It’s 2021, and the country is split between those who can travel, and those who can’t.
Unfortunately, this means that most Melbourne supporters are stuck at home, while the Grand Final – Melbourne’s first since 2000 – is being played in Western Australia.
One of those who is going to miss out is a legend of the Melbourne Football Club: Ronald Dale Barassi.
He was part of the premiership sides of 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1964, and is more than that; he is one of the lynchpins of the club’s heritage.
Suggestions are made that he should be allowed to travel west, granted an exemption to be part of the festivities. But Barassi, like many others whose hearts beat true, stays staunch and at home in Victoria.
The fact that he is marooned does not, however, mean that he can’t make a contribution to proceedings.
Like so many other MFC identities – Rod Grinter, David Neitz, Neale Daniher, former teammates Hassa Mann and Bryan Kenneally among them – Barassi is a talisman for all, both before and after the game.
Who could help but take courage from his ferocious glare down the camera lens, when he says fiercely to the team – and to all of us watching – ‘Keep your cool! Give ‘em HELL!’?
Coming from Barassi, this is less slogan than the captain and coach of yesteryear reaching out to a new century and a club that he knows so well.
By the same token, we all share the Barassi glee after winning; that unalloyed joy when he rubs his hands together and says ‘You little beauty!’ to the premiership cup.
He’s friends with this silverware, from Melbourne to Carlton to North Melbourne, and the 2021 trophy is the latest acquaintance for the man who was part of ten premierships to hug and treasure.
We all want to do the same, we Demons, and to see Ron Barassi so happy, as we all are, adds an extra glow to the experience.
We all get to welcome the premiership cup home, in assorted assemblies and events and lines, and most significantly on 5 December 2023, when the stands are a red and blue backdrop.
Ron can’t be there for this occasion, as COVID has laid him low, but his name echoes around the MCG more than once.
He’s back in Round 1, 2022, when the flag is unfurled, carried out onto the arena by Demon royalty.
Ron Barassi is next to Hassa Mann, with David Neitz opposite. They share a laugh, and it’s one of those occasions when we have to take the opportunity to realise how much of our story is standing there.
Captaincy, coaching, premierships, lean times, great goals, awards, the sound of the crowd on a match day – all encapsulated in this group of our people and the flag they carry out so proudly. We are proud, too.
Now, Ron Barassi is gone.
It’s a sad time for all. But he will never be completely gone, not so long as there’s a game at the MCG, a premiership cup glinting softly at all who view it, and people who remember him, from the youngster in red and blue to our current day.
He has given us all so much, and we thank him for it, even as we farewell him.
Ronald Dale Barassi – 1936 – 2023
If it is to be, it is up to me.
