Big tick for Richmond over Jake King's bikie friend Toby Mitchell Martin Flanagan
The Age
February 1, 2014 King and Richmond fans know parameters.Jake King has given Richmond a lot. The Tigers have character and he's one of the reasons why.
Chest out, eyes ablaze, he patrols the forward line like a small armoured vehicle. He's fearless and he burns with a deep passion. He's a little man who makes bigger men think twice. Looking down from footy Valhalla, I have no doubt Richmond legend Jack Dyer would approve of the way Jake King plays the game
He's got skills, too. Last year, I thought he kicked a number of goals that in previous seasons he would have missed because of their degree of difficulty. Indeed, last season he produced a fine edge to his play and that is something else about him as a player - he's getting better. In 2013, he went from being a player who made up the numbers to one who was central to the chemistry of a winning Richmond team. If you were a Tiger fan or a club administrator, you wouldn't want to lose him.
King has refused to sever his association with former notorious Bandidos motorbike club member Toby Mitchell. Having some knowledge of how King is regarded by his teammates and by others within the Richmond club, my impression is that the player strongly believes he's doing nothing wrong. Indeed, I imagine that, by King's code, the wrong thing to do would be to walk away from a friend just because he's a media target.
As one of King's teammates once remarked of him, "He doesn't take a lot of things as seriously as other people - but when he does, he takes them more seriously than other people do." In the dying stages of Terry Wallace's tenure as coach of Richmond, with the soap opera being played daily in the media as if little else in the world mattered, King was seriously upset by a story which alleged - incorrectly - that he had fronted Wallace along with captain Chris Newman and requested Wallace resign. I'd say Jake King has strong doubts about the media.
He may believe the bad publicity about outlaw bikie groups is a beat-up by the media and certain politicians. But there is a lot of evidence to the contrary. Richmond CEO Brendon Gale said this week that he had discussed with King the contents of the Australian Crime Commission report which sounded the alarm about links between organised crime, bikie gangs and professional sport.
Richmond and King have clearly come to an agreement. They're not going to tell him who he can socialise with, but he has been warned. Gale was quoted in this newspaper as saying, "So far as who Jake mixes with in his own time and his own private capacity, that's up to him and that's the choices he makes provided he acts in a lawful way, and doesn't involve other players."
Referring to the incident last year, when King took Toby Mitchell into the Richmond rooms, Gale said, "We prefer he would not come to our rooms and [it] was made very clear to him that will not happen again. We have a duty to provide a safe workplace for all of our staff and stakeholders." The last sentence is an oblique reference to the fact that Mitchell has survived two murder attempts.
Having an AFL player being seen in public with a figure like Mitchell is not a good "look" for the club, or the AFL. Nonetheless, I believe Brendon Gale's statement is an example of sound footy management. Signing up for a career in the AFL is not the same as entering North Korea. You don't forfeit all rights and liberties.
Last year, Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon asked a pertinent question: ''What is my right to play moral policeman about what they [AFL players] do, in the sanctuary of their home, in the off-season? There is no moral right." As he pointed out, the only right which exists - he was speaking in relation to the AFL's drug policy - is the contractual one arising from the AFL player contract. He also admitted that the impetus for the AFL and its clubs to control their players' private lives to this extent came from the need to keep sponsors happy.
The threat posed by outlaw bikie gangs to Australia is a much more serious matter than a few players' activities in their downtime. Jake King has made a stand but each time he is seen with Mitchell the issue will flare. As for Richmond supporters, they've been warned too. Here, in clear and simple language, are the terms upon which one of their favourite players stays at the club.
Football clubs are not an extension of polite society, however much they are pressured to become so. They take young men from all manner of social backgrounds - as they should. To do otherwise further reduces an already diminishing talent pool. It also detracts from the claim of the game to be truly and wholly Australian.
Privileged people often forget how privileged they are and if AFL clubs take young men from all backgrounds, then it follows that there is inevitably going to be trouble now and then. When that happens, it is best dealt with, as in this case, in a calm and sober manner.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/big-tick-for-richmond-over-jake-kings-bikie-friend-toby-mitchell-20140131-31sjn.html
