We live in an age where the word ‘legend’ is thrown around ad nauseum – yet if anything, it fails to do justice to the legacy Ron Barassi leaves behind.
On Saturday, the AFL farewelled one of its greatest icons – a champion footballer, coach and above all, advocate of our game, responsible as much as anyone for its spread into traditional rugby league heartlands (and past the famed ‘Barassi Line’ which takes its name from him) and into the monolith the league and sport is today.
An inaugural Legend in the AFL Hall of Fame, winner of 10 premierships as player and coach first as part of the all-time great Melbourne team of the 1950s and 1960s and then at the helm of Carlton and North Melbourne into the 1970s, Barassi is an immortal of those three clubs, but the rest of the football world feels his passing just as keenly.
It is thanks to his famous tactical masterstroke in the 1970 grand final – perhaps the most well-known game of Australian Rules football ever played – that the handball became and remains an integral part of the sport.
It was he whose brief stint as coach of the Sydney Swans at their darkest hour in the early 1990s raised their profile in a previously hostile, rugby league-dominated city and began their rise to success in the decades to come, one of our code’s greatest success stories.
And it was he who remained a larger than life figure in our game long after his direct involvement with it ceased; the image of a delighted Barassi holding aloft the 2021 premiership cup won by his beloved Demons carries with it even more emotion and significance now than it did at the time.
Hassa Mann (L) and Ron Barassi carry Melbourne’s 2021 premiership flag. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
CEO Gillon McLachlan summed it up best when he said Barassi had ‘contributed more than an individual could possibly give to our sport’.
As such, there is only one possible way for the league to both commemorate his passing and enshrine his standing in our game: the premiership cup should be renamed in his honour.
Many other Australian sporting competitions have already done this to honour their best and brightest. The NRL’s Provan-Summons Trophy, awarded to the premiers every year, has enshrined one of rugby league’s most iconic images and two of its finest contributors.
Women’s tennis pioneer Daphne Akhurst has had her name immortalised on the trophy won by the women’s singles victor at the Australian Open. And of course, Test cricket has countless examples, from the Border-Gavaskar Trophy contested between Australia and India, to the more recently coined Warne-Muralitharan Trophy between Australia and Sri Lanka.
The AFL, too, has named just about every other prize, both individual and team-based, accordingly. The minor premiers earn the McClelland Trophy; the AFL Players Association’s Most Valuable Player is honoured with the Leigh Matthews Medal; even the Brownlow Medal itself is named in honour of one of the game’s earliest administrators.
For a league which has commercialised just about every other aspect of our code, it has never been more of a relief that the most coveted prize of all remains purely ‘the premiership cup’ by name. There are no reasons, be they sponsorship ones or otherwise, to stand in the way of any name change the AFL deems fit.
And there could be no worthier choice than Barassi to have his name live on in permanence in our league. He won more of them than any other man who has featured in our game – six as a player, two as a coach – which would automatically make him a worthy choice if not for the myriad of other ways he helped grow the sport.
There would, naturally, be little opposition to his being thusly honoured; no football fan could deny his enduring and incredible impact on football both on-field and off, an impact that remains intact today.
Ron Barassi. (Getty Images)
It would be a PR win for the AFL so significant that they could even, if they so wished, sneak alongside it a plan to shift the grand final to a night match, against all public opinion, and still break even on goodwill.
Quite frankly, it’s a no-brainer, and Barassi’s passing in the middle of the finals series – the last game of his life being a thrilling clash between the two teams in Melbourne and Carlton he will forever be associated with couldn’t be more fitting – gives the league enough time to make the change now in time for the last Saturday in September.
Whoever ascends to the dais as premiership captain and coach in two weeks’ time should be lifting the Ron Barassi Cup, by name if not by engraving just yet.
And in so doing, the name and legacy of one of, if not the, defining Australian Rules figure of our time will be immortalised for all time.
There could be no higher honour, nor one more richly deserved.
