t aware of the chants reverberating around the MCG’s grandstands in his first two appearances for Carlton, “because I’m [concentrating on] trying to get a kick or take a mark”.
Pfeiffer also made a canny observation that while the training facilities at his former club Adelaide were impressive, he was taken by the culture and tradition at Carlton “when you walk into the rooms and you see the old lockers and the names on the lockers”.
