Ashburton author Elliot Cartledge pays tribute to Richmond coaching legend Tom HafeyHerald-Sun
August 22, 2014EVEN the briefest mention of the Hafey years can send a segment of Melbourne’s football-loving public into misty-eyed nostalgia.
The Richmond faithful remain so, devoutly in many cases, despite the club’s enduring lack of success since those golden years of the 1960s and ’70s.
Those Tiger tragics can relive the heyday with the re-release of Ashburton author Elliot Cartledge’s Tigerland tome, The Hafey Years.
The book was commissioned by the Richmond Football Club and was first released in 2011 to coincide with Hafey’s 80th birthday.
Cartledge said the reaction to Hafey’s death in May of this year showed how widely revered he was.
“There was something about Tom that made people feel good,” he said.
“He was a real Melbourne identity. I think people linked Tom to a simpler, more nostalgic and colourful era for the city in which we live and the game he was associated with.
“He could cut through every tier of society. He related to everyone.”
Hafey’s 11 years at the helm saw the Tigers claim four premierships: 1967, ’69, ’73 and ’74.
The likes of Hart, Sheedy, Bourke, Bartlett and Balme are just some of the characters who compose the story.
In the author’s own words, it’s a story of cloak and dagger dealings, brilliant recruiting, far sighted strategising, punch ups, bitter disputes, astonishing performances, enduring controversies and fame and infamy in equal measures.
Even as a born and bred Tiger man, Cartledge couldn’t put a finger on what makes Richmond fans unique in their fervour.
“Maybe those working class roots, that inner-city traditional tribalism that Richmond supporters have clung to in good times and bad,” he said.
“Memories of a fantastic era in the ‘60s and ‘70s just won’t fade away.
“The colours. The song. Playing at the ’G and those great rivalries with the other big clubs.
“This city is a very different place when the Tigers are up and about.”
Cartledge said he hoped the book would appeal to all footy fans.
“What I tried to do, researching and writing the book, was not concentrate solely on Tom or solely on Richmond,” he said.
“I wanted to create a story of an era, against the backdrop of this city, that touches on people’s nostalgic memories.
“What it used to be like: going to the footy, the characters, the venues.
“I wanted to bring all that to life.”
http://www.news.com.au/national/ashburton-author-elliot-cartledge-pays-tribute-to-richmond-coaching-legend-tom-hafey/story-e6frfkp9-1227033329442
