General Footy Writing: No flies on Carlton’s Bulldog Gilbert; he just loves his footy club
Posted by Pia Abrahams on 21st September 2009
By Pia Abrahams
I didn’t expect to be sharing laundry tips with a footy club legend and a pesky lorikeet on a frosty winter morning. But construction at the Carlton Football Club’s elite training facility has landed my meeting with its property steward in the shadow of a gum tree on a Princes Park bench. Shivering, I’m relieved to spot a vision in dazzling white and navy blue striding jauntily towards me. Wayne ‘Bulldog’ Gilbert may have a broad, plucky face but he wears his tracksuit like a three-piece suit.
Perseverance is the name of Gilbert’s game. He’s been working through Carlton’s off-field ranks since 1983; first as a recruiting officer for the under-15s and under-19s, then marshalling property while juggling his job as a panel beater. In 1990 he was appointed assistant to the seniors players’ property steward, who finally handed him the reins after thirty years in the job. Gilbert has now been full time with Carlton’s senior playing team since 1999, and at 62 he insists he’s a long way off retirement: ‘If I get the sack or leave here that’d be it. I couldn’t do the same thing at another club. Me heart wouldn’t be in it’. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Carlton
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