News RIP Ron Barassi

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He did for us what Paul Roos did for Melbourne.

Stopped the rot, sorted the culture and the backroom and got the team going in the right direction for a younger coach. He was "past it" as a coach when he joined in 1993 but his name alone gave us the time to get things fixed. His name got us extra help from the AFL and got us Lockett and Roos.
Yep, all of that. Plus, he made us again look like an actual football club rather than the remnants of a circus that had largely moved on by the end of 80s. He got rid of the Swanettes (the Cheerleaders stationed at the Bradman Stand end), along with that intensely annoying song they used to play after every Swans goal at the SCG. I've recently found myself thinking about how much the re-introduction of post-goal music must have irritated him.... but I digress.

There's a case for saying he was the most important of those who arrived at the club in the 90s, i.e. more important than Lockett and Roos, partly since those two probably don't come to Sydney had Barassi not been there first.
 
How did he save our club? I'm aware we got a few more wins under him and were no longer a laughing stock, but he had a young improving list that was finally about ready to compete. You're all talking like he was some kind of magician who brought us back from the dead all on his own, so I assume I'm missing something?
Imagine getting upset at people celebrating the life and contributions of a recognised great of Australian Football.
 
Skilts will be devastated.

Back in the day when post game, players would visit each others rooms I had the thrill of a lifetime.

I had the chance to handball to both RDB and Skilts for a minute or so while they chatted.

Met RDB a few times down the years and he was a fine person.

I am confident the Club will pay tribute to RDB at our BnF.
 

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Imagine getting upset at people celebrating the life and contributions of a recognised great of Australian Football.
Not upset at all. Celebrate away. Not being from Melbourne, I don’t really get the adulation and think this narrative in which he single-handedly rescued the Swans from oblivion is ludicrously overstated. Personally, the Sun Herald front page of him deflating the soccer ball really irritated me and I lost a lot of respect for him. I really hate AFL establishment figures punching down at other sports.

I acknowledge that he was a respected VFL figure who was big in Melbourne. He lived a long and fruitful life and is now getting the love of the adoring public. Good for him.
 
Not upset at all. Celebrate away. Not being from Melbourne, I don’t really get the adulation and think this narrative in which he single-handedly rescued the Swans from oblivion is ludicrously overstated. Personally, the Sun Herald front page of him deflating the soccer ball really irritated me and I lost a lot of respect for him. I really hate AFL establishment figures punching down at other sports.

I acknowledge that he was a respected VFL figure who was big in Melbourne. He lived a long and fruitful life and is now getting the love of the adoring public. Good for him.
You don't have to be from Melbourne to understand Barrassi's legacy with the Sydney Swans. You just have to know the history of the club you support. You just have to listen to me and what the other posters are saying about Ron and what he did for the Swans. Something you seem incapable of doing.

As for the backpage, so what. That was Barassi, Australian Football was his love. He is a bit like the AFL version of Johnny Warren.

The fact you still think he is just a "respected VFL" figure indicates you don't understand how big Barassi was in Australian Sport. Again, there was a reason we went for Barassi, and that reason was that it was one of the few names north of the Barrassi line that bridged that divide. People might have not known much about him, but they had heard the name and understood what that meant.
 
You don't have to be from Melbourne to understand Barrassi's legacy with the Sydney Swans. You just have to know the history of the club you support. You just have to listen to me and what the other posters are saying about Ron and what he did for the Swans. Something you seem incapable of doing.

As for the backpage, so what. That was Barassi, Australian Football was his love. He is a bit like the AFL version of Johnny Warren.

The fact you still think he is just a "respected VFL" figure indicates you don't understand how big Barassi was in Australian Sport. Again, there was a reason we went for Barassi, and that reason was that it was one of the few names north of the Barrassi line that bridged that divide. People might have not known much about him, but they had heard the name and understood what that meant.
Johnny Warren never mentioned AFL at all. There's this unfortunate tendency within AFL to "protect its patch" by denigrating other sports (particularly soccer) with the help of the pliant media, which I think shows a pathetic insecurity. In this instance, Ron Barrasi was actively campaigning against the World Cup in Australia (apparently because AFL would need to give up the MCG for a month or two), which I thought was thoroughly insane. Unfortunately, that little episode made me dislike him greatly. I did respect him before that.

I do realise it's not an appropriate time to be posting these views, so I'm sorry. I'm prepared to acknowledge his role in stabilising Sydney may have been greater than I thought, and he seemed to be a nice man whom everyone liked. I promise I leave this thread with respect now.
 
Johnny Warren never mentioned AFL at all. There's this unfortunate tendency within AFL to "protect its patch" by denigrating other sports (particularly soccer) with the help of the pliant media, which I think shows a pathetic insecurity. In this instance, Ron Barrasi was actively campaigning against the World Cup in Australia (apparently because AFL would need to give up the MCG for a month or two), which I thought was thoroughly insane. Unfortunately, that little episode made me dislike him greatly. I did respect him before that.

