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Barassi: The Biography
Barassi is Australian Football's first born son, the boy who became its prophet and its messiah. This is a deeply personal portrait of the legend.
448 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 29, 2010
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May 14, 2021
The extraordinary life of Australian rules footballer Ronald Dale Barassi makes for an interesting story. This biography by Peter Lalor is serviceable enough.
Consider the following:
• Melbourne footballer Ronald James Barassi is killed at Tobruk in 1941. The Melbourne Football Club promises to look after his widow and five year old son, also named Ronald.
• A teammate of Ron senior, Norm Smith, becomes coach of Melbourne and leads them to unprecedented success, winning six premierships between 1955 and 1964.
o As an adolescent Barassi lives with Smith and Smith’s wife while making his way into the Melbourne team.
o Barassi can play for Melbourne as a result of the club pressing for a father-son rule whereby the son may be recruited by the club if the father has played 50 games (Ron senior played 58). The father-son rule is now institutionalised with 100 games as the qualifying mark.
• Barassi perfected, if he did not invent, the role of the ruck–rover.
• He captained Melbourne to the 1960 and 1964 premierships (Melbourne has not won a premiership since then, although they contested the 1988 and 2000 grand finals).
• Barassi scandalised / thrilled the football world when he left Melbourne to captain coach Carlton (beer joke of the time - Barassi made Melbourne Bitter and Carlton United).
o Won a further premiership (1968) as Captain Coach and another in 1970 as non-playing coach (tally up to eight).
• Arguably responsible for the next Carlton premiership under tyro coach John Nicholls (1972). Carlton have won four premierships since then, in 1979, 1981, 1982 and later in 1995, but the latter three under the meticulous guidance of the Hawthorn man David Parkin (who was later honoured as the Carlton coach of the century, rather than Barassi).
• In the post Norm Smith era a number of coaches have won four premierships, but no one has won more (Smith won six with Melbourne in 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1964). Barassi brought success to the North Melbourne club for the first time in their history, although Barassi himself is quick to acknowledge that this success was possible only with the contemporaneous development of a strong professional administration, spearheaded by Ron Joseph and Allen Aylett.
• His innovations on the playing field: play on style, an emphasis in handball, hard training (as you play) a professional approach to preparation, plus a ferocious approach nevertheless taking into account the personalities and idiosyncrasies of individual players - all of this was important to his successes, but he also acknowledged the debt in coaching method he owed to Norm Smith and Norm’s brother Len Smith.
• Barassi had two more coaching gigs, with his old club Melbourne and then Sydney.
o The Melbourne stint in the early to mid-eighties was a struggle, with a poor list and backward-thinking administrations. It is, however, arguable that Barassi's work laid the foundation for Melbourne’s finals appearances in 1987 and 1988.
• After his stint with Melbourne, Barassi took an extended period away from direct involvement in football, but ultimately answered the AFL’s call to drop into the Sydney coach’s position, more to rescue the club, or in today’s terms, the brand, or franchise, from oblivion, which at the time looked a real possibility.
o So in 1993, Barassi came to Sydney as full-time coach, surprisingly the first such appointment of his career. At the point at which he took over, Sydney was in the midst of a record breaking run of losses (ultimately 26 on the trot).
o He may have lost his innovative qualities on the field, but raised the profile of the team in a foreign city.
o In 1996, the year after he left, Sydney made the grand final under new coach Rodney Eade.
• Of Barassi’s personal and business life there is little and the details are censored.
o While Barassi was paid as a footballer the rewards were modest. In 1957 or 1959, he cannot remember which, he earned 199 pounds, or $398 – for the year… So he went into business; earthmoving, office furniture and ultimately, on the motivational speaking circuit (the Sydney coaching job was his first full-time professional position).
o His business affairs were often fraught, and by the time he was at North Melbourne, he had reached such indebtedness that the football club mounted a rescue operation, injecting substantial funds and appointing one of their senior executives to run the company, full-time, to allow Barassi to concentrate on coaching.
o His first marriage ended when his wife discovered a long-term affair.
