CURSES don't exist do they? Surely the only people who believe in them are frightened children and superstitious grandmothers.

Actually, add another group to that - frustrated sports fans.

Anyone with a passing interest in baseball would be aware of 'The Curse of the Bambino', which began in 1920 when the Boston Red Sox sold a promising young batter named George Herman Ruth to arch rivals the New York Yankees.

Ruth, now known around the world as 'Babe' became the greatest player in baseball's rich history and helped the Yankees become one of the greatest teams in sporting history.

The Red Sox, who had won five out of 15 World Series' prior to Ruth's departure, began an 84-year drought that was only broken seven years ago when they swept the St Louis Cardinals.

Closer to home, another long-standing curse has been said to plague a famous club.

Norm Smith's sacking from Melbourne in 1965 was, at that point, one of the most dramatic moments in AFL history. Smith had coached the Demons to the previous year's premiership, the fifth of his 13-year legacy to that point.

He was quickly reinstated as coach and served for another three years but Melbourne's premiership run was over, and has been ever since, in what has been dubbed 'The Curse of Norm Smith'.

But is there another curse to follow the Demons from that same era? One that follows that great source of superstition - numbers.

At Melbourne there is no more famous number than 31, that worn by the club's most heralded player, Ronald Dale Barassi.

Barassi wore the number in 204 games from 1953-64, playing in six flags, captaining the club for five years and quickly earned a reputation as one of the greatest players in Melbourne and VFL history.

At the end of 1964 he sensationally left Melbourne for a role as a playing coach with Carlton where he played another 50 games and coached two premierships.

Barassi's exit from the Demons came months before Smith's initial sacking and begs the question of exactly when the curse hit.

It was a case of history repeating on Monday when the latest player to wear the famous No.31 at Melbourne, Tom Scully, also left for greener pastures.

There are a few differences in the two cases - for one, Barassi, who had already established himself as a top-line player over many years, harboured a burning coaching ambition that couldn't be realised with his mentor Smith at the helm of Melbourne.

He also left for $10,000 over three seasons, which even considering inflation is shrapnel compared to the rumoured $6 million over six years given to Scully by Greater Western Sydney.

Scully looked set to be the first player to become a genuine star in the No.31 since Barassi, as the Demons deliberately gave him the famous guernsey when they drafted him with the first pick at the 2009 NAB AFL Draft.

There have been many to carry the torch since Barassi and before Scully, but few have done so with any great distinction.

Tasmanian big man Ray Groom moved down from No.15 to 31 in 1965. His career peaked and ended in 1968 when he won the club's best and fairest only to return to his home state where he entered politics and became Premier of Tasmania.

The next was Billy Barham, who played just 12 games in the number from 1974 to 75, leaving the VFL without any great legacy other than the fact that he was the older brother of Collingwood wingman Ricky Barham.

Paul Goss and Peter Garratt came and went with five games between them in the mid-70s, but some profile came back to the number when 'Fabulous' Phil Carman crossed over from Collingwood.

However after 11 games and one season where he failed to see eye to eye with coach Carl Ditterich, Carman was on the move to Essendon and the number went into hibernation for three years, during which time Barassi returned to the club as coach.

When the Demons landed Brownlow medallist Kelvin Templeton from Footscray at the start of 1983 they brought the number out of retirement for their star recruit. But injuries got the better of him and he managed just 34 games in three years before finishing his career at the end of 1985, Barassi's last year as coach.

The number went back into mothballs for another four years, as recruits developed their own reputations in their own numbers.

But in 1990 the Demons recruited a hard-bodied midfielder from Castlemaine in Victoria, the same town from which they recruited Ron Barassi snr in the 1930s.

Rod Keogh was given No.31 in his first year at the Demons and while he played just four senior matches in his debut season, he impressed enough to win the Gardiner Medal for the best and fairest in the AFL reserves competition. He won the award again in 1993 before leaving Melbourne with just 22 games to his name, crossing to St Kilda and adding another 60 matches.

Three more seasons passed where the No.31 locker remained unopened before Donald Cockatoo-Collins and twin brother David made their way to Melbourne.

David wore No.30 and Donald wore 31 but they both came and went with very little impact. It wasn't until Paul Wheatley was drafted in 1999 that No.31 had its longest serving tenant since Barassi. Wheatley played 135 games in a 10-year career but will mainly be remembered as the first man to ever kick a nine-point super goal in the AFL's pre-season competition.

Wheatley's departure and Melbourne's wooden spoon in 2009 meant the club was in a position to hand its most famous jumper to the No.1 draft pick, Scully, at the end of 2009.

Few would have predicted that Scully would leave the Demons just two years later. And how many games did he play in the red and blue? Exactly 31.

The curse continues.

Luke Holmesby covers Melbourne news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_LHolmesby