On the 50th anniversary of Carlton’s audacious signing of Ron Barassi – the deal that changed the face of football – rare colour film of the Barassi era of the 1960s and early ’70s has been made public for the first time.

The footage, kindly made available to the club by members of the O’Shaughnessy family, has been sourced from the home movies of the late Brian O’Shaughnessy, a former chairman of the Carlton Social Committee in the Barassi years and a long-serving VFL Tribunal advocate through the 1970s and ’80s.

Barassi, the six-time Melbourne Premiership player, was confirmed as Carlton Senior Coach two days before Christmas 1964, in a move that rocked the game’s foundations to its very core.

He is the subject of a number of highlights of the O’Shaughnessy film, including:

• his first pre-season as Coach at the Balnarring seaside property of the club’s then Chairman of Selectors Jack Wrout in 1965;
• a social cricket match at Princes Park, circa 1966, involving him and Carlton players Ian Collins, Adrian Gallagher, John Goold and the late Wes Lofts;
• his address of the players at three-quarter time of the 14th Round home match against Fitzroy in 1966;
• the Carlton v Richmond second semi-final of 1967, in which he leads his men onto the MCG  for the club’s first finals appearance since the 1962 Grand Final;
• the 1968 Carlton end-of-season trip to Adelaide, then Bunbury; and
• the unfurling of the 1970 Premiership pennant, in the company of the former Prime Minister of Australia and No.1 Carlton ticketholder Sir Robert Menzies;

Gordon Collis, Carlton’s Brownlow Medallist of 1964, recently returned to Visy Park to view the edited O’Shaughnessy highlights package for the first time. In the Balnarring footage of ’65, Collis is seen riding a horse bareback with Maurie Sankey, the 100-game Carlton ruckman who at just 25 years of age lost his life in a car accident in November of that year.

Collis, on viewing this film for the first time, said: “That was terrific. I got quite a buzz out of it. It certainly brought back memories”.

Ron Barassi addresses his troops ahead of a pre-season game, 1965. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

“The strange thing is, I really don’t have a distinct memory about jumping on the back of that horse. I’ve been on a lot of horses in my time, and maybe getting on a horse wasn’t such a big deal,” Collis said.

“It positively dates the Sankey thing, because it was towards the end of ’65 that he died. I found that side of it quite touching because me and one or two others were then sharing a house with Maurie. It made me think, looking back on it, that you don’t really appreciate the impact of these things at the time.

“His (Sankey’s) death was a huge loss for the club. Like most big men he was a little slow in blossoming, he was nearing the peak of his powers, and not only from an individual point of view. He had such a magnetic personality about him. People would be drawn to him.”

O’Shaughnessy died in August 2012 at the age of 91. The year before, he was the recipient of a 90th birthday to-camera greeting from the great Ronald Dale.

Barassi has since been forwarded a copy of this film, which is to be screened in the display cabinet in the foyer by the reception area at Ikon Park.