A TOTAL of sixty Carlton Members, all bound by a genuine interest in and empathy for the football club’s long and illustrious history, recently gathered at IKON Park for an event held in the Presidents Room overlooking the old ground.

The Members had accepted invitations from the Club to a presentation, entitled 1871 Challenge Cup – the Quest for the Holy Grail.

The presentation, delivered by Historian Tony De Bolfo, related to the first piece of silverware a Carlton team ever earned – the long lost South Yarra Presentation Challenge Cup awarded to Jack Donovan after he captained Carlton to victory over Melbourne (two goals to nil) at Albert Park on the afternoon of Saturday, October 7, 1871. 

Members were also privy to a 40-minute Q and A with Carlton’s 220-game Premiership defender Rod Austin, who shared some fascinating insights in respect of his football life – including how he prepared for individual contests with countless “talls” and “smalls”, amongst them Peter Hudson (whom he kept goalless in a match in 1977) and Leigh Matthews.

The presentation marked the second of its kind open to Members with an historic bent – the first being the Hall of Fame Inductions of Carlton’s greats of the period 1864-1938, in the Presidents Room last November.