FOOTBALL legend Ron Barassi has revealed he is suffering from dementia.
The 76-year-old AFL icon's short-term memory is fading to the point where at times he is unable to recall what he ate for dinner the night before.
"I can't see the point in covering up the fact that I'm forgetful. I think you'd have more worries doing it that way than being open and honest about it," Barassi said.
"I'm forgetful. It's not a worry. I'd rather be as pure in memory as I once was. Even then it wasn't good by the way."
Barassi candidly revealed his condition on 60 Minutes, conceding he first noticed his short-term memory had slipped four years ago.
"I couldn't remember a guy's name who I'd actually been overseas with, which (was) a bit embarrassing," Barassi said.
"I've got used to that."
The former premiership player and coach was shown struggling to answer his long-term doctor, Dr John Tickell, when quizzed on his recent life experiences.
"Do you know the name of the hospital?" Dr Tickell is heard probing him, to which Barassi quips, "No".
"I'd say he has a form of dementia, because dementia is an umbrella term that can involve 50 or 60 different neurological diseases," Dr Tickell said.
A tearful Barassi said one memory he couldn't shake was the moment he learned his father, Ron Barassi Sr, had succumbed to gunfire in Libya during World War II.
"I can remember the telegram telling us that he had been killed. I'll never forget that," Barassi said.
He was four years old when his father was the first Australian footballer slain at in Tobruk.
Barassi recently walked in his dad's footsteps through the trenches with his own son, Ron, during a pilgrimage to the resting place.
Last week Barassi told the Herald Sun of his perilous visit to the Benghazi war cemetery where 52 Diggers' graves were smashed by Libyan rebels in February.
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