JOHN Nicholls, acknowledged as Carlton’s greatest player in its 155-year history, has availed two 16mm film reels highlighting his illustrious on-field career for inclusion in the football club’s archive.
About 12 minutes of black and white footage (with sound) - which in part covers Nicholls’ 328-game 18-season career with Carlton and his 31 appearances for Victoria (‘Big Nick’ wore ‘the Big V’ more than any player in state football history) – was recently handed into the club by the man himself.
“The two film reels were handed to me years ago on a visit to the Seven studios in Dorcas Street for an episode of World of Sport,” Nicholls said.
“The reels sat in a cupboard for years as my late wife Janet used to hoard everything. I turned them up the other day and thought they might be of value to the football club.”
The two 16mm film reels handed over by Big Nick.
More than 400 feet of film, originally shot by the cameramen of HSV7 Melbourne and stored in the network’s old canisters, has now been digitized and stockpiled in the Carlton Football Club’s video library.
The footage features the three-time Carlton Premiership ruckman and five-time club Best & Fairest in action against a host of VFL teams, including Collingwood at Victoria Park, St Kilda at Moorabbin and the long-gone Fitzroy at the Junction Oval.
One clip shows Nicholls handballing over the top to Brian Kekovich for a cheap goal in the square at Adelaide Oval during the 1968 Championship of Australia match with Sturt won by Carlton; another sees ‘Big Nick’ break the banner in game No.300 for Carlton, in the Round 6, 1973 match with Richmond at the MCG.
In 2014, Nicholls also generously availed still images from his playing days for inclusion in the Carlton Football Club archive.
As with the film reels, the photographs were safely tucked away in storage – in an old suitcase crammed with faded clippings and sundry items of another time - from as far back as the mid-1950s when Nicholls first chased the leather for Maryborough, and through the 18 seasons of greatness with both Carlton and Victoria.
In flicking open the suitcase’s latches - Nicholls has availed a treasure trove of on-field memories to anyone with an empathy for his incredible football journey.
