Ronald Dale Barassi was the most recognised figure in Australian rules football for much of his adult life and among the most influential people in the code’s history.
was the most recognised figure in Australian rules football for much of his adult life and one can make a cogent case that, aside from the game’s founders, he was also the most influential person in the code’s history.: 10 premierships in the VFL, six as a Melbourne champion over 204 games and then a further four as coach of Carlton and then North Melbourne .
He revived Carlton, to the point that the Blues became the competition powerhouse – his legacy, as his old teammate and player, the ex-Carlton boss and AFL’s football chief Ian Collins said, “stretched on for years” – as he handed the coaching baton to John Nicholls, who promptly won a flag in 1972 with many of the players Barassi had guided to flags in 1968 and 1970.
He was, as an AFL senior official observed following his death, the first nationally recognised person in Australian rules football; if you knew of no other name, you’d heard of Ron Barassi. Barassi’s full-bore approach to coaching - fiery clashes with “Slamming Sam” Kekovich and his dealings with the eccentric Brent “Tiger” Crosswell, his rousing speeches and mix of tough talk and love – was the subject of John Powers’ seminal bookCameron Schwab, who dealt with Barassi in his two stints as Melbourne chief executive and was steeped in the game’s history – Ron went back to supporting Melbourne once his service with the Sydney Swans ceased in the early 2000s – once said of Barassi’s...
Collins recalled Barassi colluding with the Fitzroy coach Bill Stephen in 1966 to draw a centre square for a game to reduce congestion, with the teams agreeing not to enter the square for centre bounces. The league forgave them. Nine years later, the experiment became the rule.
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