The Norm Smith Curse

The Norm Smith Curse is the name given to the period consequent to the sacking of coach Norm Smith by Melbourne in 1965, leading to a long drought in premierships lasting until 2021.
==Background==
From 1954 to 1964, Melbourne did not miss the finals. Winning premierships in 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1964 and finishing runners up in 1954 and 1958, the Demons were a feared combination. Norm Smith had established a strong work ethic on the field including setting the bar for fitness in the game. From 1954 to 1964 Melbourne won 165 games, lost 53 and played three draws - or rather won almost three quarters of the games they played. A trip to the MCG during the home and away season at this time was a daunting task.
==The lead up==
In hindsight, the trouble began at the end of 1964. Melbourne captain, Ron Barassi, who had been brought up by Norm Smith after Ron's father had been killed during World War 2, received a lucrative offer from Carlton to cross to the club as their captain and coach. Barassi followed procedure and applied for a clearance from Melbourne. In January 1965 it was clear that Melbourne were furious with this and denied the application - adding a complaint to the VFL over the offer being made without getting the clearance first. Carlton issued an apology for the handling of it, and Melbourne instead expected Smith to talk Barassi out of it. Smith did offer to step aside as coach to allow Barassi to coach the Demons instead, fully understanding and supporting Ron's desire to coach. But when Barassi rejected that and made the move to Carlton when Melbourne approved the clearance, some influential people at Melbourne blamed Smith for not doing enough.
Smith had also objected strongly to some club committee members sticking their nose into the club's on field efforts, which Smith saw as his domain and the interference was not welcomed.
===The defamation lawsuit===
It was also the case that there was ongoing disgust by Smith for the club refusing to help him finance his legal costs when in early 1965 he was sued by umpire Don Blew for defamation. Blew had umpired Melbourne's game against St Kilda at the MCG on August 1 in 1964, a game that Melbourne won by 18 points but after a final quarter that Demons failed to score in while the Saints scored two goals and four behinds to trim the final margin from the deficit at the last change of 34 points. Blew had umpired two games involving Melbourne previously - against Footscray and South Melbourne earlier that year. There was a brawl out of the blue in the final term when St Kilda player John Dowling collected Melbourne veteran Frank Adams hard and Barassi came in to remonstrate and it all broke down from there. The crowd, according to the Sporting Globe, were livid. But it was the free kick count (37 to 19 St Kilda's way) that had Smith's attention and he made comments to that effect on 3AW in a recorded interview after the conclusion of games that day. The comments were followed up on the next day on Channel 9.
Blew filed suit in March 1965, and incredibly the Melbourne media didn't report it - the only story was in the Canberra Times on March 27, 1965.
==The dismissal==
On the evening on Friday July 23, 1965, a termination notice was sent to Smith at his home via courier. The Melbourne Age had gone to press too soon, but The Melbourne Sun News Pictorial hadn't and it was front page news the next morning with the simple headline "NORM SMITH SACKED". At that point the reporter did not know why Smith was sacked as nothing had been said by Smith or by Melbourne at that point when The Sun went to press. The reporter did speculate that it had nothing to do with Melbourne's three losses in four games, instead suggesting a major disagreement. It was also said in the article that club legend and former coach Checker Hughes would address the players before the game but would not coach. This ended up being incorrect as Hughes did indeed coach the Demons that afternoon - and Melbourne were beaten by North Melbourne by 21 points.
The Sun's sister paper, the Melbourne Herald (published in the evening) followed up and now the reasons were revealed - headed by the lawsuit and Melbourne's refusal to support him. It may have had something to do with Smith's lawyer, Roy Dunn, who was also president at Richmond who just that year had become co-tenants at the MCG. It also appeared that a clash betwen Smith and Hughes was a contributing factor - Hughes apparently was the main opponent to Barassi's transfer to Carlton. The reporter, Alf Brown, got more than anyone else did from Smith that day but it still wasn't everything as Smith still needed time to think. Speculation also rose that he would replace his brother Len at Richmond after Len resigned due to the second of two heart attacks, but this never happened.
==The interview==
Smith did take the time to think, and on Sunday he chose who he considered the one member of the media he could trust - Tony Charlton at Channel Nine. He confirmed the issue with the lawsuit and the reaction to Barassi's departure, and revealed that he thought he would be sacked two days before he was at a committee meeting and even spoke to his brother Len about resigning. Len talked him out of it. Apparently at the committee meeting Melbourne had expected Smith to blow up to give them an excuse but he never did. Smith also mentioned jealousy of his success - a remark that imputed that Hughes resented him for winning more premierships as coach than he did (Hughes coached Melbourne's three in a row from 1939 to 1941). Smith then mentioned that he was accused of lying - a claim he denied and he was angry that he'd been tried and convicted without getting a chance to respond to the claim. This came from a commitment he made to speak to the players to state that he supported the committee. But a time limit wasn't put on it, and when Smith didn't say anything to the players in the rooms when invited by club secretary Jim Cardwell it was assumed that the statement had been made earlier on the ground. WHen it was found that he hadn't, the assumption was made that he'd blasted the committee instead leading to the sacking. And they even lied to Ron Barassi about it, and Barassi passed that on to Norm when he visited him earlier that morning.
He made it clear that he woud not return to Melbourne unless the committee offered themselves up for election - and made mention of the old education battle between government schools (Smith's education) and "public" schools (likely what we now call private schools - the club President's education). Smith called on Melbourne supporters to protest strongly at the handling of the whole thing, and added that he could see the club slipping. He also said that Ron Barassi had seen it too, adding possibly to the reasons Barassi chose to go to Carlton. A split seemed to be coming that Smith felt was in fact good for the club in the long term. The Richmond situation was brought up and even though he wanted certain things, Smith wasn't going anywhere else as it would go against his principles of fighting the sacking as far as he could. He remained loyal to the club itself and found it hard to listen on the radio to the game against North Melbourne. Smith did admit to being "a naughty boy" at times when dealing with the selection committee - but he also said he wasn't alone in that.
