One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on May 31, 2011, 01:02:59 AM
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Reluctant Tigers to keep selling games
Caroline Wilson
May 31, 2011
RICHMOND president Gary March said he looked forward to the day his club was no longer forced to sell home games outside Victoria but added the Tigers "would not have won in a car park" the way they played on Saturday night.
March was bitterly disappointed with Richmond's unexpected loss to Port Adelaide, but refused to blame the result — which cost the young team a place in the eight — on the unfamiliar conditions at Darwin's TIO Stadium.
"Until we get our financial position rectified it's inevitable we're going to have to sell games," he said.
"Do we want to sell home games interstate? In an ideal world we don't. But I don't think if we'd played that game anywhere we would have won it the way we played. We put ourselves in a position to make the eight and we let ourselves down."
Last week Richmond was the toast of the competition after its impressive victory over the highly fancied Essendon in front of more than 83,000 at the MCG for the annual Dreamtime clash. One week later it moves into the club's first bye for 2011 having conceded a scrappy loss to the struggling Port Adelaide in a miserable night for both the club and the under-equipped stadium, where two light towers failed before the game and during half-time, with the game at one stage almost called off.
The Tigers have one more year on their contract with the Northern Territory government and will host Port at the stadium again next season. The three-year deal — which also involves Melbourne — will ultimately reap the club $1 million for two games.
The Richmond board is understood to have been divided over the decision to sell a further home game each year for the next three seasons to play the Gold Coast in Cairns in another major financial boost for the club, which still remains $2.5 million in debt. The deal with Gold Coast meant the 2011 fixture was rearranged so that Richmond now plays the Suns only once — in Cairns in late July — rather than once at the Gabba early in the season and once in Melbourne.
"If we don't sell those games we don't sufficiently fund the footy department," said March. "All the dollars we are making we are investing straight into footy, and we make no excuses. We stand by our decision because it allows us to improve our football department in terms of personnel and salary cap spending.
"You've got to win games wherever, whatever and as a young side we've got to come to terms with this. We can't be clutching at straws to make the eight. If we're good enough to make the eight we will. On Saturday night we didn't play with nearly enough intensity and we couldn't put the score on the board when we had momentum. St Kilda travelled as far as we did on the weekend and won a game people thought it would lose."
March would not commit to Darwin beyond next season, simply pointing out: "It's well documented we were, up until recently, the club with the lowest return per person through the gate with our stadium deals. That's the problem with the system. Everything else, sponsorship, membership, is a competition between the clubs and all is fair in love and war, but there's probably seven or eight of us clubs without a clean stadium and who didn't come into new home stadiums and get positive new deals who do a lot worse than the others.
"We know the AFL is looking at a more equal distribution of funds and hopefully that will be rectified next year."
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/reluctant-tigers-to-keep-selling-games-20110530-1fcri.html#ixzz1Nqea5wNK
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Richmond president Gary March disappointed by loss to Port Adelaide
Jon Ralph
From: Herald Sun
May 31, 2011
RICHMOND president Gary March has labelled the Darwin loss to Port Adelaide as the most disappointing defeat in Damien Hardwick's two years at Punt Rd.
March said the Tigers would not have beaten Port "in a carpark" after conjecture about Richmond selling a home game interstate.
A furious March said Richmond was determined to get into a financial position where it never had to sell home games again.
But he said that was no excuse for the players to drop a game to a side that had won only one game before Saturday's clash.
"We could have played the game in a carpark and we would have been beaten the way we played," March said.
"It is as bad as we have played under Damien.
"It was the most disappointing game, and the most disappointed Damien has felt, because we are in really good form and to play that way is not reflective of the way we have been playing.
"We have gone on the record as saying when we are in a position where we don't have to sell games, we never will, but we cannot say it has anything to do with the result.
"The players were poor and they are bitterly disappointed. They had worked so hard to get into a decent position and now they are back in the middle of the pack.
"It's not an ability thing or a conditions thing. I don't subscribe to that rubbish."
After the bye, Richmond must bounce back with away games against Sydney and Brisbane, with another sold home game against the Gold Coast in Cairns in Round 17.
March says the fortnight of interstate football after the bye was the perfect chance for the players to atone.
"We want to play finals footy whether it's this year or next year, and if we are going to play finals footy, we have to win games in Darwin and Perth and Brisbane and Sydney," he said.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-president-gary-march-disappointed-by-loss-to-port-adelaide/story-e6frf9jf-1226065947495
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"It is as bad as we have played under Damien.
