Cool it Tigers, says Rex Hunt
05 December 2004 Sunday Herald Sun
By Jon Ralph
DUAL Richmond premiership player Rex Hunt has pleaded for compromise between the warring Tiger factions, calling on both rival boards to swallow their pride for the good of the club.
Hunt, whose bid to become vice-president of Richmond was rejected on the grounds he was not a voting member, said the two parties should follow the lead of Hawthorn and at least attempt to find common ground.
Hunt this week received a 2005 membership application and tax invoice, which informed him he had been a member of the club since 2003.
Amazed, he sought clarification, but was told his membership had lapsed last year, which only heightened the sense of farce regarding his ineligibility.
"It was as if I was on laughing gas," he said.
"If (Richmond) are saying I was a member in 2003 they actually (enrolled me) because I just assumed by being a past player and Tommy Hafey club member that it would put me into a membership of the club.
"You can argue that a $110 membership has actually cost the Richmond footy club my services as vice-president."
Hunt yesterday said he would return to the club to counsel players and help with sponsorship, but not until the wounds of the current brawl had healed.
"I have no desire to sit on a board or be vice-president if I am going to be fighting with my own," he said.
"However, if Terry (Wallace) or Clinton (Casey) or Charles (Macek) or whoever gets in rings me and says, 'Listen we need to talk to sponsors' or Terry says, 'I need you to talk to a couple of kids' . . . or they want me to host a luncheon . . . if they asked me that I would be only too willing to go down to Punt Rd to act as a mouthpiece to do what I do."
Hunt said he still felt bitter the rival faction had de-railed his bid to join the board, but he was determined not to take sides in the coming election.
"If the opposition cared for the Richmond footy club they would not have burnt someone who was prepared to give a lot of his time and a substantial amount of money to the club he loves," Hunt said.
"I will not return to Punt Rd until the Tigers are a team again, from the smallest supporter to the star player, to the coach and president.
"I am really happy Hawthorn are talking. I would like to see the same thing at Richmond.
"Nothing would make me more happy than to see a non-election year at Richmond and a few people from each side eating a fair bit of humble, for the sake of the club."
Casey's team, which now includes football director Greg Miller, is facing off against an alternate board led by Charles Macek (president), Brendan Schwab (vice-president) and Bryan Wood.
The rebel team has lured past greats including Francis Bourke, Jim Jess and Dick Clay.
Hunt believes the tit-for-tat fighting has become about wielding power, even though both sides have pledged to restore Richmond as an AFL powerhouse.
"My thoughts are not that clear, because the agenda is the same on both sides and that is for the betterment of the club," Hunt said. "There is good and bad on both sides, positive and negative on both sides.
"It would be easy for me to throw mud because I said I would back Clinton, but I am not aligning m
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