CARLTON’S 962nd and final VFL/AFL match at Princes Park ended as it had begun in the first, with a forgettable loss. What lives in the memory, however, is the beautiful post-game moment when the then Carlton captain Anthony Koutoufides handed the match-day football to the great John Nicholls, who in raising the leather air conveyance brought down the VFL/AFL curtain on 109 winters at the Blues’ famous home.

John Robert Nicholls was the greatest among the greats to pay their last respects to Princes Park on that crisp autumn Saturday. The Club’s games record holder Craig Bradley was there; so too its Brownlow Medallists John James and Greg Williams; Bruce Doull and the Silvagnis Sergio and Stephen; together with Mike Fitzpatrick, Wayne Johnston, Peter Jones and the three-time premiership coach David Parkin.

Four former Carlton Presidents – George Harris, Ivan Rohrt, John Elliott and Ian Collins – together with the incumbent Graham Smorgon, were amongst the 1,000 dignitaries who frequented the marquee in the parklands to the rear of the Heroes Stand for a formal luncheon preceding the match. Of the four former Presidents in attendance, Collins is the sole survivor.

Heroes of the 1995 Grand Final, who recently reconvened 30 years on, were also there back in ’05 - men like Stephen Kernahan, Brett Ratten and Andrew McKay, who all came with their kids. Rod Ashman, Jim Buckley and Alex Marcou - members of the famed ‘Mosquito Fleet’ who owned that glorious patch of turf in those halcyon days of the late 1970s and early ’80s – were also conspicuous by their presence.

And then there were the old timers, wartime legends like Ken Hands, Jim Clark and Doug Williams, who against South Melbourne on that very ground some 60 years before had won them and worn them in ‘The Bloodbath’.

Together they raised the ’45 cup, one of 16 trophies to catch a glint of the midday sun as 16 premiership pennants caught hold of a welcome zephyr.

Deacon, Hall, Silvagni, Nicholls, Wrout, Barassi and Walls with the spoils at Princes Park in the aftermath of the 1970 Grand Final victory. Credit: Simon Davis

More than 30,000 people came to Carlton to pay their last respects 20 years ago, on a day in which a fellow foundation member of the VFL, Melbourne - coached by Neale Daniher - posted an emphatic if unpopular 18-point victory. Of the 22 players who ran out that afternoon, Eddie Betts was the last man standing, turning out in dark Navy for the final time in Round 23, 2021, co-incidentally against this Saturday’s opponent Greater Western Sydney.

At game’s end, when the fading light of early evening cast an eerie pall over Princes Park, Nicholls emerged from the interchange dugout to the centre circle where he had prevailed for so many seasons against the likes of Farmer, Schultz and Thompson. There he took possession of the match-day football from the Carlton captain Anthony Koutoufides and strode to the foot of the since-demolished Robert Heatley Stand.

In the shadows of the Heatley, Nicholls stopped and turned to face the Legends Stand, then raised the football high. Then and there the greatest Carlton footballer of them all brought down the curtain on a glorious epoch in Victorian social, cultural and sporting history.

Koutoufides recently recounted his role in Princes Park’s final VFL/AFL game.

“It was a very emotional day, an incredible experience for myself as the last player to captain Carlton’s AFL team on Princes Park,” he said.

John Boyd, the Peanut Man.

Nicholls meanwhile reflected on that afternoon of 20 years ago, and spoke with genuine emotion of his part in the farewell to the old ground.

“I have a beautiful photograph on my wall of ‘Kouta’ (Koutoufides) handing me the match-day ball that day,” Nicholls said.

“Princes Park had meant everything to me with its achievements and its disappointments. The last VFL/AFL game was a sad day for the history of Princes Park, but I realised that with politics being such a big part of football things were going to change.

“I have always regarded my involvement in the farewell game at Princes Park as a real honour. To also have the Best and Fairest award named after me and to be lucky enough to be named the Club’s No.1 player is why I love Carlton so much.”

The match-day Sherrin raised by Nicholls, and subsequently signed by both him and Koutoufides, is now amongst the significant artefacts on display in the Carlton Football Club’s museum showcase at IKON Park.

Since 2017, when Lauren Arnell captained Carlton in that historic maiden AFLW contest, the infrastructure surrounding the sacred turf has undergone significant change.

Though the Ald. Gardiner Stand remains, the Harris, Heatley and Pratt Stands have all made way for major structural redevelopments, after the Club successfully secured State and Federal Government funding - commencing in 2018 - to consolidate IKON Park as both the home of women’s football and the long-term base of Carlton itself.

Appropriately enough, the old ground played host to its 1000th game involving a Carlton senior team when acting captain Mimi Hill  led the team out for the Round 7 match against Brisbane on the evening of Saturday 2 October 2024.