These books are for sale exclusively through The Carlton Shop at Visy Park and online at carltonfc.com.au. This is the ideal gift for Father’s Day and with only 500 of these editions remaining now is the time to purchase your copy.
As a special offer for Carlton supporters, the author of the publication, Tony De Bolfo will sign each copy that is purchased before Friday August 20th.
Click here to order online.
Out of the Blue
The Carlton story spans more than 16 decades and as many League premierships. It’s a story steeped in tradition, a tale told many times over by way of the remarkable number of books dedicated to its truly glorious history.
And now, another tome takes pride of place on the dark Navy Blue bookshelf. Out of the Blue - a lavish, 250-page coffee table production - fleshes out the stories behind the stories that have made Carlton Carlton - from the club’s humble beginnings of the mid-1860s, through to the turn-of-the-century triumphs under John Worrall; the wartime successes under Norman Clarke, Brighton Diggins and Perc Bentley; the Ron Barassi-led renaissance of the 1960s; and the on-field triumphs masterminded by football’s last premiership captain-coaches John Nicholls and Alex Jesaulenko.
Also chronicled is the pivotal role of the then Australian Rugby union coach Alan Jones in Robert Walls’ planning and preparation for the 1987 Grand Final, a premiership bookend by the all-conquering 1981-82 and ’95 Grand Final triumphs under the meticulous planning of “the Hawthorn bloke”, David Parkin.
And then there’s the return of the late Richard Pratt, Macarthur-like, which precipitated the vital appointment of a renowned CEO and the audacious signing of the game’s greatest player - in a decade which saw the once proud football club freefall to the bottom echelons after being hit with the full weight of AFL law.
In his foreword to the book, Carlton’s three-time premiership ruckman Mike Fitzpatrick best articulates what Out of the Blue set out to achieve.
“Out of the Blue captures the essence of the Carlton Football Club. Underlying the stories of the dark Navy Blue, the great deeds, the brave men, the committed supporters and the political upheavals, is that indefinable concept of what it means to be ‘Carlton’,” Fitzpatrick writes.
“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.”
Complementing a myriad of never-before-seen photographs, certificates and personal letters in Out of the Blue are as many never-before told anecdotes, including;
• the family scourge which prematurely ended the life of one of the club’s first champions, George Coulthard;
• the house in Hawthorn which in the 1930s served as the unlikely backdrop for two spinsters who penned the lyrics to Carlton’s famous theme song;
• the legend of Bob Chitty, as revealed from those who knew and feared him;
• the touching wartime letters of fallen hero Jim Park, and an amazing wartime request from a Carlton unknown named Ernie Pilkington;
• the late Ray Garby’s take on the goal that wasn’t in the dramatic finale to the 1947 Grand Final;
• Ken Hands’ role in the signing of John Nicholls, considered by many to be Carlton’s greatest ever player;
• Laurie Kerr’s clandestine meeting at The Australia Club with future Carlton coach Ron Barassi, as early as 1963;
• a field umpire’s extraordinary role in the goal that enabled Carlton’s only centurion goalkicker in a season, Alex Jesaulenko, to finally bring up the ton;
• the unprecedented signings of Craig Bradley, Stephen Kernahan and Peter Motley; and
• Greg Swann’s dramatic eleventh hour play to clinch the Chris Judd deal.
Out of the Blue - defining moments of the Carlton Football Club records the glorious tales that have made the Carlton Football Club great.
The book is available in store at The Carlton Shop for $49.95 or online for $59.95 which includes postage & handling.
Click here to order online
