Ron Joseph, one of the greatest and most admired executives in VFL/AFL history, has passed away.
At the age of 77, Ron Joseph, a significant role in post-World War II VFL/AFL competition and North Melbourne’s contemporary history, passed away. The AFL and North Melbourne both announced on Wednesday that Joseph had passed away on Tuesday evening.
Ron Joseph Cause of death has left the community inconsolable.
Who was Ron Joseph?
Joseph, who spent more than two decades working with the Kangaroos, was one of the most significant off-the-field contributors to the club’s rise and ultimate success in the 1970s.
Ron Joseph became well-known as a result of Ron Barassi’s hiring by North Melbourne in the early 1970s, which led to victories in 1975 and 1977. In the Old Melbourne Hotel, alongside vice president Albert Mantello and then-North president Dr. Allen Aylett, Joseph famously hired Barassi as a coach before the 1973 campaign.
Joseph, who joined North in 1964 as an 18-year-old assistant secretary, quickly advanced to the position of secretary and assumed control of day-to-day operations. He was Collingwood’s administrator for a single day before taking over as general manager in 1977.
Joseph, who had grown up rooting for the South Melbourne Swans, later joined the struggling Sydney Swans in the middle of the 1990s and played a key role in Tony Lockett’s signing to a lucrative contract. Sydney and Australian rules football were both altered by this hiring achievement in that unsteady market.
No other football player is likely to have been able to sign as many Hall of Famers or acknowledged legends of Australian football. Joseph brought the creative Jim and Phil Krakouer to Arden Street along with the JFK and Barassi assassinations.
In addition, he used the short-lived 10-year rule to sign Barry Davis, the captain of North’s first VFL championship team, from Essendon, goalkicking champion Doug Wade from Geelong, and champion half-back flanker John Rantall from South Melbourne. Also, he bought Barry Cable, another official legend, and the erratic Malcolm Blight from South Australia for North.
He was at North, where he had attracted champion center-half-back Ross Glendinning from Western Australia when the local celebrities Keith Greig, Wayne Schimmelbusch, and David Dench joined from their northern suburban zone.
While serving on James Brayshaw’s board from 2007 to 2010, Joseph played a vital role in the successful campaign to stop North Melbourne from moving to the Gold Coast. Likewise, Joseph pushed broadcaster Brayshaw to take part at North.
He returned to North in 1988–1989 to serve as the main administrator. It is not often known or recalled that he spent a brief period of time working for Saint Kilda when he was away from the North. Miller asserts that during Joseph’s brief tenure with the Saints, Darrel Baldock, the club’s lone premiership captain and a renowned figure in the sport, decided to return as a coach.
NFL prowess Fraser Gehrig, Glenn Archer, and Anthony Stevens are just a few of the athletes Joseph coached in between club assignments. As Blight began his dismal coaching career, he brought Gehrig from the West Coast to the Saints.
In addition to being a life member of North Melbourne and the AFL, Ron Joseph founded the club’s Hall of Fame. To people at North, the AFL, and even the media, Joseph was always willing to share his ardent views since he had strong convictions in these matters. He was also not averse to controversy, as the Brayshaw board and other significant North personalities realized.