The Barassi legend is also a great Australian story.
A descendant of Swiss-Italian migrants who arrived in Victoria during the 1850s gold rush, his father played for Melbourne’s 1940 premiership team before being killed with Australian forces at Tobruk in 1942.Young Barassi pioneered professionalism by switching to Carlton in 1964 and was an early advocate of the national competition that became the AFL.
Behind the moustachioed macho image of the 1970s was a thoughtful cosmopolitan who became widely revered and loved.The last game he would have watched was Carlton’s defeat of Melbourne on Friday night before 96,000 people at the MCG. It was the Demons’ biggest crowd since captain Barassi’s last game for the red and blue, their 1964 grand final win at the MCG in front of 102,000 spectators.
That figure will likely never be beaten, just as there is unlikely to be anyone bigger in Australia’s indigenous game than Ron Barassi. The Australian Financial Review's succinct take on the principles at stake in major domestic and global stories - and what policy makers should do about them.
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