Was chatting with a fellow true believer the other day and the phrase "blue-baggers" came up in conversation.

It just got me thinking about where it originated from. We all use it as a term of affection but it is not an obvious - well at least not to me.

So I was wondering if anybody knew the history of it...

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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

I'm pretty sure it came from them carrying blue bags to games etc

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

I was told a while ago that it's original reference was at the elite public schools in the UK and ivy league colleges in the States that some boys (the very wealthy ones) were given a navy blue bag in which to put their dirty clothes. As not all boys had access to the laundry service they were referred to as the 'Blue Baggers'. I'm not sure how accurate that is though in relation to Carlton being labeled Blue Baggers although I can see how the correlation was made.

I had a navy blue laundry bag at boarding school.

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"Thank you sir. May I have another".

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“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

The hardest thing about being a blue-bagger is finding matching shoes...

Over to you, Mrs Caz...!!

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"...that's the thing about opinion - you don't have to know anything to have one..." Andre Agassi commenting on Pat Cash 2004
"...the less you know - the more you believe..." - Bono 2006

You ever thought they were called Blue Baggers cos Carlton used to BAG lots of Goals?

I had never heard the term until I heard Clark Hansen on ABC radio footy broadcasts use the expression.....and that was about 20 years ago.

I always hated the expression......so old fashioned.

Hansen's Son now plays with the Brisbane Lions.

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No ones listening till you make a mistake.

"and then I saw Wiggins again, playing with his willy".

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

Thank goodness the team was never called the teabaggers.

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

...and Geelong had cornered the market with the hand baggers...!!

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"...that's the thing about opinion - you don't have to know anything to have one..." Andre Agassi commenting on Pat Cash 2004
"...the less you know - the more you believe..." - Bono 2006

I thought it may have something to do with the term "carpetbaggers" but I looked it up and it refers to outsiders who come to a foreign place looking for and expecting success.

The only way it would fit would be to refer to carlton as the away team coming to an oppositin ground to come away with the points. I quite like the link.

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T E A M

Thanks for everybody's contributions

The term has obviously been around for some time as my father was aware of it in the 50s & 60s

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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

So there you have it. Nobody really knows!
Although 'Goltzenberg' was probably the closest!

I have a feeling the term blue baggers was used in the 70's by Sydney comic Gary Mcdonald aka Norman Guston. I remember Gunston did a skit at Princes Park interviewing players.
A blue bag was a laundry product by Reckett and Coleman. You would put this blue bag in the wash to whiten the sheets and shirts.

Exactly right bluey. I just logged on and was reading this thread, with a view to answering it with the correct answer.

In fact the product was a chalky dark blue block in a Navy Blue and Orange package not dissimilar to our heritage colours. My Aunty who is 81 remembers bluebags and the correlation to Carlton from the 50's! The orange changed to red in the 70's I think. Here is the result of a google search I did on Blue Bags:

http://www.abc.net.au/canberra/stories/s1749791.htm

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2002:> "In their Masters Chambers
They Gathered for their Feast
They Stabbed us with their Steely Knives
But They Just Can't Kill The Beast!" <2016

THE BLUEBAGGER BEAST IS BAACKK!!

Heehee..................


















Blue Bags.....................!









anybody............?



























nothin............?


















BLUUUUUUE......................................................BAAAAAGS..........!









huh..............?





ahhh what's the point.........!


kindest regards tommi

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

My Mum used Reckitts Blue....I remember for some reason.

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No ones listening till you make a mistake.

I never had a blue bag.

But I did have a snazzy navy blue suede jacket once.........

Looked fab with my Prince of Wales check bell-bottoms...

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Princes Park - always was, always will be.

I have a vague recollection of blue bags being used for soothing bee stings or other insect bites.
Then again my memory isn't as sharp as it once was.
Regards Pedro.