As the Carlton and Richmond players ready for what is the 50th home and away encounter between the two teams on the MCG, it remains something of a mystery they’re not playing off for the Perc Bentley Cup. For few, if any, could lay claim to contributing more to both institutions than one Percival James Bentley.
 
At Punt Road, Perc entered the fray on 263 occasions as Richmond ruckman (including the winning Grand Final of ’34); at Princes Park he counselled in 281 matches for 167 wins as Carlton coach - amongst them the lauded Grand Final triumphs of 1945 and ’47.
 
Jim Clark, whose entire playing career was won and run under Perc’s tutelage and is one of the few surviving members of those two famous conquests, recently said of Perc Bentley: “Loved him. Loved him . . . he was a very prominent player in the times of ‘Skinny’ Titus and Jack Dyer”.
 
“I know I speak for all the players when I say he had the respect of every one of us,” Clark said. “I never heard him swear in an address and he was always so supportive in his instruction. He was always encouraging.”
 
Perc’s 15-year coaching tenure reached its inevitable conclusion in 1955, but his dedication to the Carlton cause took on another dimension as an administrator, during which time he contributed significantly to the club’s resurgence under the reign of George Harris.
 
In 1965 his vote was pivotal in the appointment of Ron Barassi as Carlton coach and on January 5, 1966 - moments after work began at VFL Park - he cheekily produced a football and booted it downfield to claim the first kick at the venue.
 
Perc never got to see his Blues prevail over his old team in the 1982 Grand Final. He died that March. But by then his place in football history was assured - 57 years of dedication to the game as player, captain, captain-coach, non-playing coach, chairman of selectors, state selector, Carlton administrator and League director.
 
Come Saturday night, supporters of Bentley’s beloved Blues will push the club’s aggregate attendance figure beyond the four million-mark for Carlton Richmond matches at the MCG.
 
Old Perc would be proud.