{xtypo_dropcap}L{/xtypo_dropcap}ucio “Butch” Baroni had been playing football for just one season when he received a letter in the post inviting him to train with East Perth.

“I was rapt,” he said. “I didn’t think I was going all that great, but I thought, well, the talent scouts can’t be wrong.”

“When I turned up at the training ground I found three hundred other kids all decked out in training gear there as well.”

The three hundred was trimmed down to forty by the end of the day, and Baroni was included in the squad.

He decided instead to join Mt Lawley Amateurs, where the youngster became part of  an A Grade premiership. “I was lucky to have played pretty well in the grand final, when Brian Cook was in the crowd,” he recalled. Baroni was voted best on ground in that match, and the shrewd Cook wasted no time in luring him to the Royals.

Starting with the reserves at East Perth, “Butch” was on the brink of league selection in early 1986 when a broken wrist incurred at training set him back for a month, but after a couple more games in the two's he received a call up for the game against Subiaco. “Suby were running hot that day, I was on Phil Lamb, and he ran me ragged,” Baroni recalled. Dropped following the big loss, “Butch” fought his way back into the league side with the doggedness and determination that would become a trademark of his game.

It was tough going those days at the Royals, but Baroni quickly emerged as a team leader, setting an  example with his attack on the ball and willingness to help out team mates, and his announcement as winner of the F D Book Medal as fairest and best in 1990 was a popular one with team mates and supporters.

{xtypo_quote_left}He had earlier run second to Swan Districts player Mick Grasso in the Sandover Medal.{/xtypo_quote_left}

His form that year attracted plenty of interest from the Eastern Seaboard, with more than a few Victorian clubs showing interest, but he wasn’t picked up by any. “As soon as they noticed the birth date they shied away,” he said. At that stage he was twenty four, which may have been a drawback, but has been proven since to throw up some good recruits.

On the local front, it was even more surprising that his red hot form wasn’t rewarded with a State guernsey that season. 

Baroni was belatedly selected for Western Australia the following year. On June 11, 1991 he was part of a Western Australian side that defeated South Australia at Subiaco Oval, and was also in the team that travelled to Football Park eleven months later to go down by six points.

Also overdue for Baroni and East Perth was finals action, and in 1991 they made an Elimination Final, only to lose to Perth by seven points. In 1992 they won an elimination final, against Subiaco, in which the margin was eighty five points, but lost a close one to eventual premiers, East Fremantle, by just four points.

At the age of twenty eight and with the feeling he was going nowhere, “Butch” Baroni retired from league football and headed for some fishing at Cervantes, where he began to make up for the lack of premiership success at East Perth. In a year in which he won another fairest and best award, Cervantes won the flag. Baroni was then appointed coach at Beverley, who also duly went Premiers in the first of his two seasons at the helm. Returning to Cervantes, “Butch” was part of another five flags, giving him eight premierships in ten years.   

Baroni later coached juniors at Sorrento-Duncraig.

His days after the Royals weren’t just about premierships.

“There were a few funny happenings in Amateur footy, such as the day the bloke in one team kicked the ball the wrong way, only to see an opposition player promptly boot it back,” Lucio laughed. “I played against ex East Perth team mate Ken Seymour in the bush one day, and he was in the ruck. He won three taps in a row, I read them all, and yelled out to him: “you’re easier to read than a Mills and Boon novel,” to which he responded by running right through me, muttering: “I’ll give you Mills and Boon novel.”

Asked about his hardest opponent, he joked: “George Giannakis at training.” Richard Dennis was his pick as best player he’d played with. And the nickname, “Butch”?  “Handed down from my parents.” Methinks there may be more to that tale but he wouldn’t elaborate.    

“Butch” Baroni works with Choice Home Loans as a finance broker, is happily married to Jane, and has two boys, Nicholas and Nathan.  His time at Cervantes wasn’t just about football, he is a keen fisherman, and also enjoys a round of golf.    

Lucio “Butch” Baroni was a favourite at East Perth during the late eighties and early nineties. He epitomised the fighting spirit the club is renowned for, and was also a very good footballer, fairest and best winner, and State player.