In a series of features on Carlton Members representing ten decades of membership
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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Mary Robertson mightn’t have been the only schoolkid to keep a scrapbook of the great Alex Jesaulenko all those years ago, but few took their infatuation further than her in the summer of ’69.

“At the time I was an 11 year-old boarding at Sacré Coeur in Glen Iris,” Mary recalled. “I was a mad keen Carlton supporter who’d been living in Strathmore and people had told me that Alex was working at the Cross Keys Hotel . . . so one day me and a group of girls decided to give him a call from a public phone on the school grounds.

“I look back at it now and I’m so embarrassed, I absolutely cringe about it. But ‘Jezza’ was good enough to talk to all of us in turn and it was so lovely of him to do it.”

Mary’s connection with Carlton is territorial. Back in the 1920s her father John Egan, a GP in life’s calling, was born in what was then a small private hospital opposite the ground in Garton Street, while her grandfather managed a grocery in nearby Rathdowne Street.

Though Mary’s formative years were spent not far from the Essendon ground, and she did canvass some interest in all things red and black, a father’s ultimatum was swiftly delivered.

“Dad wouldn’t take me to the footy unless I switched teams,” Mary admitted. “He said ‘Unless you barrack for Carlton you’re not going to the footy’, and I wanted to go to the footy.

“I was about six or seven years old then, and he’d already put me down as a Carlton member by the time I’d agreed to change.”

Today, the registered nurse who works in an aged care facility still follows her 85 year-old father to the Carlton contests, in a tradition first forged for all the big games in the late 1960s (including the 30.30 return against Hawthorn in the second round of ’69) and the not-so-famous ones.

“I can remember we were watching one game at the Carlton ground when an announcement came over the loudspeaker for a Doctor Egan to contact home because it was an emergency,” Mary said.

“Now Dad delivered babies in those days and back then there was no phone near the ground, so he had to vacate Princes Park in the middle of the last quarter to make the call from a booth in Royal Parade . . . and when he made the call my mother told him to bring a tub of butter home with him! Dad never forgave her for that.”

Mary was there for Carlton’s breakthrough victory over Essendon in the 1968 Grand Final, and has savoured virtually all of the famous successes since. She has a lot to thank her old man for.

She has also weathered the dark days at Carlton having pledged her membership throughout, proudly reminding that the club’s membership numbers were never more robust than when they were most needed.

This season, Mary’s seeking a greater consistency of performance in Brett Ratten’s young group. “I’d also like to see a little more discipline in the team, with all players taking on a greater responsibility and not just leaving it to Chris Judd,” she added.

She also has a view on how her club could further links with its rank and file.

“Maybe they can find a way for more Carlton people to become involved on a voluntary level,” she said. “There are a lot of diehard Carlton people out there who are probably prepared to give a few hours for the club, so maybe there’s scope for more of the personal touch.”