THE proposed merger of the Richmond Football Club and the Fremantle Dockers is gaining momentum, and Mongrel Punter understands the new club will be called the Richmond Dockers, or Purple Tigers, and relocated to west Sydney.
By merging the clubs, the AFL believes it can fast-track the west Sydney team and prevent an unsightly bye in 2011 when the Gold Coast franchise joins the competition. An AFL insider told Mongrel Punter that jumpers had already been designed, and a black strip featuring a yellow anchor on the front, a black jumper with a purple sash, and a purple jumper with the outline of a tiger on the chest have made the shortlist.
Fremantle's "Heave Ho" song is destined for the scrapheap and the Richmond song will survive, although some lyrics will be changed. Possible changes include: "Oh we're from Dockerland, Purple and Black, and, Like the Dockers of Old."
The insider said the AFL had run out of patience with Richmond and by banishing it to west Sydney, the Melbourne Football Club would then be able to move into the Punt Road Oval.
"Richmond was a proud, powerful club in the 70s. It used to beat up on the weak, it used to beat up on the strong, it used to put cups in the cabinet. Now it has become the ninth-placed specialist. Where is this club's Eddie McGuire?" the insider asked.
"When the rot set in for Collingwood after 1990, McGuire came along, wielded the axe and chopped it out. Similarly, Richmond won a flag in 1980 and the rot followed. We waited 10 years for Richmond's McGuire to emerge, but no. Fifteen years later, 20 years later and we're still waiting."
He said the AFL had given up hope of McGuire leaving Collingwood and taking the McGuire/Malthouse show to Tigerland, so the merger was the best option.
"And the unfortunate thing about Fremantle is that it's developed a Richmond-esque personality without actually winning anything," he said.
Asked if the AFL was concerned that it was creating a "super basketcase" club, he replied: "We have two basketcases already and west Sydney is going to be one as well, so we just thought it was better to throw them together and see what happens. Surely one big basketcase is better than three little ones."
http://www.realfooty.com.au/articles/2009/04/23/1240079793507.html
