In light of the "Your kids & Carlton" topic (which does not apply to me yet at this stage), it has still got me wondering when I was one myself.
My old man is a North Melbourne supporter (albeit he's a very meh guy on AFL). Not that I had one for them.
Very briefly I went for Richmond for memory. My uncle was a very one-eyed Tigers supporter who swayed me for a very short time.
I can only say now how thankful I am of not having to barrack for that rabble of a team.
I just simply followed the majority on my family and decided to go for the Blues.

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Essendon-Only team to have ever been found guilty of salary cap breaches in a premiership year!

When I first took an interest in footy My father was an Essendon* supporter and my best mate at school was a Carlton supporter. 47 years later I have no regrets of sticking with my best mate.

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Hooked on The Blues

I've been a Carlton fan for as long as I can remember, and don't know exactly why. Grew up in South Aus, with parents who were crows supporters, although neither of them particularly cared about the AFL, while my older brother was a North Melbourne supporter. My first favourite player was Sticks, and i've generally told people that what lured me to Carlton was the SA connection with Kernahan, Bradley, Mckay etc. during the early 90's, but i'm not exactly sure if that was the reason or not. I've seen photos of me as a 3-4 year old kicking around a navy blue footy, maybe it was just logical to support the team wearing the same colour as my footy. Maybe i was mesmerised by Kernahan's mullet, I'm just not sure.
Although i don't actually remember the 1995 grand final, i know i was a blues fan prior to this, so i can at least rule out jumping on the bandwagon.
Simply, i can say i made the right decision at a very young age, and have never changed my mind about it, whether it was Kernahan, the colours or something else, i'm not sure, but the decision was made and it will never change.

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@cecil_anderson

The old man has been a member since 1948 one day after arriving in this country and thankfully since the day I was born I had no choice in the matter and have been a member since the early 70's....

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"Truth, for the tyrants, is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings; it is like an incandescent iron falling across their chests. And it is even more agonizing than hot iron, for that only burns the flesh, while truth burns its way into the soul"     — Lauro Aguirre

You must have been a smart kid. Good Choice.

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Hooked on The Blues

I got my first Carlton jumper when I was three years old. And I have been a Bluebagger ever since.

The first game I remember watching was the 1981 GF v Colliwobbles and from that day forward, I was hooked. We religiously watched Drew Morfatt on The Winners, on ABC every Sunday night before the news.

The first game I saw live, in the flesh was a pre-season match verses Claremont in 1981 or 1982. It might have been a post season match.

I attended my first match at Princess Park in 1984. We defeated the South Melbourne Swans and David Rhys-Jones wore red and white that day.

My parents bag me for still following a Victorian team. I tell them it is their fault for buying me that Carlton jumper (which I still have). I bag them for supporting a team that has a Victorian coach and Croweater as captain. WE ARE CARLTON and FTW !!!

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FEVELENKO! YOU BEAUTY!

My family having moved to Australia from Greece in 1978, my father didnt follow footy at all. I started supporting Carlton as 3 year old kid in the early 80s because of the flashy brilliance of players like the Buzz, the Dominator, Alex Marcou etc...

I ve got 2 young kids myself now, a 23 month old daughter and a 6 month old boy.. They are both Carlton members already, and I WILL MAKE SURE they grow up supporting the Blue Boys.

There will be no Santa, no Easter Bunny, no Tooth Fairy, no anything, should they even flirt with the idea of venturing over to the Dark Side lol...

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James Hird and Essendon* FC - #FOREVERDRUGCHEATS

Dad, 6 year old me, wooden tomato box, in front of Heatley Stand, 1968, Collingwood the bastards!!!!

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

Winston Churchill

Stated going to the footy in 1953

The old press box
Rober Heatley Stand
Gardiner Stand
Ken Hands
Serg Silvagni
Big Nick
Jezza
Barassi
Peanuts, shilling a bag

I could go on forever

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Cheats never prosper (except in the AFL)

Beat me by 3 years Russ, first game at the age of one. I can remember the 1962 final series, the drawn prelim against Geelong. It was bloody hot for some of that final series. Was in the Cheer Squad in the late 60's, early 70's. I remember holding up the banners. We thought they were huge. I vividly remember the banner for Big Nick's 300th. Got photos somewhere. I think it's 14 Grand Finals for 8 Premierships. Even though I'm pissed off with certain people at the club and still bitter, I love Carlton, always will.

