Tributes flow for Demons great Robbie Flower as AFL world mourns

TRIBUTES are pouring in for Demons great Robert Flower, who died suddenly yesterday afternoon.

Robert Flower and TV personality Jo Bailey.

TRIBUTES are pouring in for Demons great Robert Flower, who died suddenly on Thursday afternoon.

He was 59.

Melbourne’s most loved player, the man affectionately known as Tulip was a champion who captained Melbourne from 1981 until his last game in 1987.

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He played 272 games from 1973 and was a member of Melbourne’s Team of the Century.

Flower died of heart failure after several serious health scares in recent years.

His family said in a statement: “It is with the deepest regret that we wish to advise of the sudden passing of Robert Flower, after a brief, unexpected illness.

“The family is devastated by the sudden loss and would appreciate privacy at this time.”

Former Demon Garry Lyon said on Nine’s Footy Show: “Robert Flower was the Melbourne footy club — the biggest name in the oldest football club in the world.”

He said Flower, a Hall of Fame member, won the club’s best and fairest in 1977 and was the leading goalkicker in ’79, ’83 and ’87.

Robert Flower and TV personality Jo Bailey.

Flower was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2000 at the age of 45, and resigned from the Melbourne Football Club board four years later after an ultrasound scan revealed cardiomyopathy — a disease of the heart muscle.

He had open heart surgery earlier this year, but was his usual bubbly self at Melbourne’s best and fairest awards only a couple of weeks ago.

He will be remembered as one of the most admired players in the history of the game — a lightly framed and bespectacled man who looked more suited to accounting than to the unofficial knighthood bestowed upon him by Demons fans.

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Demons great David Schwarz last night described Flower as “the quintessential Melbourne person”.

“He looked like he belonged in the Melbourne library, yet was the most graceful and skilled footballer and human being.

“He had a real calmness about him and a real positive disposition about him. He always had a smile on his face. When you’re around him, you became a better person,” Schwarz said.

“He was a bloke who thought everyone deserved a chance at anything they wanted to do. You could not help but love Robbie Flower, no matter who you barracked for.”

Ron Barassi, 78, who coached Flower for five years, was devastated to learn of his death.

“Oh God, no. I’m very much in shock with this,” he said.

Robert Flower.

“Such an admired man, such a beautiful player and person. I don’t quite understand how Rob could go so quickly,” he said.

“I was just very lucky to both know him and coach him. As a person he was impossible to fault; as a player he was so balanced — just someone everybody would have loved to coach.

“There were times when you would find yourself watching his artistry and then realise you had to get back to coaching,” Barassi said.

“He had quality in every aspect of the game, except physical strength. Rob Flower was a lovely man, so well loved around the club.

“You watch all the great players and think: could anyone be more balanced, more natural with the ball?

“Plus he was so intelligent, someone who picked up what you were teaching so quickly,” Barassi said.

Flower, 59, never appeared comfortable with the glamour that went with being an AFL legend. Everyone who met him remarked on his extreme modesty in an age when sportsmen aren’t always known for that quality.

Robert Flower takes a mark in 1987.

Seven years ago a reporter nervously asked Flower whether he could he sign a photo for an admirer’s 50th birthday.

The response was typical: “As it happens I have one old jumper left. Do you think Andrew (the birthday boy) would like it?” asked Flower.

An hour later Flower had produced and signed his 1987 jumper for someone he had never met.

He will be remembered as the accidental hero from Murrumbeena Districts who owned the members’ wing at the MCG whenever he took off on those unforgettable bouncing runs before sending a drop punt goalwards.

Rob Flower has died — and so has a a big part of what we love in the game.

Originally published as Tributes flow for Demons great Robbie Flower as AFL world mourns