AN HISTORIC moment some nine decades in the making has brought together the descendants of former Carlton premiership back pocket Arthur Sanger with Sam Walsh.
Two of Sanger’s three daughters Celia Sanger and Paula Robinson - armed with Arthur’s old woollen guernsey - were photographed for posterity with Walsh at the locker of the No.18 their father once wore and Walsh now wears.
They came together on the eve of Walsh’s 116th senior appearance in the No.18 against Hawthorn in Carlton’s Heritage Game, which equalled the record 116 games set by Sanger in the number with his last appearance for the Blues back in 1947.
Three years previous, Sanger claimed the relevant games record in the No.18. It happened in the Round 3 Carlton-Melbourne match at Punt Road Oval (Saturday 20 May 1944), when, in his 52nd senior appearance for the Blues, he eclipsed the previous games record set in the number by Frank Donoghue.
That happened 29,303 days ago by the time Walsh equalled the record against the Hawks – and a further seven days by the time he breaks it against West Coast at Perth’s Optus Stadium.
“It was lovely to meet Celia and Paula because of the strong connection to the No.18 – and to see and touch Arthur’s old jumper,” Walsh said.
“I was shocked to learn that I was on the verge of equalling Arthur’s record, as it makes you realise how quickly your career can go. When you first come into a club you want to make the number your own, but when you learn about the history of the number you appreciate the history and how grateful you are to be part of it.
“You also realise that Arthur earned the ultimate success for Carlton, which is what every player wants.”
Celia and Paula were incredibly grateful to Carlton for arranging the meeting with Walsh in the Club’s inner sanctum.
“Dad was a beautiful man and he loved the Carlton Football Club. We are so very happy that someone of Sam’s quality is taking over the record,” Paula said.
“It was incredibly special to see the No.18 locker, to see Dad’s name on it and Sam’s name too. A good man is carrying on Dad’s tradition.”
Born in Daylesford and recruited to Carlton from Castlemaine, Arthur Mervyn Sanger first wore guernsey No.16 into his one and only senior appearance in the premiership season of 1938 – the final home-and-away round match against St Kilda at Princes Park.
The following year, Sanger switched to the No.18 and for the next nine seasons, including wartime, wore it through those 116 senior matches until his premature retirement.
That happened on Saturday 16 June 1947, after he suffered a badly broken arm in the Round 9 match with Collingwood at Victoria Park. The injury thwarted Sanger’s plans to contribute further to Carlton’s 1947 flag push, but by then he’d etched his name into the history books as a member of the Blues’ ‘Bloodbath’ Grand Final team of 1945, and a back-to-back winner of the club’s Most Consistent Player award in both 1944 and ’45.
In 1951, Sanger gave back as coach of Carlton’s Under 19 squad, and led his teenagers – amongst them Peter Webster, Graham Gilchrist, Brian Buckley and future Morrish Medallist and Club President Richard Pratt - to a premiership in his first year.
He was also a proactive member of the Carlton Former Players and Officials Association (later Spirit of Carlton), established in 1955.
Arthur Sanger died at the age of 81 in neighbouring Brunswick on 2 December 1999.
Sanger and Walsh are two of the Club’s only three players to play 100 games in the No.18.
His games record in the No.18, now equalled by Walsh, was the third longest standing record for any number at the club since numbers were first worn by Carlton players into the 1911 semi final with Essendon.
His record is bettered only by Charlie Davey and Harry Vallence, whose games records in their respective Nos.17 and 22 guernseys still stand after 94 years.
MOST CARLTON SENIOR GAMES IN THE No.18
Arthur Sanger - 116 games (1939-’47)
SAM WALSH – 116 games (2019 - *)
* still playing
