Amongst the diehards braving the rain to see the Carlton players put through their paces at Visy Park this morning was noted Lygon Street restaurateur Marco Donnini and his three sons Frankie, Rocky and Leo.

Marco’s boys are the fourth generation Donninis to commit their allegiances to the Navy Blues, after his father Tiberio and grandfather Nando. The family connection can be sourced to almost 70 years ago when Nando, the Italian migrant whose surname graces the famed family restaurant on the local strip, first set foot in the new country.

Clearly Nando didn’t take long to embrace the football club, for as Tiberio pointed out:

“We’re talking the late 1950s – a time when Dad and Ernie Angerame (once the football club’s official barber) sold Carlton membership tickets out of the University Café”.

“Dad’s 90 now and he only said to me the other day: ‘I can’t wait for the footy to start’,” Tiberio said. “The family’s always had a close connection with Carlton and my sister married a Carlton footballer.”

Joining Nando in counting down the days to the opening round is Tiberio, sister Amanda (the wife of Carlton Premiership player Ken Hunter), Marco and of course the young blokes – Leo (who sports the Number 3 of Captain Marc Murphy, Rocky (the number 4 of Bryce Gibbs) and Frankie (an unabashed Troy Menzel fan) – all of whom were on hand to see their heroes working out.

For Marco, such interaction is vital.

“It’s important for the kids to have contact with the players because the kids obviously idolise them,” Marco said.

“For them to see the players up close and personal as they train is fantastic. These are memories they will hold forever.”

Marco deems it his “priority” to ferry his three sons to Carlton games through 2015 and beyond – in keeping with the Donnini family’s long-held tenet to uphold the traditions for as long as the boys in Blue run out.