This is a post I commenced in response to another thread, but maybe it has more relevance over here at the moment.
What has taken place in recent times has had me more than a little concerned. All the staff cuts and then the gate receipts thing with Collingwood smack of a Club operating under duress and seem like unbelievable decisions, whatever the reason for them was. So, maybe some people are being asked to do more than they can cope with or are suited to doing.
I’ll always support any decision that is in the best interests of RFC. At the same time, when things are not as they should be then people have the right to ask why not and question the motives for certain decisions. We can pick holes in every single decision made and maybe determine if someone lasts in their role but, ultimately, decision-makers pre-determine their own fate by the decisions they make. So, from that perspective, it matters little whether we choose to support or criticise the Club.
It’s understandable that everyone wants to criticise at this point in time, because there’s lots to be critical of and those responsible only have themselves to blame for the situation our Club is in; whatever that is.
It’s just a pity that none of them can stand back from the whole situation and see what’s really happening and how much damage is being done to what’s left of our reputation.
Many lament the fact that we have so few football/Richmond people involved at the Club. People who neither understand nor appreciate RFC or the AFL and the unique nature of their existence have probably had a rude awakening to the way AFL Clubs operate. This competition and the Clubs in it have a culture that is perhaps different to anything elsewhere in the world. For those who want to come in and think that it’s just like any other business, I guess they get to find out the hard way that it’s unlike anything they have experienced before.
The PR job required by RFC to regain the faith of not just its supporters, but also the footy community, is a massive one. We desperately need people that we, the supporters, respect who can make sense of and put order to what is going on.
We’re all tired of the feeble attempts made by the Club to explain away our situation, whether it be on or off the field. I can accept that it takes time for systems put into place to take effect. And I can even accept that there are changes that can only occur when it is appropriate for them to happen. But I can neither accept nor excuse some of the decisions that have been made in recent times, which give the impression that our Club is being allowed to fall further and further into the mire and makes it appear as though we are under pressure, as evidenced by some of the irrational decisions made in recent times that have long-term repercussions for the Club.
What is unclear is whether people are protecting their own positions, or are merely holding the fort until the time is right for change to occur. Maybe a bit of both. Let’s at least spare a thought for those who are fighting a seemingly lost battle to maintain the day to day operation of the Club until changes can take place.
Things can’t go on like this indefinitely. But if the timing is not yet right for significant changes to occur, then it’s up to us supporters to hold things together in the interim and never lose faith in the ability of our footy Club to come out of this. All is lost only if we lose hope that we can ever turn things around.
