I rarely post in this forum, though I have been a member for a while. This is largely because I live in the UK, in Birmingham, from where I have been a distant observer of the Blues for the past twenty years (the last game I saw in the flesh was the 1987 Grand Final. Rhys! Sticks! Molly!). I never feel qualified to discuss players I know only by name, stats and the radio broadcasts I listen to early on Saturday mornings (in Summer, too! How weird!), but the Blue in me just will not die. I have been a long standing member (love the emails inviting me to games! Just a bit far to go!) and my support has become more fervent in the past few lean years.

Being a Blues supporter in Birmingham has its difficulties. This is because the local football team (not Villa) has the same nickname. It means that one has to be a bit circumspect before wearing my Blues beanie out of the house in case I am mistaken for the wrong type of supporter (and you think Collingwood supporters are bad...). Even the jumper creates problems. When I wore my Carlton home guernsey to the shops one week, my Chelsea-hating butcher wouldn't serve me, asking me how much they paid me to wear it.

As it happens, I like running along Birmingham's canals. Yesterday (in late november) it was freezing. I put on my thermal running gear, but just to give myself more protection I pulled on my sleeveless Carlton away strip for a bit of extra protection, and went for a jog.


Jogging sometimes attracts unwanted attention from fat-arsed Poms whose idea of exercise is watching the X Factor, and I am used to a bit of ribbing. As I have the physique of a decent CHB (194cm, 90kgs, oh Carlton! I have been waiting for the call for 40 years!), I usually run towards them and that shuts up the fat bastards fairly quickly.

Yesterday, I noted a group of three men staring at me as I ran toward them. A bit less sedentary looking than your average Pom, but I still presumed trouble was coming. But as I got close to them, instead of shouting out something wittily sarcastic like 'run you bugger', or of equal banality, the middle one shouted, in a clear Australian accent 'Baggers for the finals next year!'. I was so shocked, it took a moment to register what had been said. 'Absolutely!', I replied, and ran on as if in front of the Heatley.

A pic of me in action below. It was only afterwards I realised my resemblance to Captain Carlton.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3192/305 ... 51.jpg?v=0

Great story and great action shot!

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|♥♥♥♥♥♥| http://www.blueseum.org |♥♥♥♥♥♥|

Go Old Carltonian !!!!
Kepp The Faith Bro !!!

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The problem with Socialism is, you eventually run out of other people's money.

Er, that's Keep

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The problem with Socialism is, you eventually run out of other people's money.

That's a great read and a great way to start the week which promises to deliver another future champion Carlton player at Pick 6.....oh yeah...and pick 69.

Thatnks for the report OC.

I look forward to you anectodotal reporting from Birmingham; a good read.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Hi, Old Carltonian,
If you log on to this site for the game you will enjoy the broadcast a bit more as well by sharing it with some of the other overseas supporters.
The foreign legion. I am now back in Oz for the next two seasons but got a lot of enjoyment out of doing it.
Your butcher must have a good business if he can knock back customers.
Keep the faith. We're coming.
And they know we're coming.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

great story, and a great way to start the week.

Thanks for sharing.

Baggers for the finals '09.

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"Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

Its amazing where in the world you can illicit a "Go Blues" whilst wearing your Carlton gear.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Absolutely! Jump on for the games.

Great read Old Carltonian and keep running along those canals, hope you don't get too many of those nasty freezing fogs!

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

POW for mine!

Hey, OC. Remember the 1968 Grand Final?

Great story involving someone from TC who is actually in London.

Not quite old enough to remember '68, but certainly recall crying my eyes out about '69. My mother told me it was not the end of the world, but, quite rightly, I insisted that it was.

BTW, the pic was taken immediately on my return by Mrs Carltonian (Pom, who doesn't understand). I am somewhat tempted to start a new thread on international identification of the Blues symbol!

Do it!

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"our electorate seeks less to be informed and more to be validated." Sad times.

The insipid white strip should be thrown in the canal.

But good on ya anyway.

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THEY LIKE TO SEND UP!!!!!!!!

Until each team plays each other the same number of times, the AFL, as a fair dinkum competition, cannot be taken seriously.

He (Mr Swann) said the honour and pride associated with the club's traditional navy blue jumper was priceless.

Great read especially for us who are a long way from home!!!

Good idea. The TC Foreign Legion would love it; we'd all love it.

There should be a thread which identifies with each country in the world; even regions, Cities.

I'll PM someone from TC and we might get the TC moderators to set this up asap.

That'll give plenty Bluebaggers living and travelling around the world an opportunity to add some value to some new conversation. Imagine this could be a world first. The word will spread...

...and you too OC, you can have a thread of your own; I'll read it.

Great stuff.

Bluebaggers live far past the horizon. further than one can see. We are deep in spirit, dark with commitment and Navy Blue in pedigree.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I'm taking odd of $1.04 that this will be POW.

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Cheap Bike Insurance
Selling Baseball Cards

So why the insipid white thing?

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THEY LIKE TO SEND UP!!!!!!!!

Until each team plays each other the same number of times, the AFL, as a fair dinkum competition, cannot be taken seriously.

He (Mr Swann) said the honour and pride associated with the club's traditional navy blue jumper was priceless.

Agreed - what a great idea!

I too wear the white away jumper jogging in Auckland and get some very funny looks.

They just don't understand OC......one dude tried to tell me the other day (with a straight face!) that Aussie Rules was derived from women's basketball!

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Wisdom tells me I am nothing
Love tells me I am everything
Between the two my life flows