The Hafey Years - Reliving The Golden Era Of Tigerland [new book]

[one-eyed]

Saw this posted by EJC on Y&B and thought OERites would be interested also. A new book by this guy reliving Richmond during the Hafey years  .

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In association with the Richmond Football Club, Past Players' Association and RFC historians, with the full participation of those who were there, comes the remarkable story of the Hafey era at Tigerland...

HAFEY SHEEDY BOURKE PARKIN BALME STEWART WALLS BARROT CROWE KEKOVICH PITURA RICHARDSON DEAN MCKAY GUINANE GREEN CLAY and a host of other former players, coaches and officials tell their stories in:

The Hafey Years - reliving the golden era of Tigerland

Foreword by Tim Lane

408 pages + photo sections + stats + testimonies

Published July 2011

Extract:

Sheedy also came to prominence before the ’67 season. GR had initially chatted with him before he made Prahran’s senior side, suggesting he come to Richmond further down the track. But the Sheedy household was in Melbourne’s area; he played some practice matches with the Demons and thought he performed reasonably well but Melbourne was beset with riches at the time – its slump would come later – and the youngster was rejected.

Hafey and committeeman Ron Carson came calling before the 1966 season commenced but Sheedy opted to play another year of senior footy with Prahran and rightly so; he was doing well in a talented and tough team and the Two Blues took out the VFA flag that season. Over the summer, however, Sheedy set his mind on becoming a League player.

There were two major complications: one, a dicky knee, and two, the threat of a five-year suspension from the VFA if he crossed to Richmond without a clearance. The latter would give Sheedy considerable grief but it was

Prahran duly gave Sheedy a clearance but the VFA refused to endorse the action and carried out its threat of punitive action. He was immediately banned from that competition.

GR was downcast as he addressed the press on the issue: “I am afraid [Prahran’s approval] is only a token gesture. All clearances to League clubs have to go to a special sub-committee of the VFA, and it doesn’t look as if Sheedy will have a chance of a transfer. His chance of playing in the League may depend on what the VFL is prepared to do to put an end to the affronts being offered by the VFA.”

Furthermore, plenty of his former VFA peers doubted Sheedy would be able to cut it in the VFL and once he arrived at Punt Road a number of senior players formed the same view. To add fuel to the fire, the Tigers opted to play him in the centre – Barrot’s stomping ground – in practice matches to determine if he would be good enough. It was not a match made in heaven.

I was disqualified for five years by the VFA,’ said Sheedy. ‘To get a regular place at Richmond, I had to let everybody know that they were going down for me to come in. I didn’t care who it was, whether it was the captain, vice-captains, best players … they did not realise what was about to happen. I had a five-year suspension on my shoulders and I could not play anywhere else in Australia, so that’s how desperate I was to make it at Richmond.

‘Graeme and others had a word in my ear about what it might take … but whether you’re prepared to do it is another thing. It all started in the practice matches; they wanted to sort me out. I was like, “Good luck,” and then “Whack.”’

‘In the very first practice match Sheeds let it be known it was either him or me,’ recalled Rex Hunt, ‘and so you’ve got Billy Barrot, the proclaimed king of the centre at Richmond, up against the former paper-seller from Prahran, and it was on from the very first bounce. It was a full-on, absolute bloody slanging match.’

http://www.yellowandblack.info/community/topic/17895-the-hafey-years-reliving-the-golden-era-of-tigerland/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+yandb+%28Yellow+and+Black%29&utm_content=Twitter

[one-eyed]

The Hafey Years
richmondfc.com.au
Tue 12 Jul, 2011


On the cusp of the 80th birthday milestone of Richmond ‘Immortal’, Tommy Hafey, comes the release of a superbly detailed book about the golden Hafey era at Tigerland.

Some of the AFL’s most influential figures have contributed to the telling of this remarkable tale - the likes of Kevin Sheedy, Neil Balme, David Parkin, Ray Jordon and Robert Walls.

Get your copy of The Hafey Years from the Tigerland Superstore.

Furthermore, genuine Richmond champions, such as Francis Bourke, Ian Stewart, Dick Clay, Roger Dean, Michael Green and Bill Barrot, provide tremendous insight into Tigerland in the 1960s and 1970s. The candid thoughts of Brian ‘The Whale’ Roberts, John Pitura, Robbie McGhie, Paddy Guinane, along with host of others, are also revealed.

The book does not merely focus on stories from the confines of the playing arena.  Maniacally driven by leading administrators Graeme Richmond and Ian Wilson, the Tigers earned a reputation for being even tougher off the ground. Some of the material unearthed in The Hafey Years about GR, for example, has astonished Club historians and will enthrall readers.

Behind it all, of course, was the modest and unassuming figure of Tommy Hafey.  No name is more synonymous with the Yellow and Black glory years.  Throughout Richmond’s proud 126-year history, Hafey oversaw its most dominant period - coaching the Club to four premierships in a stunning eight-season period that, to this day, represents the Tigers’ high-water mark.

It was not so much the winning of those 1967, ’69, ’73 & ’74 premierships, but how they were won: Richmond became the most ruthless, feared and controversial football club of a generation.

The result was success that few clubs have tasted before or since, and a legion of names and personalities who still reverberate in Tigerland legend today.

Exhaustively researched, author and long-time Richmond devotee, Elliot Cartledge, has captured every pivotal, acrimonious and amusing moment of this time.

He chronicles the Tigers’ battling post-war years, Hafey’s arrival in 1966 as an untried League coach from Shepparton, the rise of a mighty team, bruising off-field power struggles, on-field stoushes, and Hafey’s contentious departure after the 1976 season and what followed thereafter.

