Tigers' heroes of old join boardroom battle
By Caroline Wilson
The Age
November 28, 2004
When perhaps the most beloved living Tiger of all takes a side in the coming Richmond board election, you know you have a battle on your hands.
People who know Francis Bourke have been staggered to learn of his strength of feeling regarding the need for change at Punt Road Oval and that the five-time premiership player has gone as far as putting his support for Charles Macek's ticket in writing.
Bourke, for a relatively brief time in his glorious career, was part of football's famous centreline - Bourke, Bill Barrott and Dick Clay - with Clay also providing written support in a bid to oust Clinton Casey.
In fact, Bourke and Clay are two of eight former players to have put their names to Macek's campaign document to be released over the next few days.
The more recently retired Brendon Gale, soon to take over as chief executive of the AFL Players Association, and Paul Broderick are also said to have taken a stand against Casey in the yet-to-be-released literature.
While Barrott has not put his name to the Macek campaign document, both he and Royce Hart have told the challengers they will happily speak out on behalf of the challengers.
Meanwhile, the Casey camp continues to run an impressive campaign. Although the Richmond president's ticket is not yet completed, he has over the past week hosted a feel-good barbecue at his Hawthorn home to welcome the Tigers' hot new draft picks, to which a widespread section of the media was also invited.
From all reports it was a function reminiscent of those that took place many years ago in a back garden not so many suburbs away where the club once celebrated premierships.
You would have to say that the AFL's equalisation philosophy certainly works when the two clubs that finished 15th and 16th on the AFL ladder are celebrating in November while Port Adelaide and the Brisbane Lions cannot.
And yet, interestingly, the Casey barbecue provided a subtle demonstration of how divided the Richmond Football Club has become. While some club corporate supporters and coterie groups were invited to welcome the Tigers' new players - and they are impressive - others were not.
The President's Club, which boasted 63 members when Casey became president five years ago but now has only 29, each contribute at least $9000 a year to Tigerland but were not included at the function. The more recently formed Tiger Executive - a coterie group contributing $5000 a head - was well represented.
It is understood that some 80 per cent of the President's Club plans to vote against Casey and he knows it. Rob Slade, a prominent member, turned on the president publicly several months ago.
This is an election campaign, all right, and Casey, while admitting to having been naive in a football sense when he took on the job at the end of 1999, is an astute politician.
He has barely spoken to The Age since this column suggested his time had come following his handling of former chief executive Ian Campbell's disastrous tenure (Casey largely blamed the AFL for recommending him), the projected $2 million-plus loss, the on-field performance, the handling of Danny Frawley and the board instability.
Against that, of course, is that four of the opposing ticket have been there before - although none as president - and that the club does appear to be moving forward in a positive financial direction following yet another external strategic plan put together by the AFL-recommended Crowe-Lovett team.
However, it is known that Casey is still pushing, as he has all year, to unearth a former player for his ticket following the Rex Hunt debacle before final nominations close next week.
Footballers past and present make popular campaign partners, as besieged veteran Essendon director Alec Epis learnt last week when Matthew Lloyd took the extraordinary step of supporting him in the coming board battle at Windy Hill.
As it stands, Casey has lost another director in Motorola boss Alan Niklos, who quit three days ago for business reasons, while Rob Turner, who opposed Frawley's contract extension and has been at odds with Casey at the board table, has been subtly tapped on the shoulder and was last night considering his future.
Clearly, though, names such as Bourke and Clay make formidable opponents and it seems dreadful to imagine great players lining up against each other in the name of boardroom politics. He was not named Saint Francis lightly.
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2004/11/27/1101495457238.html
