A fond farewell with raw emotion * Patrick Carlyon
* Herald Sun
* March 26, 2010 MATTHEW Richardson isn't Brendan Fevola. This alone almost qualified him as the celebratory face for the start of the AFL season.
There were placards. Face masks, too. Stalin and Mao Zedong would have approved such a reception.
But Richardson didn't look so comfortable with such hero worship. He appeared overwhelmed when he walked on to the ground at 6.41pm, surrounded by 282 children, for his farewell from football.
"It's times like these you learn to live again," blared a Foo Fighters soundtrack, as the club mascot fell to his knees and hailed the club's face of optimism in its rut of generational adversity.
"Go Richo" was the catchcry of fans, who clasped Football Records emblazoned with his image.
"Stay Richo" could have been more apt, given Carlton's Jarrad Waite goaled 59 seconds after the first bounce, when a Richmond player was yet to possess the ball.
The misery was reinforced less than three minutes later when Carlton's Lachlan Henderson goaled. Then Marc Murphy drilled another three minutes later.
When Setanta O'hAilpin kicked another, Carlton appeared to have kicked more goals than Richmond had had clean possessions.
A familiar crisis was deepening, much like the same game last year when Richmond - buoyed by a confidence that unexpectedly buds every few years - effectively doomed the rest of its season by a first quarter of muddling.
Yet a comeback of sorts ensued. Three goals late in the quarter presented something in short supply - hope.
The second quarter was marked by a Carlton flurry of goals early, then a series of Richmond fumbles and miscues and half chances not turned into something more.
Before half-time, Richmond's season was shaping up as no brighter than any other in recent times. The club's latest buzzword - transformation - was already being questioned.
Yet football is a fickle beast.
On the half-time siren, Richmond forward Mitch Morton laid a ferocious tackle and goaled after the siren.
The margin was only 19 points.
No matter the result, however, the hazy twilight goodbye had earlier offered a fine tribute for Richardson.
He has never been a mongrel. He hasn't been busted for drugs or getting tanked in public or showing his mates naughty photos.
He helped make the men who play the sport appear better than they often are.
His send-off, just before all the season countdown clocks finally hit zero, harked to the belief that this year, no matter what the experts say, you know your team can do better.
Richardson has embodied the spectacle of the sport in all its calamities and courage. In his latter years, when his body and spirit were entitled to be occupied otherwise, he played some of his hardest football.
And his poster boy image was bolstered - not shredded - by the flaws in his and his team's performances.
For Richmond fans, there will be no more Richo. But, as always, they will always have next year, if not the season that started afresh last night.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/a-fond-farewell-with-raw-emotion/story-e6frf9io-1225845558666