And this is why Gary March should be seen and not heard.
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is gary still president ?
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"It is as bad as we have played under Damien.
And this is why Gary March should be seen and not heard.
Why?
I have to agree with everything he says, short term pain! We have to look at the bigger picture, I am sure all tigerheads dislike it as much as us, just a neccessary evil atm ....
5 years down the track it will be seen as the saviour of the club and we will all have a strong/competitive team to follow for the rest of our lives. Other clubs may not be so fortunate.
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"It is as bad as we have played under Damien.
And this is why Gary March should be seen and not heard.
Don't agree TBR. I thought it was the perfect time for the President to come out and put the blame fairly and squarely on the shoulders of the players and (to a lesser extent) the coaching group. They needed a rocket after their effort Sat night and coming from the President will have an extra impact. You wouldn't like to see him trot out an opinion every second week but in speaking up this week he has ensured the players know that no-one internally is going to let them get away with any bullsh1t excuses about conditions or home games. Turn up to play and you will win most games - pretty simple tactic that our kids forgot/learnt in Darwin.
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I just don't like seeing a bloke come out and speak publically in an official role about the football aspect of our club when he clearly based on this and previous comments knows next to nothing about the game.
If he seriously thinks that is the worst we have played under Hardwick then he lives in a gumdrop house on lollypop lane.
He needs to stick to administration.
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I just don't like seeing a bloke come out and speak publically in an official role about the football aspect of our club when he clearly based on this and previous comments knows next to nothing about the game.
If he seriously thinks that is the worst we have played under Hardwick then he lives in a gumdrop house on lollypop lane.
He needs to stick to administration.
I think the message is right TBR perhaps the words weren't
I would think based on our recent results and how much improvement we've shown this season TBR it was a very ordinary result and that's the point March was making.
You go into a game against a club that's considered a rabble and you are considered a good developing side and dish up what we dished up then it feels like it's the worst loss in ages
And I have to say driving back to the hotel after the game I felt it was our worst performance for a long long time because everything we had been getting right was no where to be seen
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Yep, agree WP, but I reckon in this instance the message would be better coming from Gale.
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I think he's right and it was the worst we'd played under Hardwick, especially when you put it into perspective
Sure we played worse in Rounds 1-9 in 2010, but that was a new gameplan to what was almost half of a new team, that is understandable
I'd suspect that we played about as bad as we did against Port as we did against Hawthorn, but in the Port game we were lucky that we were playing the worst side in the competition where as Hawthorn are a Top 4 contender
Yep, agree WP, but I reckon in this instance the message would be better coming from Gale.
Why? It came from the top, why should it have come from a step or two down from there?
You also need to consider that it was a journalist asking March questions about the game in Darwin, if they are asking March and not Benny then its pretty straight forward who the comments will be credited to
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Yep, agree WP, but I reckon in this instance the message would be better coming from Gale.
Now there's someone who it definitely shouldn't come from. Benny's role as the senior paid employee of the board should be kept free from public comments about the performance of the team - good or bad.
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Yep, agree WP, but I reckon in this instance the message would be better coming from Gale.
Nah disagree
Gale is the CEO (read Admin ;D) and he is the one that has worn the "badge" of selling the game in the first place. And let's be honest he's the one who's been copping it from supporters for selling the game
The President by speaking has indirectly gone into bat for his CEO who's copping it and as smokey mentioned has as the holder of the absolute top postion of this Club put responsibility squarely back on the footy department
I reckon March has shown very good leadership here
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Yep, agree WP, but I reckon in this instance the message would be better coming from Gale.
Nah disagree
Gale is the CEO (read Admin ;D) and he is the one that has worn the "badge" of selling the game in the first place. And let's be honest he's the one who's been copping it from supporters for selling the game
The President by speaking has indirectly gone into bat for his CEO who's copping it and as smokey mentioned has as the holder of the absolute top postion of this Club put responsibility squarely back on the footy department
I reckon March has shown very good leadership here
I didnt see March or Gale trying to short circuit the lights at half time. That would have been real leadership ;D
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I reckon March has shown very good leadership here
I didnt see March or Gale trying to short circuit the lights at half time. That would have been real leadership ;D
:lol
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Yep, agree WP, but I reckon in this instance the message would be better coming from Gale.
