The first time I saw two-time Carlton premiership player Peter Bosustow was on a grainy VHS tape of the 1978 WAFL grand final where he kicked one of the greatest goals ever seen.
He intercepted a kick in and then danced around his opponents with all the grace and grit of Rudolf Nureyev, before booting a goal from the boundary line with a waterlogged ball that had gained a couple of pounds from the torrential rain. It was hypnotic, mesmerising and electrifying.
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The flamboyant showman, affectionately known as the Buzz, punched his fist towards the 50,000-strong crowd, huddled under raincoats and umbrellas. No one loved the big stage more than Bosustow.
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It wouldn’t be long before he would enchant a generation of Carlton supporters. The Blues fans adored him, and he had a genuine affection for the club. So, it was fitting that the Blues were among the first to release a statement shortly after Bosustow’s death on Monday morning in Perth after a long illness. He was 67.
“‘The Buzz’ effectively exploded onto the scene, and his on-field impact was seismic,” the club said. His impact was indeed dramatic and immediate. When he arrived at the Blues in 1981, the high-flying Western Australian dazzled fans with his swagger, confidence and breathtaking skills. In just his first season, he would win mark and goal of the year, and play in a premiership side. He also topped Carlton’s goalkicking in 1981 with 59 goals.
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The goal of the year was pure Buzz. He threw his body over Geelong’s Ian Nankervis’s boot, smothering the ball before springing to his feet, stepping to his right and snapping the goal over his shoulder. Bosustow raised his arms to the heavens like a Roman emperor welcoming back an army of loyal soldiers.
His career lasted just 65 games with Carlton, but he left a theatrical and everlasting imprint on the competition. If he played AFL today his marketability would be endless, and Carlton coach David Parkin said on Monday Bosustow was probably the most exciting player the Blues ever had.
“What was really good was that despite the ups and downs of a coach/player relationship we remained really good mates and shared so much over the journey,” he said. “We used to call, text or email each other a lot, particularly through the course of his illness which began 18 months ago.
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“As a player he tested me like nobody else, but he was always quick to apologise to me and the players and it was just a bit sad that he decided to go home. But he was a gem of a bloke.”
At the end of the 1983 season, Bosustow returned to Perth because his father Bob – who played 20 games for Carlton in the 1950s – was ill. The Blues tried to lure him back to Princes Park in 1984, but Carlton and Perth couldn’t come to an agreement on a transfer fee, so he remained in the west.
Bosustow was becoming increasingly frustrated and impatient and his season with the Demons came to an abrupt halt after he put his fist through a plate glass shower door. The mercurial forward appeared to struggle away from the limelight.
He would have another crack at the VFL in 1986, but he busted his ankle after treading on a sprinkler head during pre-season training so couldn’t get his body fit for the start of the season. By then, a player named Stephen Kernahan had claimed his famous No 4 jumper.
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Bosustow headed back to Perth to play for his beloved Demons one more time, retiring at the end of the 1987 season. He booted 379 majors in 141 WAFL appearances for Perth and was the club’s leading goal scorer on three occasions. He would go on to be named on a half-forward flank in the Demons’ team of the century and earned his WA Football Hall of Fame induction in 2017.
After his playing days, Bosustow spent his time tinkering away in his sports stores in Perth. I would often make the trek out to one of his shops in the eastern suburbs where you would always find him standing at the counter or leaning on a clothes rack, like a captain at the helm of his ship.
Despite continually hitching up his tracksuit pants over his ever-expanding girth he was still a transcendent sight for a pimply-faced teenager like me. He would ignore my pitiable moments for being there and answer my endless football questions without ridicule or loathing, despite my frothing and spluttering away.
He loved nothing more to talk footy, especially if it involved him.
Fellow Western Australian, Ken Hunter, who played with Bosustow in the Blues’ back-to-back premierships of 1981 and 1982, said Buzz relished the big stage. “He used to joke that I was the extrovert and him the introvert, when it was obviously the other way around,” he said. “He was a unique character and a rare football talent in equal measure.”
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