Knackaz
Roar Rookie
Rubbish. Barassi won more premierships as a player and coach than all of those you named put together. And that’s with no disrespect to those legends. It’s a complete no-brainer, and should have been done years ago …
Micko
Roar Rookie
Multiple Sandovers too, and was prominent in SANFL as well I think. So was prominent in all three major state leagues.
andyfnq
Roar Rookie
Based on the comments on here, the AFL will please a lot of people by not trying to fix something that isn't broken
andyfnq
Roar Rookie
Names plural
andyfnq
Roar Rookie
Him and Dick Reynolds. Great players that played on each other, and 6 Beownlows between them
Lobo
Roar Rookie
Sorry I thought we had a National Competition and not a Victorian one. Both South Australia & Western Australia have had their legendary players before they joined the AFL. You know that national competition representing all States & Territories. If this ridiculous idea gets over the line then have the balls to call the competition what it really is and that is the VAFL.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I’m not posting as much atm. I’ve been more interested in politics, geography, history, science, astrology, canines and Emily’s Blunt and Hampshire more. But did you have to post that this season, now, with us finishing Second last after a Flag last year. —— Yes l remember but you did it with the Second best South Aussie ever. But we’ve won more National Flags than you guys. ——- I hope Norf do better but not before the Crows do better.
Daffyd
Roar Rookie
I realised that "Wills" might be mistaken for the other Wills (that have caused so much pain and suffering to people) therefore the AFL Premiership trophy should be named as: The Tom Wills Cup
Chris
Roar Rookie
Jock McHale and Norm Smith have achieved more during finals than Ron Barassi. Besides, he was a divisive figure not unknown to making untimely statements in public in the hope of influencing umpires prior to and during finals series. Most certainly, that is not what the Premiership Cup should be all about. I agree that it's just a cheap knee-jerk reaction during the finals to appease the dissatisfied Demons supporters and the football establishment. No way Jose!!!
Daffyd
Roar Rookie
Barassi was one of the greats, and I'm sure that there are a lot of names that could also be justified. For me there is only one. A great athlete, friend of the indigenous, larriken, a man who was both both brilliant and flawed. And a man that every single player of Australian Rules football owes a debt. The founder of the game: Tom Wills. The Wills Cup.
DTM
Roar Rookie
Just because people disagree with you, it doesn't make their opinions garbage. I have a lot of respect for Ron Barassi and recognise that he was a man of great character. Let's just focus on his great life rather than abusing other people's opinions.
DTM
Roar Rookie
Glad someone else picked that up. Records are made to be broken and as unlikely as it seems, his record may well be broken. Personally, I'm against naming trophies after people - there is a risk we'll have the Gillon Mclachlan Cup one day!
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Well, having a team award, i.e. The Premiership Cup, named after an individual seems fairly s1up!d to me. In this case, you don't need to please all the people. Just keep the status quo, which is exactly what I suspect the AFL will do.
Machoose
Roar Rookie
I have no issue with the premiership cup being named in honour of Ron Barrassi, an icon of Australian Rules Football, but why talk about this immediately after his death, this should've been done years ago to honour the person while he was alive.
Arges Tuft
Roar Rookie
You dont name the AFL premiership after anyone at all! What an over reaction. What did he have to do with NT, WA, SA, QLD, NSW, TAS? a small unsucessful stint as Sydney coach? Honour him at Melbourne, Carlton, NM as much as you like and thats ok. Next thing the over reactors will say name the NRL premiership after Wally Lewis???
Pope Paul VII
Roar Rookie
Barassi's North also took Norwood to the cleaners in 1975 to claim the Championship of Australia. I don't care what the cup is called but the inference that the VFL was not Australia's premier league prior to the AFL is nonsense. And I'm not talking about the economic saviour of VFL by the national. Or talking about the excellent quality of SANFL and WAFL clubs and rocking comps that they were. When I rocked up to Sydney in the 80s and was looking for an aussie rules footy club to play for, my new colleagues said to me curiously...."oh you play VFL?" I'd reply..."um..sure I play VFL". And long before that, in the 70s, my Qld cousins also referred to Aussie rules as VFL. This was when both non footy states didn't refer to the game as aerial ping pong,
ColinT
Roar Rookie
Kevin Sheedy, amongst others, comes to mind as a great coach and innovator, on and off the field of play. Many of his innovations have certainly changed the game for ever, for example the expansion and use of interchange.
Milo
Roar Rookie
Barassi coached an interstate team in the AFL when called upon to do so by the AFL. And no-one supported and actively pushed for the development of the national competition more than RDB throughout his long career.
Milo
Roar Rookie
Crap. You cant please all the people all the time and as Ive already posted here for so many reasons, nothing respects this great game better than having one of its inaugural legends named on the award to the premier team.
Milo
Roar Rookie
Trash. Sheedy couldnt be mentioned in the same sentence and Im a RFC member. Whitten was up there but one premiership as a player and finishing as a playing coach of an ordinary side doesnt really cut it either. Whitten's greatest contributions were as a commentator, larrikin and supporter of the big V. Dont speak for me, Im very happy and would be proud of having a trophy named after someone who epitomises the greatness of the game thanks.