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SIXTIES FOOTBALL LEGENDS
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"They think I'm psycho, like nitro glycerine, half crazy, sulky petulant. Certain things of my game just don't appeal to Australians. They think of the things I do as ostentatious, lairising. I do it because I feel like doing it."
Brent Crosswell 1980.
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Brent Tasman Crosswell was recruited to Carlton from Campbelltown in 1968 after being a boarder at Scotch College in Launceston.
He hated being a boarder and despised the macho instincts of the male and didn't relish the mateship and intimacy of football clubs because it reminded him of the horrible time he had at school.
The great Ron Barassi visited him at his parents home after hearing about the 18 year old's exploits in local competitions. Barassi found himself interviewing a highly intelligent teenager who was dubbed "The Ornament" by his sharp witted parents, perhaps because he looked good but did nothing.
He became the seasons best VFL recruit and went on to win the Carlton club's best first year player award while also playing a prominent part in that years premiership win.
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The Blues finished second behind Essendon in 1968 and after a relatively easy win over the Cats in the second semi the scene was set for the grand final against Essendon. In a thrilling moment with Carlton seven points up halfway through the last quarter, Crosswell kicked the ball which landed in the goal square and bounced backwards to be cleared. With just a point the difference and time on to play Percy Jones missed and Crosswell kicked a point and the siren sounded. Carlton, the winners by three points. He went on to become one of football's most flamboyant players while also sustaining a magnificent career at Carlton from 1968 to 1975 then North Melbourne from 1975 to 1979 then Melbourne from 1980 to 1982.
He got a second flag with Carlton in 1970 but also played in losing grand finals with them in 1969 and 1973.
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He went on to figure in eight grand finals and four premierships. His laconic attitude towards football helped him run afoul of Ron Barassi on many occasions. Barassi and Crosswell had a strange relationship, with Crosswell ending up playing under Barassi at all three clubs although as he stated once "I was always seen as a ratbag - a Carlton bohemian with drug overtones and all that sort of scene. It's rather ironical with all that I shared the record of eight grand finals with Ron Barassi."
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The Crosswell feats on and off the field are legendary. A team and crowd lifter who did the unorthodox and did it well and whenever the team needed it most. Nobody will ever forget his grandstand strut form fullback to full forward when Barassi and North Melbourne needed a match winner in the 1975 grand final. He topped North's goalkicking in 1977 with 42 goals.
He was so much larger than life that it is said that playwright David Williamson modelled his pot smoking footballer character Geoff Hayward in the play "The Club" after Crosswell. His admissions of dabbling in marijuana did little for his reputation but he put his eccentricities out in full public view through his writing and his antics. The quintessential football showman, he played chess and would challenge Barassi to a game and thrash him while on the field he would line up on opposition players quoting the poet Keats at them.
In his early 40's Brent Crosswell contracted Menieres disease which affects his balance to a degree. He lives in Sandy Bay in Hobart Tasmania.
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Brent Crosswell - A Tasmanian Football Legend
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