Ignoring flak
Rohan Connolly | June 9, 2007 | The Age
FOR nearly 30 years, since a golden era ended and hard times set in, the Richmond Football Club has been a volatile place. Passionate. Impatient. And with a fan base increasingly angry about its lack of success.
There's few jobs in the game as thankless as coaching the Tigers. But after two-and-a-bit years at the helm at Punt Road, from 1997 until 1999, Jeff Gieschen managed to find one [becoming director of umpiring].
....
That [ill-feeling] is something you might expect Gieschen himself to harbour over his departure from Punt Road nearly eight years ago. But he says that's far from the case.
He'd arrived at the club to coach the reserves, whom he took to a premiership. But with five games to go in the 1997 season, the former coach of Maffra, Wodonga, West Perth and Geelong reserves found himself in charge of the Richmond seniors after the sacking of Robert Walls.
The Tigers won four of those last five, some big scalps among them. They won 12 games the following year, before being knocked out of the eight in the final round. But they slipped to 12th in 1999, and Gieschen was replaced by Danny Frawley.
It was a record which didn't stack up too badly alongside some Richmond performances. But through the length of his tenure, he fought enormous cynicism about not only his credentials, but his methodology.
"Unleash the Giesch" became a popularly ironic chant from elements of the football media who spotted a soft target, and zeroed in what they saw as his penchant for "spin". He admits to feeling a little hurt by it. But not bitter.
"It was a fairytale opportunity," he says. "I never expected to coach league football, that was the last thing on my agenda. I look back feeling more fortunate about the opportunity than bitter. I feel very grateful and proud to think that a club like Richmond would give me an opportunity. And I look back knowing I gave it absolutely everything I had."
Which is why when his coaching stint was over, he didn't feel like sitting around to reflect.
"Like any coach who has been through the system, it probably does knock your confidence around. But time heals that, and all you can do is get into the next challenge, put your head down, go like billyo and see if you can achieve something there."
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