Tigers sweat on Big (Bad) Mal MARK HAWTHORNE
July 16, 2010 RICHMOND officials will no doubt be keeping an ear out for any news eminating from today's major club fundraiser, a lunch being held at Hilton on the Park.
The event marks the return to the microphone of Mal Brown, who put the E.J. Whitten Legends Game on newspaper front pages for all the wrong reasons last month by using the term ''cannibals'' to describe indigenous players.
Brown (right) has been scarce since then. His bid to take over the presidency of The Carbine Club has been put on hold, but his name, followed by the description ''Q&A'', appears on the running sheet for today's event.
The lunch is being put on by the Tommy Hafey Club, a coterie group named in honour of the former player and four-time premiership coach. It has strong ties with the club's past players, and the $135-a-head lunch will help raise money to chip away at the club's estimated $4 million debt.
The addition of Brown's name to the running list is said to have caused ''a certain amount of anxiety'' with Richmond's administration, but the past players are remaining loyal to their old mate.
Hafey was Richmond coach when Brown arrived at the club from Perth in 1974, and was one of the men to jump to the defence of Brown in the wake of his cannibal remark. He said Brown ''had more to do with Aboriginal players than anybody''.
The theme of today's lunch is ''Tommy's proteges'' - Hafey coached Richmond, Collingwood, Geelong and Sydney, and 18 of his former players went on to coach at senior level, with Paul Sproule, Francis Bourke, Mark Williams, Tony Jewell, Barry Richardson, Kevin Sheedy, Damian Drum and John Northey spruiked as being among the invited guests.
Brown, who coached South Fremantle to a premiership in 1980, and the WA state-of-origin side, hasn't rated a mention in the pre-lunch publicity.
Master of ceremonies Jeff Richardson, of The Coodabeens, gets the job of interviewing Big Mal. No doubt hearts will be in mouths when Mal grabs the microphone, but at least one potential cause of controversy has been avoided.
The Tigers' website has for weeks promised a special appearance by Richmond captain Chris Newman and Brownlow medallist Ben Cousins. Cousins was still listed on the running sheet until Wednesday, but his recent unscheduled hibernation means he will skip the function.
''Cousins definitely won't be attending,'' Sporting Life was told.
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/tigers-sweat-on-big-bad-mal-20100715-10cox.html
