Why people love the TigersMartin Flanagan
The Age
September 12, 2015Richmond have character. Normally when you say someone's got character in AFL footy, it's a credit to their manly virtues, but you can have that sort of character and still be boring. The Tigers are rarely boring. They have the sort character that makes you want to keep watching.
Over the past 30-odd years, the Tigers have combined expectations that have built to tsunami levels with acute anti-climaxes – such as last year's elimination final when captain Trent Cotchin chose to kick against the wind in that howling pit of football enmity that is Adelaide Oval. I was with a couple of AFL players when we heard the news. They couldn't believe it. They were shocked, then amused. It could only happen to the Tigers, we said.
The Tigers have drawn more people through the gate this year than any other AFL club, just pipping Collingwood for the honour. They've had 15 wins this season, but winning alone doesn't explain the Tigers' appeal. Ask people at Richmond why their club is different and the first thing they say is: "Because we never left!" Richmond never left their home ground, the Punt Road Oval. They never left Richmond; they've been part of the suburb since 1885.
The Tigers stopped playing roster matches at Punt Road in 1964, transferring their home games to the MCG in what has to be one of the smartest football decisions of all time. Richmond's base was still its old home ground, and, with the passage of time, that decision looks smarter and smarter.
Meanwhile, Melbourne's home-ground advantage at the MCG, and the premierships that came with it, was about to end. Richmond's period of dominance would begin two years later with the 1967 premiership, the first of five in 13 years. A lot of the current Tigers culture comes from that buccaneering era when the Tigers were a law unto themselves on and off the field. Their motto was "Eat 'Em Alive", and they did. They were frighteningly good.
What followed the fifth of those premierships, in 1980, was like a sporting tragi-comedy. Having had several decades of ruthless efficiency, they now had several decades of ruthless inefficiency. If Shakespeare had written Julius Caesar about a Richmond coach, it would never have got to the third act. He'd be gone after half a dozen scenes. The club weakened, and nearly went broke.
Then Richo came along. Through his father, 1967 premiership player Alan "Bull" Richardson, Richo harked back to the old Richmond warrior tradition. But he was also emblematic of where the club found itself. Richo, like a Richmond, was a paradox - he wasn't a great player but he was. He was the faulty champion of a faulty but great club.
In 2009, Benny Gale returned as chief executive. Smart guy, Benny – he sees the world outside football and he sees a long way. He has a couple of degrees, speaks Indonesian. He played 244 games with Richmond and anyone who saw Bennie Gale play knows he was honest and reliable. I see him as the key to where Richmond stands today.
In 2013, the Tigers acquired the AFL's first woman president, Peggy O'Neill. Peggy wasn't born to the game, having grown up in Virginia, USA. What does Peggy bring to the club, I asked an insider. "Calm," he said. The Tigers need calm.
A lot of the craziness in the past came from hasty decisions. What is remarkable about the past five years is how Richmond have stood behind their coach when the team's fortunes have dipped into what looked like terminal recessions. There was never a hint that Dimma was going to get the quick heave-ho. That rectitude was unprecedented for the Tigers and, as the petty politics receded, it became clear that the club stood for something.
I'm going to quote my younger daughter on the Tigers' appeal simply because she's the biggest Richmond supporter I know. She says she found in Richmond "a club whose politics matched my own. It's an inclusive club, a battler's club". The Tigers were to the fore in responding to the Adam Goodes booing crisis.
My daughter worked for the past five years in a school in the western suburbs with a responsibility for student welfare. She loves Dusty Martin, the proud young warrior with his Mum's name tattooed on his throat. "He's a young man having a crack, sometimes getting it wrong, but being allowed redemption. Dusty wouldn't make it at every other club."
My daughter describes Richmond "as a club with character and a lot of characters". With his jerky, rhythmic run, Ivan Maric approaches ruck duels like a Morris dancer . He has made the mullet magnificently his own and he's great mates with Bachar Houli. A connection of my daughter's who went to a Richmond family day said "Ivan and Bachar were the best with the kids".
Then there's Jack. No other name is required. Everyone knows who I mean. Jack's got temperament issues, he can get lost in his passion for the yellow and black and the fans love him for it. There's Brett Deledio hovering like a dragonfly on the half-forward line and Alex Rance, who herds forward lines before him like a barman herding drinkers before him at closing time…
I don't believe the Tigers will crash on Sunday. They're a better team than they were a year ago. They're more composed. Their best players have all improved and their bottom six are stronger than they've been in years. They go into a final series knowing they've beaten three of the four sides above them and the Tiger Army, despite their many terrible defeats over the years, believes that anything is possible. Just wait for the roar.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-finals-2015-why-people-love-the-tigers-20150910-gjjh5o.html