Nah disagree
Gale is the CEO (read Admin ;D) and he is the one that has worn the "badge" of selling the game in the first place. And let's be honest he's the one who's been copping it from supporters for selling the game
The President by speaking has indirectly gone into bat for his CEO who's copping it and as smokey mentioned has as the holder of the absolute top postion of this Club put responsibility squarely back on the footy department
I reckon March has shown very good leadership here
I didnt see March or Gale trying to short circuit the lights at half time. That would have been real leadership ;D
Problem is, we were actually leading at half time.
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Yep, agree WP, but I reckon in this instance the message would be better coming from Gale.
Nah disagree
Gale is the CEO (read Admin ;D) and he is the one that has worn the "badge" of selling the game in the first place. And let's be honest he's the one who's been copping it from supporters for selling the game
The President by speaking has indirectly gone into bat for his CEO who's copping it and as smokey mentioned has as the holder of the absolute top postion of this Club put responsibility squarely back on the footy department
I reckon March has shown very good leadership here
I didnt see March or Gale trying to short circuit the lights at half time. That would have been real leadership ;D
Problem is, we were actually leading at half time.
Yes we were and we would have won the game if the lights had gone out after half time or even at the start of the 3rd quarter
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Yep, agree WP, but I reckon in this instance the message would be better coming from Gale.
Nah disagree
Gale is the CEO (read Admin ;D) and he is the one that has worn the "badge" of selling the game in the first place. And let's be honest he's the one who's been copping it from supporters for selling the game
The President by speaking has indirectly gone into bat for his CEO who's copping it and as smokey mentioned has as the holder of the absolute top postion of this Club put responsibility squarely back on the footy department
I reckon March has shown very good leadership here
I didnt see March or Gale trying to short circuit the lights at half time. That would have been real leadership ;D
Problem is, we were actually leading at half time.
Yes we were and we would have won the game if the lights had gone out after half time or even at the start of the 3rd quarter
Love your thinking Ramps...... :thumbsup
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If Gourdis The Greek was in the side he would have sorted something out. Lost the game at the selection table.
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Yep, agree WP, but I reckon in this instance the message would be better coming from Gale.
Gale is an employee of the club and therefore it would not be in his best interests to make any comment on the matter
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Well said Gary.
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Yeah good points re Gale not being the right choice but I stand by the fact that March shouldn't comment publically on football matters because he has about the same level of knowledge as Caroline Wilson.
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Gee that's as harsh a call as could be made, big fella. I suppose caro will the enjoy the company of another ignoramus though :P
Considering all the moronic talk about how it was the administration that cost us the game by selling the Darwin game I can understand why March, who represents that administration, felt a need to comment.
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Nothing moronic about it at all. When you sit in the middle of a Tiger crowd at the G you can literally feel the electricity we generate. I've seen it make the players go up a gear countless times. If I'm imagining it, then why does Dimma constantly refer to the 19th man in his e-mails to fans, urging us to come to the games?
What the club did on Saturday night was effectively take the 19th man out of the equation.
Richmond in the first half, though playing badly, were right in that game. They were just looking for a spark to ignite them which never came, and a lot of positive crowd noise could have provided it.
Port on the other hand were at their lowest ebb coming into that game. And the resolve they managed to scrape together when they sensed we were vulnerable would have evaporated away like dandelion spore under the blowtorch of intimidatory hatred that the Tiger masses subject visiting teams to at the G.
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Nothing moronic about it at all. When you sit in the middle of a Tiger crowd at the G you can literally feel the electricity we generate. I've seen it make the players go up a gear countless times. If I'm imagining it, then why does Dimma constantly refer to the 19th man in his e-mails to fans, urging us to come to the games?
What the club did on Saturday night was effectively take the 19th man out of the equation.
Richmond in the first half, though playing badly, were right in that game. They were just looking for a spark to ignite them which never came, and a lot of positive crowd noise could have provided it.
Port on the other hand were at their lowest ebb coming into that game. And the resolve they managed to scrape together when they sensed we were vulnerable would have evaporated away like dandelion spore under the blowtorch of intimidatory hatred that the Tiger masses subject visiting teams to at the G.
While you may have a valid point about the effect of the "19th man" RR, if we want to be a top side we need to be able to put sides like Port Adelaide to the sword, at home or away. Still very much on our learning curve is our team and we need to be mindful of that when we have an expectation of success at every outing.
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In two years time when we will have more consistency and maturity then games interstate and Etihad against inferior opposition will be gimmes so long as we stick to our structures as good consistent and mature sides do, but we are not quite there yet and although a game away from familiar surrounding does provide a challenge for a young group like ours we showed that we were not quite up to the mark at this stage.