Discover what really happened during the infamous ‘Battle of Windy Hill’, how Hafey was the meat in the sandwich between GR and Ray Dunn, the real story behind the Pitura swap and, most revealingly, a blow-by-blow account of the events that led to Hafey leaving Richmond.

This is a ‘no-holds-barred’ examination of the most successful and fascinating era in Tigerland history.

Sample quotes:

“They made you hate losing at Richmond - Graeme Richmond, Tommy and Alan Schwab and the committee.”
- Kevin Sheedy

“We walked in and Graeme said, ‘Righto, this is our offer’, and threw the bag down. Money spilled all over the place.”
— Les Flintoff, Richmond committeeman and recruiter

“From that point on, there were Carlton players who were not prepared to speak to Richmond people. Ever.”
- Robert Walls

“It’s a pretty difficult way to play if you think your survival at that level depends on you being a hitman.”
- Tony Jewell

“I just dived in there, head first, and ‘Sheeds’ has just smashed me . . . And I reckon it was either GR or Tommy who put him up to it to test me out.”
- Bruce Monteath

“It was about going to play for the right club. I chose Richmond because of Graeme Richmond.”
- John Pitura

“Put your mouthguard in and enjoy the read.”
- from The Hafey Years foreword, by respected football commentator Tim Lane


The Hafey Years
RRP: $39.95 Hardback, 400pgs + 16pg colour illustrated sections + statistical analysis + coaching notes
Author Elliot Cartledge, Published by Weston Media and Communications, 2011.

Available on-line at the Tigerland Superstore (Please note: stock will arrive in store week, ending July 24. Price excludes $10 postal fee per book).

http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/6301/newsid/118387/default.aspx

[one-eyed]

Tommy just has a few books to sign  ....




http://yfrog.com/kkouk4j ....  (pic courtesy of RFC twitter)

[Darth Tiger]

Sign 'em ???? - I thought he practiced ripping 'em in half before he did his 800 sit-ups!!

[one-eyed]

Ballarat author writes Tom Hafey book
BY GAV MCGRATH
02 Sep, 2011 09:37 PM

IN a footy sense, Richmond means far more than just a small inner suburb on the eastern fringe of the Melbourne CBD.

Tiger tragics are everywhere. For a club that has been the worst performed in the past 25 years, it is remarkable how many Richmond supporters there are across the breadth of the country.

Many of those Richmond fans became rusted on during or just after the golden era at Punt Road, when “tee-shirt” Tom Hafey was coach and the Tigers were a colossus of the competition.

Ballarat writer Elliot Cartledge was one of them.

For two years, Cartledge has researched the Tom Hafey era at Richmond, culminating in the publication of a 400-page book The Hafey Years - Reliving a golden era at Tigerland this year.

The 40-year-old writer, who has had stints in Mexico, Argentina and England before shifting to Soldiers Hill two years ago, lived in Richmond once but that, he says, was in the dim dark past. His passion for the Tigers transcends that. “The Richmond Football Club is an identity, a passion and a tradition. It is something you lose yourself in,” he explains.

“I attended my first game in 1979. Tom Hafey was no longer the coach but his mark was on that side. A dozen players – Francis Bourke, Kevin Sheedy, Bryan Wood, Kevin Bartlett and others – they were still Hafey disciples.”

Cartledge has written predominantly on sport and music, both locally and overseas: soccer in Latin America, cricket in England.

The Hafey Years was a chance document a period of success for his chosen club that predates the current era of failure.

“It was a labour of love and a joy to research. In that sense it was easy to write,” Cartledge says.

“The research took two years but the writing took just four weeks.

“The most enjoyable aspect was documenting the exploits of not just the most famous names, like Hafey, (Kevin) Sheedy, (Neil) Balme, Ian Stewart, but also gathering the thoughts of those who have never been asked before.” Hafey has resisted all offers of a biography for 30 years. Cartledge guesses the 80-year-old supported the project because The Hafey Years is not a biography but a chronicle of an era.

“I’m not alone in finding Tommy an inspiration,” he says. “He has endeared himself to a generation of supporters and inspired loyalty and love from some of the most famous names to ever play our wonderful game.”

Cartledge gained first hand experience of that yesterday at a joint book signing session at Southland in Cheltenham.

“There was a queue half a mile long,” he says. “They were far more interested in getting Tommy’s signature than mine, of course. Everyone wanted to get a glimpse and have a chat with him. He has such a wonderful manner with dealing with people that the signing was a delight.”

* The Hafey Years - Reliving a Golden Era at Tigerland by Elliot Cartledge is available at bookshops for $39.95.

http://www.thecourier.com.au/news/local/sport/football-australian-rules/ballarat-author-writes-tom-hafey-book/2279480.aspx?storypage=0

[RJS004]

Hey all,  just to let you know that the Carnegie Cricket Club which is home to author of The Hafey Years in Elliot Cartledge is hosting it's Past Players Day this Saturay night with guest speaker Tom Hafey ..  Elliot will be there doing a Q&A with Tommy about his book and life and then we will be auctioing off a signed Matty Richardson jumper so if you want to come along then jump on the Mercantile Cricket Association Website to find the details or the Carnegie Cricket Club Website.  $30 gets you a feed and hopefully a great night..

[Smokey]

Got the book for Christmas and was a fantastic read.  Brought back a lot of memories, filled in a hell of a lot of gaps, and went a long way to explaining the enigma that our club has become over the past 30 years.  I would recommend it to you all.