Beloved football commentator Ross Booth has died at the age of 72.
In a shattering and heartfelt message, VFA (Victorian Football Association) and Coburg legend Phil Cleary confirmed the news on Facebook.
Cleary worked with Booth for many years at the ABC, covering VFA and VFL games.
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“Sad news,” Cleary wrote on Wednesday.
“I’ve said many times that Peter Gee and Ross Booth’s calls of VFA grand finals on ABC TV were as good as any AFL grand final calls the commercial stations have produced.
“It’s sad to have to announce that I was advised this week by Ross’s sister that Ross had been found dead in his Toorak flat. The Toorak flat was a standing joke during our nearly 30 years calling VFA football from 1987 to 2014. I called him a toff and he loved it.
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“I spoke at his 60th birthday more than a decade ago and we shared so many good times.
“As irony would have it, we first met when I was playing with Coburg Amateurs and he was a tough midfielder with Monash Blues in the VAFA in the early 1970s.
“I will have more to say, but for now let me just say he was an urbane scholar and great football person, whose calls of football made him an institution in the football world. We’ll miss him.”
VAFA president Paul Newton said it was “a sad day for the Association”.
“Ross was admired as one of the competition’s stalwarts – both on the field, where he played over 100 games for both University Blacks and Monash University, and off the field where he was a board member for 25 years,” Newton said.
“Ross made an enormous contribution and his service was recognised with life membership of the Association in 2003. He will be fondly remembered by all those involved at the VAFA.
“On behalf of the VAFA Board, management and Association, we offer our deepest condolences to Ross’s family and friends.”
Booth was a captain for the Blues and a two-time best-and-fairest winner in 1973-74.
In 1986, he was appointed as a VAFA executive and served in that capacity for 25 years. In 2006 he was awarded VAFA life membership.
Booth worked for the ABC’s VFL commentary team for 26 years and also worked at Melbourne newspaper The Age.
Veteran AFL journalist Rohan Connolly also said the news was “really sad to hear”.
“Apart from being a lovely bloke, Ross Booth was also for many years part of the Sunday Age’s VFA coverage and was terrific at his craft. RIP Ross,” Connolly wrote.