If the Tigers needed a hard line run then Boris Crassini - with his wild hair and beard - was their man.
Crassini came to Brisbane and became a Tiger premiership winner, then moved to Melbourne, but loves it when life brings him home to Langlands Park and his Tiger family.
Boris Crassini Q&A
How did you get to Brisbane and the Tigers?
My family moved to the Atherton Tablelands, my parents moved to Australia as displaced persons after World War II when I was three, in 1950. I got an offer to go to university in Townsville, so went down there to study, but I wasn’t a very good student. My chemistry lecturer said I am failing you, but I have some connections down at Easts Tigers and you can go down there and play. I happily moved to Brisbane and arrived at Easts. I went back to study after football and got my PhD.
1968 you play your first grand final, but Brothers too good 21-4. What happened?
It was Easts first grand final in 15 years, so it was a pretty big deal. I remember 36,000 people at Lang Park. We beat Valleys in the preliminary final and won through after a Jeff Denman try. Wayne Abby scored two tries in the first 10 minutes and they led 11-4 at half time. We just didn’t start too well and we just didn’t recover.
1971 grand final, how is your confidence now?
Another loss, we lost all four games to Valleys that year, so we were outsiders for sure. Valleys were the premiers as well. I remember Langy got off to a great start with his kicking game of all things. It was 10-10 at half time but Mick Retchless scored a great try and a field goal was in there and Valleys got the win 18-10.
1972 grand final, maybe the greatest ever. Fyfe’s field goal, where were you?
I was just coming off, my knee was done. Funnily enough, it’s still giving me trouble and I am having a replacement soon. It was Easts' first in 22 years, so it had been a long time and I had probably started to think I would never win one. To win a grand final scoring less tries and your lock kicking his first and only ever field goal and it wasn’t even supposed to come to him is pretty good. I remember when I was coming off there was children all along the touchline at Lang Park, the crowd was listed as 37,000 but there were kids everywhere. I was walking along the touchline to the bench and was telling kids to get back.
One of those two tries, B. Crassini.
Yeah, under the posts at the Caxton Street end. I have made John Eales, who passed the ball to me in 1972 grand final, promise that when I die, he will go to Lang Park with my wife and re-enact the try with my ashes and my wife can score under the posts.
Do you have your winning grand final jumper?
No, I don’t have it, I think I swapped it. I have a photo of me playing for the Tigers in my home.
Who is your favourite ever Tiger?
Can only be Des Morris, we are close and still in contact. I recently went to Langlands Park and Des took me on a tour of the new facilities. We drove past the hill we used to run up and we both said it doesn’t seem that steep anymore. We used to run up there carrying bricks for fitness in summer.
Which Tiger would be a star in 2024?
Jeff Denman would score tries and Alan Currie would be a handful, both fast and strong. Of course, Des Morris running on an edge with his offload and smarts would be a star.
When you come home do you get recognised at Langlands Park?
It depends if I am with Des Morris or not. If you’re with Des, everyone stops to talk to him and then look at me a bit closer.
Is it true you led a laundry revolution at the Tigers?
The players had to wash their own jersey and socks after each game. Because of the different laundry habits of the different players, the jumpers soon changed from being the one shade of yellow to varying quite a bit in their “yellow-ness”. I didn’t think the variation in jersey colour looked professional, so I suggested to the powers-that-be at Easts that the club should pay for all the jumpers to be laundered together professionally. My suggestion did not go well. I decided that a bit of direct action was needed. I put it to Des and my teammates that we should go on strike. We should not wash our jerseys and play in dirty jerseys till the club saw sense. This suggestion went over like a lead balloon too. My teammates certainly were not radicals. I do not know exactly when, but in a few years the club took over the responsibility of laundering jerseys and socks after games.
