33 Facts About Barry Cable

Barry Thomas Cable MBE was born on 22 September 1943 and is a former Australian rules footballer and coach.

Barry Cable was awarded the Tassie Medal as the best player at the 1966 Australian National Football Carnival, as well as selection in the All-Australian team.

Barry Cable left Perth at the end of the 1969 season to play for the North Melbourne Football Club in the VFL, and won the club's best and fairest award, the Syd Barker Medal, before returning to Western Australia at the end of the season.

Barry Cable retired from playing at the end of the 1979 season, having injured himself in a farming accident.

Barry Cable returned to Victoria in 1981 to become the senior coach of North Melbourne, a role which he held until 1984, and later worked as an assistant at the West Coast Eagles during their first years in the VFL.

Barry Cable's tally of seven best and fairest awards at Perth is a club record, while his career total of 379 premiership matches is a record for any elite Australian rules football player born in Western Australia as of 2022, and was an elite Australian rules football record until broken by Kevin Bartlett in Round 20 of the 1982 VFL season.

The youngest of eleven children, Barry Cable was born in Narrogin, a country town in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia.

Barry Cable's father, Edward, born in England, died when Cable was six and he was raised by his indigenous mother, Dorothy a member of the Noongar people of south-west Western Australia.

Barry Cable debuted for the senior side of his local club, the Narrogin Imperials in the Upper Great Southern Football League, at the age of fifteen.

Barry Cable began his career as a wingman, but late in 1963 was moved to his familiar position of rover.

Barry Cable was awarded the Tassie Medal as the best player at the 1966 Australian National Football Carnival, as well as selection in the All-Australian team.

The secretary of North Melbourne, Ron Joseph, said Barry Cable was "genuinely interested in playing League football", and wanted to "prove himself in Victorian football".

At the time Barry Cable made his initial move to Victoria, North Melbourne were a struggling team, still a few years away from becoming one of the powerhouses of the decade.

Back at Perth, Barry Cable captain-coached the Perth Football Club in 1972 and 1973 and won his third Sandover Medal in the latter year.

Barry Cable again returned to Perth after accepting an offer to captain-coach East Perth.

Barry Cable, who was "at his best in the heavy conditions", was playing in his sixth consecutive grand final, having played in five at North Melbourne.

Barry Cable had significantly less success in the VFL as a non-playing coach than as a player, although he did get North Melbourne into the finals in two of his three full seasons in charge as senior coach during the early 1980s.

From 1987 to 1989, Barry Cable served as assistant coach with AFL club West Coast Eagles.

Barry Cable was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in December 1978 for "services to Australian rules football".

Barry Cable was saved when the tractor came off the leg, continued on its path and drove up the wall, cutting off its petrol supply.

Barry Cable then had to summon all his inner strength to remain conscious while yelling for help.

Barry Cable was rushed to the Royal Perth Hospital for emergency treatment.

Later, secondary infections set in, necessitating the use of heavy painkillers, with Barry Cable said to be "hovering between life and death" and spending his time in a "twilight world of delirium, drugged sleep and excruciating pain".

At one stage, Barry Cable was given the possibility of never walking freely again.

Barry Cable was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in December 1986.

Barry Cable was similarly included as a "Legend" in the West Australian Football Hall of Fame's inaugural induction in 2004.

Barry Cable established a non-profit organisation, the Community Development Foundation, in 1999, aimed at assisting schoolchildren from lower socio-economic areas.

Barry Cable has been involved in a number of charity efforts involving cycling, especially long-distance cycling.

In July 2007, Barry Cable was retrospectively awarded a Simpson Medal for his efforts in the inaugural State of Origin match in 1977, bringing his total number of Simpson Medals to a record five.

Barry Cable denied the allegations and tried unsuccessfully to have the case thrown out of court several times.

Barry Cable's identity was only revealed after a suppression order was lifted in February 2023 ahead of a trial.

Barry Cable was removed from the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in July 2023 in response to the court's findings, and he was removed from the Australian Football Hall of Fame and West Australian Football Hall of Fame, with his Legend status in both Halls being rescinded.

On 24 May 2024, Barry Cable was charged with five counts of indecently dealing with a girl under 13 and two counts of unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under 13 years.