A LIFELONG empathy for his beloved Blues, coupled with an inherent attention to detail, has enabled Perth-based lawyer Gerard Woods to unearth an incredible Carlton/kindred connection involving two colleagues at his Perth-based legal practice.
Gerard Woods, a partner in international law firm Allens, has discovered that the organisation’s part-time research assistant Alex Anile and resident lawyer Claudia Henfry are direct descendants of two members of the Blues’ feted Premiership team of 1947.
Anile is the maternal great grandson of the Premiership back pocket player George Bailey, while Henfry’s grandfather Ern captained the ’47 team to Grand Final glory and tied with Bert Deacon for the best and fairest in the same year.
Both men had previously represented West Australian Football League club Perth and, together with Carlton’s dual Premiership player Peter Bosustow, were later named in Perth’s Team of the Century.
Bailey and Henfry sitting side by side in the '47 Grand Final team photo.
To understand how the Bailey-Henfry clan connections were identified at Allens, Woods’ own kinlinks with Carlton require explanation.
Raised in Yarrawonga on the southern bank of the Murray River, Woods’ unswerving loyalty to the Blues can be sourced to his famous grandfather Bartholomew Augustine (“BA”) Santamaria - the Roman Catholic anti-Communist political activist, journalist and guiding influence in the founding of the Democratic Labor Party – who also happened to be Carlton’s No.2 ticketholder after Malcolm Fraser.
“I went to the footy with my grandfather who spoke about these players,” said Woods, who for the past 17 years has called Perth home.
“I’m pretty sure he was at the ’47 Grand Final and I can remember him mentioning Ern Henfry. It’s obviously a long time ago, but I have these vague notions floating around in the back of my mind.”
About a year ago, Woods’ memories of ’47 were revived when Anile, a University student in the second-year of his law degree, happened to mention that his maternal great grandfather had played for Carlton and had been named in Perth’s Team of the Century.
“That piqued my interest,” said Woods.
“I then went away on a long break and got back early this year, so I followed up on it,” he said. “I jumped on the Carlton website, found some interesting historical work and shared it with Alex, who is not a football nut like me so was less excited than I was! But I knew the ’47 Grand Final was a significant one in that the Blues beat their arch rival Essendon by a kick . . . and it doesn’t get much better than that.
“In going through the names of the players in that team a few of them rang a bell. I saw Ern Henfry’s name as captain and thought: ‘We’ve got a lawyer here who started with us about a year ago named Claudia Henfry, she, like Ern, was from Perth and it’s not a particularly common surname. So I wandered around to her office and asked: ‘Claudia, Is Ern Henfry any relation?’, to which she replied: ‘Yes, Ern was my grandfather’.”
George Bailey's great grandson Alex Anile and Ern Henfry's grandaughter Claudia Henfry.
To his enormous credit, Woods arranged for a photograph of Anile and Henfry side by side – just as George and Ern sat side by side 72 years ago, in the famous team pictured for posterity moments before the first bounce on Grand Final day at the mighty MCG.
And the rest, as they say is football — and family — history.
Ern Henfry
July 24, 1921 – January 14, 2007
At Carlton
Seasons: 1944 and 1947-’52
Senior Debut: Round 17, 1944 vs Geelong, aged 23 years, 33 days
Carlton Player No.: 597
Games: 84
Goals: 20
Last Game: Round 17, 1952 vs Collingwood, aged 31 years, 23 days
Guernsey No.: 5 (1944) and 6 (1947-’52)
Premiership Player: 1947
Captain: 1947-’52
Best & Fairest: 1947 (tied with Bert Deacon)
Carlton Hall of Fame (1992)
(AFL Hall of Fame (2014))
“In his first year of leadership, he (Henfry) ranks with the Club’s great skippers of the past; he earned the esteem, affection and admiration of his fellow players, as well as that of his opponents. If ever a player earned and deserved a premiership, our popular and modest captain did in 1947, and we say to Ern Henfry ‘heartiest congratulations, and thanks for a grand job so very well done.” – Secretary’s note, 1947 Annual Report
George Bailey
July 5, 1919 – June 30, 1998
At Carlton
Seasons: 1941-’42 and 1947-’48
Senior Debut: Round 2, 1941 vs Richmond, aged 21 years, 302 days
Carlton Player No.: 560
Games: 58
Goals: 12
Last Game: Round 8, 1948 vs Richmond, aged 28 years, 336 days
Guernsey No.: 5
Best First Year Player: 1941
Premiership Player: 1947
“George Bailey is another who picks himself for the ‘best first year player’. George, coming from Western Australia, was at all times a very sound back player, improved as the season advanced, and appears to possess the test temperament, as the greater the occasion the better he plays; therefore, he is a decided acquisition to the Club.” – Secretary’s note, 1941 Annual Report