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With 12 seconds to go in the 1947 Grand Final Fred Stafford snaps a left footed goal. Carlton beat Essendon* by one point..

Number 17 in Carlton's 25 Greatest Moments.

Funnily enough I was totally taken in by us while listening to us get thrashed by Fitzroy by 10 goals on my crackly clock radio in 1983.

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#DonTheStash

Dad came from a racing family with a mix of footy allegiances but he was the only one who was a serious footyhead - not sure how he ended up barracking for Carlton but he made sure me and my sisters all were Navy Blue believers. My first game was Barassi's 50th. Spent a lot of games in the Annex with Dad in the Social Club - lots of other kids there all making a racket with the wooden floor when we kicked a goal. Have seen all 8 premierships since sitting in the 2nd back row of the Southern (not Great then) Stand in 1968.

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Carlton - Nothing's changed
I still love you, oh, I still love you
Only slightly, only slightly less
Than I used to, my love

Dad supports Carlton, his dad supported Carlton and his dad's dad supported Carlton as like many others that's where they lived when they came out from Italy.

I had no choice, wasn't even aware supporting another team was an option.

This is my first contribution to this site, so I don't know the protocols setting my contribution up. Anyway here goes! My father was a member for 76 continuous years only ending with his death last year aged 91. He saw his first game in 1927 and as a youngster would head to Princes Park after school to watch training and collect the football for Soapy Vallence when practicing goal kicking. In the 84 years that followed, he followed the Blues through every permutation possible up and down the ladder and kept fantastic scrap books of articles from the newspapers during the 1930's. (unfortunately some cousins nicked most of them, but we still have a couple.) He bemoaned the modern footballers inability to kick straight; Vallence espoused the creed of perfect practice makes perfect and kicked them from every angle every training session. He had an incredible memory of players from all clubs (Nash, Dyer, Chitty, Coventry etc and he remembered what made them special) and games he had been to. He of course took us to Princes Park on many occasions and I think I saw my first game in 1953 or 54. I have wonderful memories of being at the ground to watch the reserves play prior to the main game to see our future champions and of being hit with umbrellas by Collingwood supporters on the terraces below the Robert Heatly stand. When the Carlton site ran an article on the 1938 Grand Final I printed it and showed to my father. He was at that game and vividly recounted incidents from the game and explained why he disagreed with the assessments of who our best players were. (Unfortunately he never owned a computer, but would have been a fantatsic resource for the Bluesmuseum). He passed on his passion for the mighty Blues to his four sons and they to their children and they in turn to their children despite most of us living in Canberra (since 1968) and Sydney. So no matter who is coaching or playing for OUR team, or how the administration is functioning, our passion remains. Go Blues

My Carlton childhood in chronological order:

-Lost a Grand Final
-Choked in the Qualifying to be smashed in a Prelim
-Lost to Richmond in a Semi
-Spoon
-15th
-Watched Dennis Pagan and his crew of rejects take us to 11th
-Spoon
-Spoon
-15th
-11th glimmer of hope (Judd)
-Lost Elimination Final by a kick
-Lost Elimination Final by a kick
-Lost Semi-Final by a kick
-First actual team to lose to Gold Coast, rabble. Miss finals.

2013?? Don't know, I've already bought myself a Mayan calendar.

1970 used a pocket knife to scratch the grandfinal score into the window sill
My butt cheeks still bare the scars

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

I thought you said you scratched it into a window sill?

Come on it hasn't been all bad, what about:


http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php? ... 17%2C+1998

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

Winston Churchill

A perfect first contribution to TC, and may you make many more!


The introduction to Carlton for me was sitting on my Great Aunt's knee when I was four and being told I WILL barrack for Carlton. If I didn't I'm not confident I would've seen my fifth birthday.

As for memorable games, nothing will ever beat watching the '79 Grand Final. Bliss.

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"The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, and the young know everything." Oscar Wilde

Was this the day child services called because you flung your 4 year old son up into the air 29 times?