30 Facts About Ian Brusasco

Ian Brusasco AO, AM was an Australian businessman who served as chairman and director for WorkCover Queensland, Queensland Investment Corporation, Gladstone Ports Corporation, Foodbank Qld, Port of Brisbane Corporation, Australian Soccer Federation, Queensland Soccer Federation, Oceania Football Confederation, Brisbane Strikers, Radio Station 4TAB, Radio Station 4KQ, and Labor Holdings.

Ian Brusasco was married to Patricia Anne Brusasco was born on 11 May 1933 and who received a Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 1992 and a Centenary Medal in 2001, both in recognition of service to the community.

Ian Brusasco was born Italo Prospero Ian Brusasco on 4 October 1928 in Lannercost, a small farming community near Ingham in north Queensland.

Ian Brusasco changed his name by deed poll to Ian in 1969.

Ian's cousin Pier Giuseppe Brusasco was mayor of the village from 1999 until 2009.

Ian Brusasco attended both Catholic and state primary schools in Ingham and Brisbane.

Ian Brusasco did his secondary education at St Joseph's Nudgee College from 1943 to 1946, though he says it is still a mystery to him how he ended up there.

Ian Brusasco spent many decades chairing and serving on a variety of boards, spanning the political, sporting, industrial and philanthropic life of Queensland and Australia.

Ian Brusasco officially joined the Ashgrove, Queensland branch of the ALP in 1960.

Ian Brusasco initially stood as a candidate for the ALP, unsuccessfully, in Kurilpa in the 1969 Queensland State election and later, unsuccessfully again, in Nundah in the 1972 state election.

Ian Brusasco served for 14 years as an alderman, representing the wards of Toombul, Lutwyche and Spring Hill and serving as chairman of both the Health and Planning Committees.

Just a few months prior, Brusasco had returned from leading an Australian soccer team on a world tour and had been inspired by the synthetic running track he had seen in a small town in Greece.

Ian Brusasco advocated for Brisbane to bid for the Commonwealth Games, which the city eventually hosted in 1982.

Despite, knowing nothing about radio and with the station virtually bankrupt, Ian Brusasco agreed to step in and run it.

Ian Brusasco remained in this position for 5 years, eventually resigning on 31 December 1992.

Ian Brusasco first became involved in soccer in Australia in the 1950s at the request of his father, who at the time was president of Brisbane's Azzurri Football Club, later Brisbane City Football Club.

Ian Brusasco promised to help his father for 12 months, but once he got involved, Brusasco says he couldn't help but notice how much he felt was wrong with the club and the game at large, so he decided to remain active in the sport.

Ian Brusasco led a revolution to sweep out the old administrators from the game, helping to introduce semi-professional soccer to Queensland in 1960 and creating a new governing body in the process.

Ian Brusasco became a dominant figure in the formation of the Queensland Soccer Federation and served as its President from 1961 to 1965 and again from 1981 to 1988.

In 1965, Ian Brusasco was the head of the delegation that took Australia to Cambodia, for the qualifying games of its first ever Football World Cup campaign.

Ian Brusasco served as President of the Australian Soccer Federation from 1988 to 1989.

Ian Brusasco served in other senior executive roles in the game, including as Senior Vice President of the Australian Soccer Federation from 1983 to 1986, as an Executive Member of the ASF from 1962 to 1990, as Vice President and Executive Member of the Oceania Football Confederation from 1986 to 1990 and as Chairman of the OFC's Development Committee from 1986 to 1990.

Ian Brusasco was the Australian delegate to the FIFA Congress in Mexico in 1969 and Chairman of the Australian Olympic Football Task Force from 1999 to 2000.

Ian Brusasco was the Chairman of the Trustee Management Group of the Brisbane Strikers from 1993 to 1999 and was in charge when the team won the National Soccer League grand final in 1997.

Previous NSL finals had been played in front of modest crowds, but this day has been cited as heralding the emergence of the "sleeping giant" Brusasco had always predicted would awaken.

Ian Brusasco first played as a school boy, on the wing for St Joseph's Nudgee College in Brisbane, representing the school for two years at First XV level.

Ian Brusasco went on to play for the University of Queensland Rugby Club receiving a full blue for the sport in 1950, as well as for Brothers club.

Ian Brusasco became an inaugural member of the Queensland Academy of Sport in 1989 and served on the board until 1997.

Ian Brusasco was Chairman of the World Masters Games in Brisbane from 1993 to 1994.

On 26 January 1988, Ian Brusasco was named a Member of the Order of Australia "in recognition of service to the sport of soccer".