Career : 1897
Debut and only game : Inception Blue - Round 1, 1897 vs Fitzroy
Carlton Player No. 13
Goals : Nil
Height : ?
Weight : ?
DOB : 1877
George Henry ‘Cheerful’ Johnston, played just one match for the Blues, as one of the 20 special young men who represented us in our debut VFL match against Fitzroy in May, 1897. That same month Johnston was cleared to go back to Albert Park. Johnston went on to play with the newly formed Prahran football club in 1899 as their first Captain.
Information about ‘Cheerful’ Johnston is scant, apart from confirmation that he was born in Sandridge (later Port Melbourne) in 1877, and that he played his early football for Albert Park before joining Carlton. His nick-name is ambiguous – was he in fact a fun person to be around, or was he a morose sort of character? Evidence would seem to indicate the latter, because after Fitzroy’s emphatic win, he didn’t play another game.