Tigers standing on principle * Patrick Smith
* The Australian
* April 14, 2010 IT is always dangerous to attempt to pick the exact time a small event triggers something seismic.
Shane Warne's leg-spinner to Mike Gatting was obvious. In one delivery the Ashes were there for the taking. England never stood a chance.
Nicky Winmar lifted his jumper and pointed to his black skin. It could have been dismissed as Winmar provoking the Collingwood crowd but it was the catalyst along with Michael Long's inspiration to recast the culture of football.
Racial vilification on the playing field would no longer be tolerated.
Just how Richmond's decision to suspend four players after some early morning nonsense at the club hotel on Sunday plays out will not be evident for some considerable time. According to commentators and the public, it was either a brave decision or an overreaction.
Few would disagree that eight weeks is an appropriate suspension for Daniel Connors, for he was so drunk he teetered on oblivion. One-match suspensions to Ben Cousins, Luke McGuane and Dean Polo have been rated as excessive. The club's harshest critic on this issue is former Tigers champion player and coach Kevin Bartlett, who is bewildered by the penalties.
He looked for support from listeners to his Melbourne radio program. Bartlett got it but it was hardly unanimous. Richmond general manager of football, Craig Cameron, had explained the club's position clearly enough. While Cousins, Polo and McGuane were not drunk, they had an obligation to cut short Connors' sprint to get off his face.
For two hours they took no action. When they did Connors was so boozed Cousins tried to forcefully get him under control. Connors has a black eye to prove he resisted mightily.
Richmond officials Cameron, coach Damien Hardwick and chief executive Brendon Gale considered the players' action. Given that the episode lasted two hours and Polo, McGuane and Cousins observed Connors' attempted suicide by stupidity, the Tigers hierarchy felt the players should have been more proactive. Leadership. They had every opportunity to ring officials staying at the hotel and warn them of Connors' deteriorating behaviour. They opted not to. And now they will not play against Melbourne on Sunday.
Bartlett said this was grossly unfair. He argued that the report from hotel security mentioned only Connors without a word of complaint about the other three. The worst thing Cousins did was to play the piano at 2am. He was asked by hotel staff to stop and he did. It is unclear why staff told him to desist. It might be that he was too loud; it might be that he is a damn awful pianist with crowbars for fingers.
Bartlett felt that Cousins, Polo and McGuane were not Connors' baby-sitters. Players should be allowed to relax after a match and they take some time to wind down. There is merit in Bartlett's stance.
However, his position does not take in the broader, more important, principle of club culture. Richmond is a club all but beaten to death by its recent past. It has been irrelevant for too long, it has been defeatist and not respected.
The club cannot tackle, successfully, these perceptions on the field. Not yet. The list is too young, too inexperienced and without depth to its talent. So the club must make its mark where it can; on issues that it and nobody else has control of. The suspension of the four players says to the playing group, supporters, sponsors and the broad community that Richmond has begun to rebuild from within.
That it has set standards that will not be compromised. It might not be on the march just yet, but it has certainly come to attention.
Cousins, for one, believes his suspension was warranted. He had an opportunity to save Connors from himself but acted too late. Bartlett says, "Well, he would say that wouldn't he". In fact, Cousins didn't have to say anything. Just glue his mobile phone to his ear again and plough on.
Richmond has mapped out a plan that it is hoped will restore it to powerhouse status in the AFL once more. This against a backdrop of two new teams joining the competition and hogging consecutive drafts this year and next. A resurrection that will be some time in the conjuring.
But it can make an immediate statement to the football world that it is a club of principle. A club where fools are not tolerated; and excellence in everything is a standard requirement. This might be the most important week in the club's history.
Richmond has just delivered its Gatting ball.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/tigers-standing-on-principle/story-e6frg7t6-1225853383451