To me how much we have learnt from the Darwin experience will depend on how we perform over the next few weeks rather with further interstate trips as much as how we prepare in Cairns also, so that by the time we play Port in Darwin next year we can at least have something that we can proactively and positively compare ourselves to.
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Nothing moronic about it at all. When you sit in the middle of a Tiger crowd at the G you can literally feel the electricity we generate. I've seen it make the players go up a gear countless times. If I'm imagining it, then why does Dimma constantly refer to the 19th man in his e-mails to fans, urging us to come to the games?
What the club did on Saturday night was effectively take the 19th man out of the equation.
Richmond in the first half, though playing badly, were right in that game. They were just looking for a spark to ignite them which never came, and a lot of positive crowd noise could have provided it.
Port on the other hand were at their lowest ebb coming into that game. And the resolve they managed to scrape together when they sensed we were vulnerable would have evaporated away like dandelion spore under the blowtorch of intimidatory hatred that the Tiger masses subject visiting teams to at the G.
so perhaps you would care to explain why port beat us with dockland chock full of feral tiger heads. The atmosphere was electric that day... or how we beat port on such a big celebration for them in adelaide, with very little support.
to blame the administration for the pathetic effort from the players is moronic. It's ill conceived and illogical. They didn't turn up to play and port did - that is the bottom line. there was more support for richmond at the ground but the players simply did not give them anything to get excited about.
Unless the players get the crowd going with performance this 19th man BS will not even come into play.
If we are to hang our hat on the crowd support to win games then we might as well shut up shop now. FFS Norf won premierships will 1/4 of the support of the "19th man"
It's a national competition played all over the country. the players have to deal with playing in all conditions to be succesful. All the sooking in world from victorian centrics living in the past of a victorian only based competition played on Saturdays only will not change that.
The players are ones that need to take responsibility and thank stuff the coaching know that and are not pushing the blame onto the administration like petulant, spoilt brats, as many outside the club seem hell bent on doing
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Al,Port are a much poorer side this season to the mob who beat us last year (no pun intended). Secondly that game you're referring to was swindled out of our grasp by a bull$*! umpiring decision at the death.And Telstra Dump is not our home ground anyway.
And you're damn right I wish the competition had remained the VFL. It was a better competition, the Tigers were a better side, and football was a greater spectacle without all the flooding,"press" and rugby crap we have to put up with now.
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It was still mostly the same players with the same coach in round 22 last year, we would never have played the game at the MCG so it would have been at Etihad, that's why it was sold so it was never going to be at our true home ground as you rightly point out.
Personally I would rather we didn't over achieve this year due to beating teams with key players out injured and the 19th man getting us over the line in many games. I want our kids to win on merit, talent and hard work first. We can worry about our supporters being the 19th man when we get to the finals, or dare I say it... the big one!
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We can worry about our supporters being the 19th man when we get to the finals, or dare I say it... the big one!
Except the crowd there will all be corporates. :banghead
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We can worry about our supporters being the 19th man when we get to the finals, or dare I say it... the big one!
Except the crowd there will all be corporates. :banghead
I'll be there and I'm not a Corporate ;D
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We can worry about our supporters being the 19th man when we get to the finals, or dare I say it... the big one!
Except the crowd there will all be corporates. :banghead
I'll be there and I'm not a Corporate ;D
Me too, although I may have to buy one of the corporate tickets to get there, I never saw the point of a grand final guarantee ticket, I just figured if you save that $75 (and ever increasing) each year by the time we get there you will have saved enough to buy one of the $1000 corporate tickets.
Puts it into perspective though when retail price for the tickets of the Champions League final at Wembley ranged from $3500 to $20000.
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people that like soccer are more stupid than we first thought?
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people that like soccer are more stupid than we first thought?
:bow
Where's the rep button in this joint?
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We can worry about our supporters being the 19th man when we get to the finals, or dare I say it... the big one!
Except the crowd there will all be corporates. :banghead
I'll be there and I'm not a Corporate ;D
x 2
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people that like soccer are more stupid than we first thought?
... and have a truck load more money than you
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people that like soccer are more stupid than we first thought?
... and have a truck load more money than you
certainly more money than North Melbourne
but if you lend me 10¢ i can get a flagon down at Port Augusta
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;D
I'll split you the difference. I'm in. :thumbsup