***
Ron Barassi transcended the change in Australian Rules football from amateur pastime to fully professional sport; from the time when he pursued an ‘interesting hobby’ to the time when he became employed fulltime in football.
The energy, determination and tenacity he brought to the game as a player he brought to his coaching stints as well, developing ruck roving, emphasising hand–balling and a fast, play on style. He also understood the need to have sound administration behind him. His inventiveness may have diminished over the years, but his profile grew even larger and his vision for the future of the game was powerful and imaginative.
Consider the following:
• Melbourne footballer Ronald James Barassi is killed at Tobruk in 1941. The Melbourne Football Club promises to look after his widow and five year old son, also named Ronald.
• A teammate of Ron senior, Norm Smith, becomes coach of Melbourne and leads them to unprecedented success, winning six premierships between 1955 and 1964.
o As an adolescent Barassi lives with Smith and Smith’s wife while making his way into the Melbourne team.
o Barassi can play for Melbourne as a result of the club pressing for a father-son rule whereby the son may be recruited by the club if the father has played 50 games (Ron senior played 58). The father-son rule is now institutionalised with 100 games as the qualifying mark.
• Barassi perfected, if he did not invent, the role of the ruck–rover.
• He captained Melbourne to the 1960 and 1964 premierships (Melbourne has not won a premiership since then, although they contested the 1988 and 2000 grand finals).
• Barassi scandalised / thrilled the football world when he left Melbourne to captain coach Carlton (beer joke of the time - Barassi made Melbourne Bitter and Carlton United).
o Won a further premiership (1968) as Captain Coach and another in 1970 as non-playing coach (tally up to eight).
• Arguably responsible for the next Carlton premiership under tyro coach John Nicholls (1972). Carlton have won four premierships since then, in 1979, 1981, 1982 and later in 1995, but the latter three under the meticulous guidance of the Hawthorn man David Parkin (who was later honoured as the Carlton coach of the century, rather than Barassi).
• In the post Norm Smith era a number of coaches have won four premierships, but no one has won more (Smith won six with Melbourne in 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1964). Barassi brought success to the North Melbourne club for the first time in their history, although Barassi himself is quick to acknowledge that this success was possible only with the contemporaneous development of a strong professional administration, spearheaded by Ron Joseph and Allen Aylett.
• His innovations on the playing field: play on style, an emphasis in handball, hard training (as you play) a professional approach to preparation, plus a ferocious approach nevertheless taking into account the personalities and idiosyncrasies of individual players - all of this was important to his successes, but he also acknowledged the debt in coaching method he owed to Norm Smith and Norm’s brother Len Smith.
• Barassi had two more coaching gigs, with his old club Melbourne and then Sydney.
o The Melbourne stint in the early to mid-eighties was a struggle, with a poor list and backward-thinking administrations. It is, however, arguable that Barassi's work laid the foundation for Melbourne’s finals appearances in 1987 and 1988.
• After his stint with Melbourne, Barassi took an extended period away from direct involvement in football, but ultimately answered the AFL’s call to drop into the Sydney coach’s position, more to rescue the club, or in today’s terms, the brand, or franchise, from oblivion, which at the time looked a real possibility.
o So in 1993, Barassi came to Sydney as full-time coach, surprisingly the first such appointment of his career. At the point at which he took over, Sydney was in the midst of a record breaking run of losses (ultimately 26 on the trot).
o He may have lost his innovative qualities on the field, but raised the profile of the team in a foreign city.
o In 1996, the year after he left, Sydney made the grand final under new coach Rodney Eade.
• Of Barassi’s personal and business life there is little and the details are censored.
o While Barassi was paid as a footballer the rewards were modest. In 1957 or 1959, he cannot remember which, he earned 199 pounds, or $398 – for the year… So he went into business; earthmoving, office furniture and ultimately, on the motivational speaking circuit (the Sydney coaching job was his first full-time professional position).
o His business affairs were often fraught, and by the time he was at North Melbourne, he had reached such indebtedness that the football club mounted a rescue operation, injecting substantial funds and appointing one of their senior executives to run the company, full-time, to allow Barassi to concentrate on coaching.
o His first marriage ended when his wife discovered a long-term affair.
