Ron Barassi at The Barassi Line in Wahgunyah close to Corowa’s Federation Bridge.
Our local area will always have an asset to remind us of the great Ron Barassi – The Barassi Line in Wahgunyah close to Corowa’s Federation Bridge.
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A legend of the game, Ronald Dale Barassi passed away last Saturday, September 16, aged 87 years.
He passed away on the first anniversary of the passing of former player and chairman of North Melbourne, 88-year-old Dr Alan Aylett OBE.
The Victorian Government has offered the family a state funeral for the great man who has a statue outside Gate 4 at the MCG.
Ron Barassi, with ball in hand and the big metal posts on The Barassi Line.
A decision will be made by the AFL as to the probable naming of the Ron Barassi Premiership Cup, which would start Saturday week in the 2023 grand-final.
Football greats including Mick Malthouse, Kevin Sheedy and Peter Daicos have called for the premiership cup naming, as has North Melbourne team-mate and friend, Peter Chisnall.
Flashback to 2019. Former Corowa and Yarrawonga coach, Peter Chisnall, at The Barassi Line, with a Roos jumper and Pigeons jumper draped over his shoulders, described Ron Barassi as “a special man”.
Photo by
Les_Garbutt
“It’s a great idea they’ve come up with,” the former Corowa and Yarrawonga coach told the The Free Press.
“Barass was just such an awesome man and such a special person to us. At the start of 1974 we lost our little son (four months old; cot death) and Helen and I really found out what Barass was like – he really cared about us, he cared so much about the game, the team and how the players were feeling.
“He helped Helen and I get through our loss. He pulled us together. He experienced the loss of his own father when he was just five – he had a massive feeling about that. I loved the man.”
Originated by The Free Press/Yarrawonga Chronicle and after discussions between Barassi’s management and Indigo Shire Council, the plaque reads: THE BARASSI LINE
“There are 4 metal posts that represent the AFL goal posts by the side of the road next to the river that marks the border between the states of Victoria and New South Wales.
“The aluminium goalposts were erected in 2005 either side of Federation Way to symbolise our nation’s growing connection to Australian Rules Football.
“The placement on the Victorian side of Federation Bridge serves to highlight that the history of football played was strongly influenced by the state and locality.
“The ‘Barassi Line’ as playfully coined by an academic in 1978 to identify an imaginary boundary between areas where Australian Rule football is the leading winter code of football and those where rugby league and union dominate. North of that line, supposedly the only thing known about Aussie Rules was the name of its most famous identity.
“Aussie Rule and Barassi are synonymous. Ronald Dale Barassi played 254 games with Melbourne and Carlton. He was a premiership player with Melbourne in 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1964; captaining the team to the last two flags.
“As a coach he led 515 games with Carlton, North Melbourne, Melbourne and Sydney Swans, winning four premierships (Carlton 1968 and 1970, North Melbourne 1975 and 1977).
“Ron has received many awards; he is a Member of Order of Australia, (AM 1978), was an inaugural inductee and Legend of the AFL Hall of Fame and named in the AFL Team of the Century (1996). His honours include the Australian Sports Medal (2000), Legend in the Sports Australia Hall of Fame (2006), Melburnian of the Year (2006), Victorian of the Year (2009), Coaching Legend (2010) and a Commendation for Brave Conduct (2013).
“The Barassi Line was officially opened on April 5, 2005 by the Federal Member for Farrer, Sussan Ley on behalf of Prime Minister John Howard.”
Regarding The Barassi Line, photographs of the champion appeared in The Free Press of November 21, 2012, including one with former Collingwood captain and Corowa coach Frank Tuck.
Aged 76 years at the time, Barassi said he was honoured to have his name associated with the goalposts and plaque, and praised the work.
“It’s a pretty smart thing to do, to illustrate it this way,” he told The Free Press.
“To have two really strong looking sets of poles will last a long, long time.”
Chisnall, 74, described Ron Barassi as “a special man”. “This is most appropriate,” Chisnall said of the name, The Barassi Line. “He was a most influential person as far as our game goes.”
The inspirational leader and Footscray’s great Ted Whitten will meet each other again, in Heaven with the duo described in their playing days as “Mr and Mrs Football”.
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