I do realise it's not an appropriate time to be posting these views, so I'm sorry. I'm prepared to acknowledge his role in stabilising Sydney may have been greater than I thought, and he seemed to be a nice man whom everyone liked. I promise I leave this thread with respect now.
I was a Melbourne City member for 6 years.
I tried.
I really tried for a friend of mine who is a dead set soccer man.
He is no longer a member.
Make no mistake. Barassi would have done no harm at all to this sport in Australia because Soccer is harming itself & only has the World Cup every 4 years which creates interest from many non hardened soccer fans like myself.
It's a shambles.
 
Johnny Warren never mentioned AFL at all. There's this unfortunate tendency within AFL to "protect its patch" by denigrating other sports (particularly soccer) with the help of the pliant media, which I think shows a pathetic insecurity. In this instance, Ron Barrasi was actively campaigning against the World Cup in Australia (apparently because AFL would need to give up the MCG for a month or two), which I thought was thoroughly insane. Unfortunately, that little episode made me dislike him greatly. I did respect him before that.

I do realise it's not an appropriate time to be posting these views, so I'm sorry. I'm prepared to acknowledge his role in stabilising Sydney may have been greater than I thought, and he seemed to be a nice man whom everyone liked. I promise I leave this thread with respect now.
Turn it up soccer destroys itself and to bring it up on this special thread is shocking !
 
Great interview with Mike Sheehan - one of the best AFL journalists, talking about Ron Barassi.
Mentions Barassi playing in consecutive grand finals (1955+) - his first as an 18 year old.
This is my first memories of Barassi.
Playing as a ruck rover (as he was not a ruck or a rover) described his tenacity, Sheehan compared Barassi to Paul Kelly.
Played to the best of his ability.
Norm Smith was grooming Barassi to become Melbourne coach, but Barassi left Melbourne for Carlton to broaden his football knowledge.
~ 10 min interview
 
took over as coach of the Sydney Swans in the middle of the 1993 season. This was after the most recent iteration of endless Swans disasters, which had brought the team to its very ankles, after a decade of being on its knees. The whole operation was a completely shambolic joke.

The first game under his command was against Carlton at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Barassi's first speech

“Imagine,” he says with soft intensity, “that it’s 20 years from now. Imagine the Sydney Swans have now won the flag three years in a row, that they’re continuing to break ground records and have more than 100,000 people regularly turning up to games.
“Imagine you’re in a bar, somewhere in Sydney, and at the next table someone recognises you and says, ‘Hey, didn’t you use to play for the Swans back in the early ’90s?’ ‘Hang on,’ they’ll say, ‘weren’t you there when they won that really big game against Carlton or Collingwood or someone that turned it all around, won it at a time when things were so grim their whole survival was in question?’

“And men, I want you to imagine what it would be like to be able to say right then and there, ‘Yes, I was there when we turned it around. I played the game against Carlton when, out of nowhere, the Swans won and then kept on winning from there. I was a part of that team the day we turned the corner.’
“Men we can do it. It is possible that we can win this game. It’s up to you.”
 
Barassi's first speech


Barassi helped to instil our modern culture. The culture that Eade built on (toughness & no nonesense footy first attitude). The culture that Roos built on (The Bloods). The culture that Horse continues to build on (the empathy, mateship & solidarity). It's all built on that solid base laid by Barassi so long ago.

To me, Barassi saved our club & I can't thank him enough for that alone (not to mention the decades & decades outside of Sydney).

What a legend.
 
Barassi helped to instil our modern culture. The culture that Eade built on (toughness & no nonesense footy first attitude). The culture that Roos built on (The Bloods). The culture that Horse continues to build on (the empathy, mateship & solidarity). It's all built on that solid base laid by Barassi so long ago.

To me, Barassi saved our club & I can't thank him enough for that alone (not to mention the decades & decades outside of Sydney).

What a legend.
Some credit has to go to Stewie Maxfield , he really drove it
 

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A Victorian State Memorial Service to honour the life of Ron Barassi AM will be held Friday 10 November in Melbourne. The service will be live streamed at Sydney Swans HQ.

Registration and tickets​

Members of the public will be able to REGISTER TO ATTEND the service in Melbourne. More information, including how to register for tickets, will be made available on October 30.
 
Almost 18 years before Barassi became Sydney’s senior coach he had suggested the Swans should move from South Melbourne to Sydney to revive the club and “contribute heavily to a breakthrough in the rugby stronghold.”
As published in Brian Hansen’s column in the Melbourne Truth on Saturday, November 29, 1975, Barassi suggested South Melbourne should play home games at the Sydney Cricket Ground and “could become the adopted team of Sydney and generate tremendous enthusiasm and interest in Australian Rules.”
At the time, Barassi’s suggestion may have seemed far-fetched. Indeed, the article acknowledged that South supporters may “shudder in horror” at the thought of their club moving north.
Memorial Service

Ron Barassi AM will be farewelled in a Victorian State Memorial Service on Friday, November 10, at 11am.

The service will be live streamed in the auditorium at Sydney Swans HQ - members and fans are welcome to attend.

The room will open at 10:30am with the live stream to commence at 11am.

 

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