***
Ron Barassi transcended the change in Australian Rules football from amateur pastime to fully professional sport; from the time when he pursued an ‘interesting hobby’ to the time when he became employed fulltime in football.
The energy, determination and tenacity he brought to the game as a player he brought to his coaching stints as well, developing ruck roving, emphasising hand–balling and a fast, play on style. He also understood the need to have sound administration behind him. His inventiveness may have diminished over the years, but his profile grew even larger and his vision for the future of the game was powerful and imaginative.
August 23, 2023
Does a Good Job of Describing the Influences that Drove King Ron
As a lifelong Demon tragic I was keen to read “Barassi” and learn a bit more about the man behind the myth. This book does a good job of describing the influences that drove King Ron to become the player and coach he was.
Ron’s life from a fairly early age has been played out in the media so there is not much new information here, but his story mirrors the rhythms of Melbourne life through the 60’s and 70’s. Reading about Barass in the early years when he was still playing for Melbourne brings back happy childhood memories of kick to kick in the playground at lunchtime, riding home on my bike in time to watch Happy Hammond and the gang, Bay 13 at the G on a Saturday afternoon and kicking the ball around on the ground after the match. Later in life, grabbing a copy of the Herald at Flinders Street on a Friday afternoon to catch the latest news before the weekend’s games or the Sporting Globe on a Saturday evening to get the postmortems was a winter ritual along with the crew on World of Sport on Sunday.
As life progressed and became more complex so did Melbourne become more sophisticated and diverse - so there was less time for those simple pleasures. His return home was not all that the faithful wished and while the book gives some perspective to what was an impossible mission it also allows for the fact that although times had changed and Ronald Dale’s coaching philosophy was still sound, his coaching tactics were becoming outdated. This was also true in Sydney but the book notes that his contribution to Sydney was far greater than the win loss record.
With the benefit of hindsight the book is also able to capture how forward thinking Barassi was in terms of the rules and structure of the game throughout his career. His competitive spirit and volatile coaching approach could alienate some, but as quickly as he blew up he would calm down. It was reassuring to read that he is a man who would have no enemies and has a broad spectrum of interests. I came away from the book feeling glad that my childhood hero was deserving and, unlike most sporting heroes, has always given 100% and never disappointed - during his footy career or since.
As a lifelong Demon tragic I was keen to read “Barassi” and learn a bit more about the man behind the myth. This book does a good job of describing the influences that drove King Ron to become the player and coach he was.
Ron’s life from a fairly early age has been played out in the media so there is not much new information here, but his story mirrors the rhythms of Melbourne life through the 60’s and 70’s. Reading about Barass in the early years when he was still playing for Melbourne brings back happy childhood memories of kick to kick in the playground at lunchtime, riding home on my bike in time to watch Happy Hammond and the gang, Bay 13 at the G on a Saturday afternoon and kicking the ball around on the ground after the match. Later in life, grabbing a copy of the Herald at Flinders Street on a Friday afternoon to catch the latest news before the weekend’s games or the Sporting Globe on a Saturday evening to get the postmortems was a winter ritual along with the crew on World of Sport on Sunday.
As life progressed and became more complex so did Melbourne become more sophisticated and diverse - so there was less time for those simple pleasures. His return home was not all that the faithful wished and while the book gives some perspective to what was an impossible mission it also allows for the fact that although times had changed and Ronald Dale’s coaching philosophy was still sound, his coaching tactics were becoming outdated. This was also true in Sydney but the book notes that his contribution to Sydney was far greater than the win loss record.
With the benefit of hindsight the book is also able to capture how forward thinking Barassi was in terms of the rules and structure of the game throughout his career. His competitive spirit and volatile coaching approach could alienate some, but as quickly as he blew up he would calm down. It was reassuring to read that he is a man who would have no enemies and has a broad spectrum of interests. I came away from the book feeling glad that my childhood hero was deserving and, unlike most sporting heroes, has always given 100% and never disappointed - during his footy career or since.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews