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The Legacy Series | Episode 2 | Hassa Mann

bush demon
in Melbourne Demons

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  • Author
15 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

Many moons ago, I was in the Yarra Glen area, trying unsuccessfully to find my way to Dixons Creek.

I stopped at a general store for directions and who should I see lining up to buy his lunch but Brian Dixon.

Surely he'd know where Dixons Creek was!

Naturally enough, I asked him for a little help.  He seemed most annoyed at my intrusion and begrudgingly pointed me in the right direction.  

Just for the record, his lunch order was two pasties and a vanilla milkshake.

I once saw Tim Watson ordering a pie from Longwarry service station.

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    15 minutes ago, bush demon said:

    I once saw Tim Watson ordering a pie from Longwarry service station.

    Alert, @Ghostwriter: thread trending dangerously...

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    3 hours ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

    Alert, @Ghostwriter: thread trending dangerously...

    I once had an ale with the whale.

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    I had the great privilege and pleasure of working with Hassa for about 6 months while he was working for the ‘Advance Australia Campaign’ in the 1970’s.  As others have mentioned, he is an absolute champion bloke, but the thing I remember most about him (outside his feats on the footy field) was his ‘crushing’ handshake when we were first introduced.  Vice-like would be a gross understatement!

    Edited by Deeoldfart
    Typo

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    2 hours ago, hardtack said:

    I once had an ale with the whale.

    Other footballers who had pubs with a gimmicky advertising slogan included:

    Ricky Quade - "Have a quicky with Ricky"

    Larry Donohue - "Have one with he who kicked the ton"

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    • Whispering_Jack changed the title to The Legacy Series | Episode 2 | Hassa Mann
    • Author
    9 hours ago, Tim said:

    One of our greats. The North footage would seem to be from 1967 where we won by 3 points at the ‘G, with Peter Smth running around in the #4 jumper previously made famous by his father - the coach that day.

    The Collingwood one would be from 1968 at Victoria Park, again where we won. Greg Parke visible in the footage in his first season - kicked 4 straight.

    At 1.27 the Geelong player who attempts to kill him with a head high is good old Sam Newman.

    I'm pretty sure in that North game that Mann swooped in out of nowhere and kicked the winning goal... 

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    4 minutes ago, chook fowler said:

    After Hassa my heroes were Tassie Johnston

    I had a pair of giant posters on my bedroom wall, possibly released in association with Mobil.

    One was of Hassa and the other Tassie.

    I can also recall saving up my pocket money to buy a 7" single record from the local Mobil servo that featured the Melbourne theme song on one side and an interview with Hassa on the other.  Wish I still had it!

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    • Author
    28 minutes ago, bush demon said:

    I'm pretty sure in that North game that Mann swooped in out of nowhere and kicked the winning goal... 

     

    Melbourne v North p2.jpg

    Melbourne v North July 1967 1.jpg

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    25 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

    I had a pair of giant posters on my bedroom wall, possibly released in association with Mobil.

    One was of Hassa and the other Tassie.

    I can also recall saving up my pocket money to buy a 7" single record from the local Mobil servo that featured the Melbourne theme song on one side and an interview with Hassa on the other.  Wish I still had it!

    I had that as well. I'm pretty sure Tony Charlton was the interviewer.

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    1 hour ago, Demonstone said:

    I had a pair of giant posters on my bedroom wall, possibly released in association with Mobil.

    One was of Hassa and the other Tassie.

    I can also recall saving up my pocket money to buy a 7" single record from the local Mobil servo that featured the Melbourne theme song on one side and an interview with Hassa on the other.  Wish I still had it!

    I remember seeing an interview with Peter Hudson where he named Tassie as the best full back he had played against. High praise indeed.

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    Great interview. I find it pretty difficult to reconcile his (and Ridley's) views on the merger. Instead of building our own team better, the thinking was let's just take over Hawthorn. Lazy and extremely misguided IMV, but appreciate his great contribution to the club over many years.

    I remember vividly the NO MERGER signs in the MCC growing up.

    Edited by Adam The God

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    The only person I've ever heard of having the name Hassa. I'm assuming its similar to Hassan and arabic in origin?

    Edited by BAMF

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    His real name is Harold and he had a cousin called Len, who played 46 games for Melbourne. 

    From Demonwiki:

    Mann was universally known as "Hassa", a nickname bestowed on him by Len as a child because he couldn't pronounce Harold.

     

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    1 hour ago, Demonstone said:

    His real name is Harold and he had a cousin called Len, who played 46 games for Melbourne. 

    From Demonwiki:

    Mann was universally known as "Hassa", a nickname bestowed on him by Len as a child because he couldn't pronounce Harold.

     

    At the Boxing Day Test I was sitting near Hassa’s cousin and premiership teammate Len, who was sitting next to multiple premiership teammate Bryan Kenneally. Father and son premiership player Kenny Emselle thereabouts also. All looking in good nick. 

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    Hassa Mann also received the Hans Ebeling award from the MCC in 2011 for his outstanding service to the sporting sections of the club. 

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    17 hours ago, chook fowler said:

    After Hassa my heroes were Tassie Johnston, Donny Williams, Barry Bourke and then Ross Dillon. Later came the one and only Tulip.

    Yeah, mine were Tassie as well as Townsend and Stan Alves, and then along came Greg Parke, Max Walker, Greg Wells and Gary Hardeman; all favourites of mine from that post premiership era. I have a vague memory of Hardeman being knocked out early in a final (can’t recall who the culprit was), something that pretty much knocked us out of the running.

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    18 minutes ago, hardtack said:

    I have a vague memory of Hardeman being knocked out early in a final

    We didn't make the finals during Hardeman's time, unfortunately.

    I had a chance meeting with Gary some years ago and I was surprised that he wasn't much taller than me.  I'm your standard six-footer or 183 cm and he was listed at 187cm.  

    His high marking was a standout feature of his game and he was clearly blessed with a natural big leap.

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    • Author
    39 minutes ago, hardtack said:

    Yeah, mine were Tassie as well as Townsend and Stan Alves, and then along came Greg Parke, Max Walker, Greg Wells and Gary Hardeman; all favourites of mine from that post premiership era. I have a vague memory of Hardeman being knocked out early in a final (can’t recall who the culprit was), something that pretty much knocked us out of the running.

    Don't think Gary Hardeman ever played in a final...

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    27 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

    We didn't make the finals during Hardeman's time, unfortunately.

    I had a chance meeting with Gary some years ago and I was surprised that he wasn't much taller than me.  I'm your standard six-footer or 183 cm and he was listed at 187cm.  

    His high marking was a standout feature of his game and he was clearly blessed with a natural big leap.

     

    12 minutes ago, bush demon said:

    Don't think Gary Hardeman ever played in a final...

    Yes, you’re both correct… perhaps it was a game we were playing that could have secured us a place in the finals? Or perhaps I’ve just lost the plot, along with my memory.

    With regards to his height, I noticed that of the entire list back then, our two tallest, and only players above 187cm, were just 193cm.

    i wonder where all of the high 190’s and over 200’s, were hiding back then.

    Edited by hardtack

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    1 hour ago, hardtack said:

    Yeah, mine were Tassie as well as Townsend and Stan Alves, and then along came Greg Parke, Max Walker, Greg Wells and Gary Hardeman; all favourites of mine from that post premiership era. I have a vague memory of Hardeman being knocked out early in a final (can’t recall who the culprit was), something that pretty much knocked us out of the running.

    Yes, I forget Greg Wells and Hardeman - fantastic players in an ordinary era for the club.

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    17 hours ago, BAMF said:

    The only person I've ever heard of having the name Hassa. I'm assuming its similar to Hassan and arabic in origin?

    Short for Harold.

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    3 highlights of my playing career - cruelly curtailed by injury.

    - U16 coach was Johnny Townsend - he told the 1st XVIII coach I was the best player he'd coached at that level. We used to man up in match sims. God he was strong.

    - 1st XVIII being awarded BOG on interstate trip to SA by Gary Hardeman.

    - 2 years of being coached by Hassa in Diamond Valley League. He coaxed me out of retirement after I'd broken my leg the year before - said his previous team had been planning all week to nullify me before they knew about leg. I could barely run by that stage however it was the start of the interchange era so Hassa used me carefully.

    I ran in to him years later on Blairgowrie beach and he still remembered me - or so he said.

     

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