No 1: Myer Brott: 83 years and counting
Myer Brott, at 94 the Carlton Football Club’s longest-serving member.
No 2: Dad’s seat is just what the doctor ordered
Dr Trevor Brott acknowledges his beloved father Myer’s deep power of persuasion as crucial to his on-going support for all things Carlton.
No 3: Ruby a fully-fledged 21st century Blue
Ruby Owen was a regular at Carlton games in Melbourne throughout 2009 alongside older brother Thomas and father Peter.
No 4: It’s The Bloodbath and beyond for true Blue Joan
A proud member of the club since the tender age of four, Joan’s earliest memories of Carlton involve the 1945 Grand Final
No 5: Shane embodies the Spirit of Carlton
Carlton has been a huge part of Shane Morris' life since he became a member on birth in 1950 and still recalls the all the player numbers of the 1950s and 1960s.
No 6: Blue is the colour for Renee and Scarlett
Three week old Scarlett Costa's great grandmother Ida continued a family tradition when she lodged the membership papers for her to become the club's latest member.
No 7: Blue Ben waiting for the next big thing
Ben Shepherd’s 18 years as a Carlton member has seen the best and worst
No 8: Betty Blue still true, 72 years on
Betty Herrick knows that she first became a member in 1938 and she’s still got her ’38 membership card to prove it.
No 9: From Jezza to Judd . . . Mary remains the Carlton constant
Mary Robertson's connection with Carlton has been territorial since she was a young girl in the 1960's.
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Dad’s seat is just what the doctor ordered
Dr Trevor Brott acknowledges his beloved father Myer’s deep power of persuasion as crucial to his on-going support for all things Carlton. But when Dad happens to be the club’s longest-serving member, what other option is there?
“I was a young boy who was not sporty at all, but at around 1968 Dad started to suggest that I come to the football with him. For the best part of a year I said ‘No, I don’t want go’, but eventually I relented,” Trevor recalled.
“It’s hard to remember now, it’s 40 years ago, but when I said ‘Yes’ the first match Dad took me to was the early season match at Carlton between Carlton and Collingwood, and I was only nine years-old. Dad used to stand with his mates in the outer, on the northern side of the ground, close to the wing. You might remember it was standing room only, with one row of seats at the front, and he’d position me to stand behind that front row of seats, so I could actually see.”
The match to which Trevor refers was the fourth round match of 1969 - a particularly infamous affair even given the two clubs’ obvious animosities - and it’s hardly surprising that his recollection is vivid.
“I can remember John Nicholls walking past me around the boundary. I reckon he’d been kicked in the head and while I can’t say 100 per cent, I think it was Des Tuddenham who did it,” Trevor said.
“I can also remember this teenage Collingwood supporter standing alongside who was hurling abuse at everything Carlton . . . and of course we got absolutely thrashed that day. Little wonder my on-going hatred of all things Collingwood began then and there.”
Collingwood did indeed inflict a father of a hiding on the good guys, defeating Carlton by 64 points on an afternoon in which a bloodied “Big Nick” was indeed forced from the fray. No fewer than four players - Carlton’s Peter “Percy” Jones and Ricky McLean, together with Collingwood’s Len Thompson and Ted Potter - had their numbers taken, but curiously all charges were withdrawn when the League ruled the reports had not been correctly submitted by the officiating field umpire.
Trevor’s other enduring memory of ’69 is the Round 15 return match at Victoria Park, when a mass of humanity - more than 43,000 people in all - somehow crammed into the place.
“It was absolutely packed that day,” Trevor remembered, “and I had to sit on the steps at the back because Dad couldn’t get me through.
“In the last quarter he put me on his shoulders and I saw maybe two kicks, but I also saw Carlton win the game by nine points and that was the best thing.”
Trevor rather wisely took out his first Carlton membership on the eve of the 1970 season, and for the next 37 years would accompany his father to Carlton’s matches. Myer Brott is of course Carlton’s longest-serving member (having first pledged way back in 1927) - a detail which delights Trevor no end.
“I must admit I always assumed there were other people from a similar vintage, because we’ve often been to games where there are other old people around even if we weren’t to know of their circumstances,” Trevor said.
“It did occur to me a couple of years ago, when Dad was coming up for 80 years as a Carlton member, to contact the club to see if anything could be done to celebrate the milestone, but unfortunately I was busy with other things and it just didn’t happen.”
Trevor last took his place alongside Myer in April 2007 at the Docklands Stadium, for what was a forgettable second round match of the season against Geelong. His father then suffered an extreme bout of bronchitis, on the eve of what would be the Blues’ greatest-ever comeback, eradicating a 48-point second-quarter deficit to roll Essendon by three points at the MCG.
“Dad and I couldn’t go because he was in hospital at the time,” Trevor said. “I remember putting the TV on for him so he could watch Carlton come from a mile behind to beat them, but unfortunately he was at that point where he couldn’t really appreciate it.”
But Trevor continues to fly the Brott flag for Carlton.
“I have kept my father’s membership going because our seats are together and I haven’t wanted to give up Dad’s seat,” he said.
“In the past two years I’ve spent most of the time going along to games myself. Occasionally somebody would come with me, but for the most part Dad’s seat has been vacant . . . and I want to keep that seat and mine going for future Carlton-supporting generations of the Brott family.”
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| carltonfc.com.au encourages members to share with us your story of when and why you became involved as a Member of the Carlton Football Club through our Your Say feature. Click here to Have Your Say and share your story. |
