The Barassi Line
Australia is a funny place, there is a North-South divide between those that play and support rugby and those that play and support Australian Rules Football. Both of which are locally referred to as "footy," which leads to much confusion. The plaque goes into a lot more detail regarding Ron Barassi than is probably necessarily.
The plaque reads:
THE BARASSI LINE
There are 4 metal posts that represent the AFL goal posts by the side of the road next to the river that marks the border between the states of Victoria and New South Wales.
The aluminium goalposts were erected in 2005 either side of Federation Way to symbolise our nation's growing connection to Australian Rules Football. The placement on the Victorian side of Federation Bridge serves to highlight that the history of football played was strongly influenced by the state and locality. The 'Barassi Line' as playfully coined by an academic in 1978 to identify an imaginary boundary between areas where Australian Rule football is the leading winter code of football and those where rugby league and union dominate. North of that line, supposedly the only thing known about Aussie Rules was the name of its most famous identity.
Aussie Rule and Barassi are synonymous. Ronald Dale Barassi played 254 games with Melbourne and Carlton. He was a premiership player with Melbourne in 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1964; captaining the team to the last two flags. As a coach he led 515 games with Carlton, North Melbourne, Melbourne and Sydney Swans, winning four premierships (Carlton 1968 and 1970, North Melbourne 1975 and 1977).
Ron has received many awards; he is a Member of Order of Australia, (AM 1978), was an inaugural inductee and Legend of the AFL Hall of Fame and named in the AFL Team of the Century (1996). His honours include the Australian Sports Medal (2000), Legend in the Sports Australia Hall of Fame (2006), Melburnian of the Year (2006), Victorian of the Year (2009), Coaching Legend (2010) and a Commendation for Brave Conduct (2013).
The Barassi Line was officially opened on April 5, 2005 by the Federal Member for Farrer, Sussan Ley on behalf of Prime Minister John Howard.
Submitted by: @ianthorp