He was but a teenage kid from Lalor when he completed his senior debut for Carlton in mid-1992 . . . and it’s fair to assume his 11-letter surname posed some early concerns for members of the football writing fraternity.
But in the pantheon of League football he’ll be universally remembered as a game-changer, forging his handsome reputation as THE prototype player of the 21st century from the moment he completed the famous one-handed pick-up.
“My brother Paul and I used to practice the one-handed pick-up at home,” says Anthony Koutoufides, the former Carlton captain, premiership player, dual club best and fairest, and AFLPA MVP. “In Grade 6 Paul got a card from his teacher to say ‘To Kouta, the only kid to pick up the football with one hand’, so he was the original (but) I just took, it copyrighted it and said ‘Mate, it’s mine now’.”
Anthony Koutoufides is the subject of the latest podcast in the “Our History” series for carltonfc.com.au
Here, in a far-reaching interview, the man who first forged links with this club as a shy and soft-spoken 14 year-old kid, reflects on his time in the game, revealing;
• what he earned in his first season as a contracted Carlton footballer after forgoing a promising career in athletics;
• the significance of the famous No.43 guernsey;
• his bitter disappointment in being overlooked for the 1993 Grand Final and watching on from the sidelines;
• at what stage of the game he thought the team had the 1995 Grand Final won;
• tearing Essendon’s heart out with his stunning final quarter showing in the 1999 preliminary final;
• his part in the team’s emotion-charged final home and away match at the old Carlton ground in May 2005;
• the traumatic events up to and beyond his father’s untimely passing in 1998; and
• how the chants of “Kouta”, “Kouta” impacted on the way he played.
To hear Anthony Koutoufides’ unique take on these and other defining moments of his extraordinary time in the game, click here.
Follow Tony De Bolfo on Twitter: @CFC_DeBolfo