==The truce==
The Age caught up on the Monday, and on the front page Smith was noted as asking for support from members of both the football club and the Melbourne Cricket Club to push for the sacking of the board - consistent with his comment to Charlton about elections and supporter protests. Club president Donald Duffy was angry at what he called a "biased" statement by Smith the previous day - the interview was transcripted by The Age. An admission was made that the club didn't have a Constitution preventing the removal Smith wanted. But there was a dispute between the club statement leaked, and the statements by three Melbourne players, including captain Hassa Mann, who disputed the claim that Smith had rubbished the committee after training on the Thursday night - the apparent final straw and the very lie Smith referred to when speaking to Charlton.
Tuesday's Age claimed that an informal meeting was to be held with players seeking loyalty and putting to bed any perceived disloyalty by Mann and his two team mates - including talk in the article about the possibility of an open transfer although no specific claim was made about the players concerned. The Melbourne Cricket Club had also received a notice of motion about the Smith dismissal and action to be taken at the next annual meeting when changes could be made.
But in an obvious stop press that was added later than the back page notes from the meeting, the front page of the Age on the Wednesday announced that Smith had been reinstated. The matter seemed to close at that point, but the atmosphere could not have changed. The split that Smith had indicated was needed never happened. The base of the Curse was laid in stone.
Blew dropped the lawsuit for reasons unknown.
==The legacy==
Melbourne only won one more game in the 1965 season, a narrow victory over Fitzroy the very week Smith was re-instated. The club finished seventh, two games outside the top four and missed the finals for the first time since 1953. Smith continued to coach until the conclusion of 1967 when ill health forced his resignation, but the damage had been done - and it was long term.
For two decades, the Demons failed to make the finals. During this period - with one exception - the club never finished higher than seventh and won four wooden spoons. After Smith's departure, the club went through six coaches - John Beckwith, Ian Ridley, Bob Skilton, Dennis Jones, Carl Ditterich and the return to the club of Ron Barassi. Duffy and Cardwell lasted in their positions until 1974 and 1975 respectively.
In 1987, Melbourne made the finals for the first time since 1964 and the tide seemed to be turning. Over a five year period the club made the finals every year and made the grand final in 1988 only to be thrashed by Hawthorn. The premiership remained elusive. During the 90's Melbourne were spasmodic, making the finals twice but also netting another wooden spoon. Another chance appeared in 2000 with a grand final appearance but another loss followed this time to Essendon. Some more finals appearances was followed by a dark period with tanking accusations. A rebuild behind Paul Roos showed promise but a shocking preliminary final loss to West Coast in 2018 hit the club hard.
==The exorcism==
When season 2021 began, the AFL was coming off a tough season affected by COVID-19. Some people were claiming that this season was Melbourne's last chance to capitalise on the rebuild.
The Demons began tremendously, winning the first nine games. This was the best start to a season by Melbourne since 1964 and included strong wins over both of the 2020 grand finalists in Richmond and Geelong. The roll came to a screeching halt against Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval although Melbourne had a right to be peeved when the umpire failed to pay a deliberate out of bounds that would have given them a shot on goal to at least force a draw. And the next week they had to face the other top contender the Western Bulldogs - with no fans as the pandemic started to bite again. Melbourne though bounced back and regained top spot on the ladder. They followed up with another win over another contender in Brisbane in a game moved to the Sydney Showgrounds but then old rivals Collingwood gave them another setback with the traditional Queen's Birthday Monday clash also moved - to the SCG.
After the bye Melbourne were back at the MCG and fans were back as well as they defeated Essendon, but then West Sydney upset them also at the MCG and they lost top spot to the Bulldogs. The Demons though got it back the following week with another win over a contender in Port Adelaide FC (AFL). But then a draw with Hawthorn and then a loss in the return match against the Bulldogs (again in front of no fans) pushed them down to third. But Melbourne didn't lose a game for the rest of the home and away season, although in the final round they escaped with a kick after the siren against Geelong knowing that a loss would have them third again. The minor premiership was also something the Demons hadn't won since 1964. The stars seemed to be aligning.
The qualifying final against Brisbane had to be played at the Adelaide Oval due to Victoria's COVID-19 situation. Melbourne won this game well by 33 points to get a week's break into the preliminary final. They travelled to Perth where they were joined by Geelong who had to be looking for revenge after the last round loss. The Demons though thrashed the Cats by 83 points - a margin they had never won by before over them - to enter the grand final for the first time since 2000, where they would face their 1954 grand final opponents the Western Bulldogs.
The game was played at Perth Stadium as Victoria's lockdown was still going on. The Demons got off to a good start but the Bulldogs fought back and led at half time before getting out to a 19 point lead in the third quarter. But Melbourne then hit a purple patch - and kept going. Into the final quarter the goals kept coming and destiny beckoned. The Demons had fulfilled the promise and delivered to end the curse. Bailey Fritsch - wearing Ron Barassi's number 31 - kicked six goals in Melbourne's emphatic 74 point victory, harking back to Norm Smith's seven goals in the 1940 premiership win over Collingwood. Christian Petracca became the first Melbourne player to win the medal named after Norm in the final demise of the curse. He was finally vindicated after 57 years. The Demons - once the most feared team in the competition - were premiers once again.
On December 5, 2021, the club held a re-presentation at the MCG. The intention was for Barassi to present the cup, but at the wrong moment he and his wife tested positive to COVID-19 and could not attend.
Category:Footy History