The name Gill quite literary hangs off the wall at Visy Park . . . whether it’s in the 200-game corridor where Frank Gill’s tinted photograph proudly hangs, or on the door of the No.21 locker, where the names F. Gill and B. Gill share precious space with fellow premiership players Ken Baxter, Rod Austin and the club’s games record holder Craig Bradley.

Barry Gill, a member of Carlton’s 1968 and ’70 premiership teams, who gets his name on the locker by virtue of his 132 games for the Blues, recently completed a sentimental journey back to the old venue, which it’s fair to say bares little resemblance to the place he knew through the 1960s and 70s.

Accompanying Barry on the tour was his wife Melita, daughter-in-law Melissa and grandchildren Kimberley (nine years), Emily (seven) and two year-old Frank.

“It’s great to come back to see the ground and the facility, and to see the changes that have occurred in the period since I was playing,” Gill said.

“It’s absolutely phenomenal, and players have a golden opportunity now to do everything right . . . and if they’re not successful then there’s something wrong with the players, not the facilities.”


Barry Gill and his grandchilden l to r Kimberley, Emily
and Frank, by the old No.21 locker

Whilst first to admit that the Heatley and Harris Stands evoked countless happy memories, Gill is also mindful that time marches on “and you have to go with the times”.

“It’s pretty much reflective of the style of play nowadays . . . it’s different to what it was years ago, and we’ve all got to live with that. Whether it’s good or bad, it’s simply a fact of life, and we go along with it,” Gill said.

“You walk into the changerooms now, and you see ‘Gooldy’ (John Goold) at No.11 and ‘Loftsy’ (Wes Lofts) at No. 20 and the images of those players come flooding back as soon as you look at those numbers. That’s a part of football. It’s memories and they’re memories that stick with you forever.

“I had some fantastic times here, with old Jack Wrout the Chairman of Selectors, “Jezza” and all the players. Whether the players get the same satisfaction out of it now in terms of enjoyment I don’t know. I mean, we didn’t train five days a week, we trained two days a week , enjoyed it, and we had to be employed of course because there wasn’t enough money in it to live on. People have often asked me ‘Did you enjoy Mad Monday after the finals’ and I’ve said ‘Well I never went to Mad Monday because I had to go to work’.

Barry was only too happy to be photographed with his grandkids by the No.21 locker, and little Frank was an equally-willing participant.

“You know he was named Frank Gill after my uncle who played here, and there’s a good story to it,” Barry added. “His Dad Jason was doing some work as a plumber in a bathroom, and he was pulling a bit of plaster off a wall when an old cigarette card of Frank fell out. Jason picked it up, looked at it and said ‘Well that’s got to mean something’ . . . and the rest as they say is history.”