Starting off, here’s an interview of Barass with Michael Parkinson during his Parkinson in Australia series… as it turns out, the two gents died exactly one month apart (Parko was August 16, Barassi September 16)

And, here’s a few other facts:

The inspiration for the introduction of the Father-Son (And by addition the Father-Daughter) rule when his father Ron Snr was killed at Tobruk, leading to Melbourne lobbying the VFL to protect Ron Jnr from zoning and ensure he’d play for Melbourne.

The namesake of the Barassi Line (Thanks to Ian Turner), the mythical line dividing Australian rules football territory from rugby league territory… of course, Barassi would go up to Sydney to head-up the almighty task of providing credibility to the woeful Swans in the 1990s, and in the course of 2 years turned the club from the verge of collapse to a viable entity, one that made their first Grand Final in 51 years only a year after he left.

The rover in the VFL/AFL Team of the Century.

Inaugural Legend in the Australian Football Hall of Fame (1996)

10 Premierships as a Player and Coach (League record, tied with his mentor Norm Smith) – Barassi won 6 as a player with Melbourne, 1 as a playing coach (1968 with Carlton), and 3 as a standalone coach with Carlton & North Melbourne (1970, 1975 & 1977)

7 Premierships as a player (League record, tied with Michael Tuck at Hawthorn)

One of only 2 coaches in League history to coach multiple premierships at 2 clubs (Jack Worrall at Carlton & Essendon being the other) – Carlton in 1968 & 1970, North Melbourne in 1975 & 1977

Coached the greatest comeback in league history during the 1970 Grand Final, as Carlton came from 44 points down at half-time against Collingwood to win by 10 points in front of the greatest football crowd Australia ever seen (121,696 at the MCG)

Kickstarted the recruitment of Gaelic footballers in Australian football in the 1980s by recruiting Jim Stynes and Sean Wight to Melbourne – They would both play in the Dees’ 1988 Grand Final team, Stynes also won the 1991 Brownlow Medal, served as president of the Demons, and set the league record for the most consecutive games played (244 between 1987 to 1998), which still stands today.

Turned North Melbourne from a premiership-less joke to premiers in 3 years, thanks in part to the short-lived 10-Year rule in 1973, ultimately coaching the Roos to 5 consecutive Grand Finals and a second premiership after the draw of 1977.

Barass was also one of the great motivators in the game, as seen when he wore denim flares while on crutches in the 1976 Preliminary Final against Carlton:

North came back and won that game by a point.

However, that wasn’t even Barassi’s most famous quarter time spray against Carlton, which is this one from 1979, in which Darryl Sutton and Keith Greig got seared alive:

“Darryl, you’re a ****, and I’ll TELL YA WHY!”

“And you probably don’t even know what I’m talking about, do ya? THAT’S BLOODY RIGHT!”

Fun fact, the player wiping his face with a towel in that video is none other than fellow Hall of Fame Legend Russell Ebert, in what was his only season in the VFL in between his legendary career with Port Adelaide.

Some more great sprays, capped off by a famous piece of footage that features regularly on Bounce… “Bloody weak as PISS!”

There’s also the Shane Zantuck spray in 1984, as narrated by Lou Richards:

And, as a finale, here’s Barassi singing Thunderball at the end of an episode of The Late Show, due to jokingly being booked instead of Shirley Bassey:

Two great jokes in one there – The recurring gag on the Late Show was that Mick Molloy would book a musical performance to end every episode, only to ‘stuff-up’ and book a non-musical guest with a similar name (I.E Hayley Lewis instead of Huey Lewis) – In this case, Barassi was ‘mistaken’ for Shirley Bassey…

Only that it wasn’t Shirley Bassey that sang Thunderball, it was Tom Jones.