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Two nondescript bags stuffed with old footy guernseys and left outside St Vincent’s de Paul in Hampton might usually go unnoticed.
Were it not for a line of eager footy fans outside the op-shop early on Monday, store manager Rebekah might have treated the bags as standard donations rather than a slice of Kangaroos history.
Instead, the puzzled manager quickly pieced together that the bags had been dumped by four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson.
“It hasn’t been put out [on the floor] because we’re a bit unsure what we do with it,” said Rebekah, who asked not to use her surname due to charity policy. “How do you price something like that?”
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The bags were full of North Melbourne apparel – including a blue coaching jacket and an Indigenous Round warm-up top with Clarkson’s name emblazoned on the back.
They were dumped outside the shop about 3pm on Sunday – just days after North Melbourne’s decision to sack Clarkson with a year to run on his contract, a decision which left the coach “shocked” and “blindsided”, according to an exclusive interview with this masthead.
By Monday, the bayside op-shop had, consequently, become unwittingly tangled up in one of the biggest AFL break-up stories of the week, and was filled with fans desperate to scoop up the coach’s abandoned items.
“We’re not sure whether it’s going out into the shop or putting it online because I don’t know how we will price it,” Rebekah said.
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“We’re just going to wait and see what our options are.”
She said it was a possibility the ex-coach’s wardrobe could be put up for a charity auction, noting the pieces most likely carried a high value.
She said a number of celebrities, including television presenters and Melbourne socialites, had left donations to the shop in the past but acknowledged the newsworthy timing of Sunday’s donation.
The four-time premiership coach told The Age’s Caroline Wilson on Friday the seemingly last-minute firing after four years with the club had left him and his family “shattered”.
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A spokesperson for Clarkson was approached for comment.
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Eleanor Campbell is a breaking news reporter at The Age.Connect via email.AdvertisementAdvertisement