Crowd will be there when Tigers and Roos do battleJake Niall
The Age
September 12, 2015In another season of underwhelming crowds, Richmond and North Melbourne will provide a day of atonement, when 80,000-90,000 congregate at the coliseum, in what will be a roaring throwback to the old VFL competition.
Attendances declined by an average of 93 people this year, despite a series of measures and gimmicks designed to win back disaffected fans and a more customer-friendly fixture.
We should acknowledge that there was one fewer game this year, due to the cancellation of Adelaide v Geelong (following Phil Walsh's death), but even if the AFL had just squeaked past last year's figures by dint of that game, the numbers would be virtually the same as 2014. This flatlining in crowds cannot be blamed on Melbourne's harsh winter either.
It did not help that Carlton are appalling, Essendon awful and Collingwood, after a promising Cinderella start, turned into pumpkins on the stroke of (round) 12. It did not help that round 23 was a dead rubber for most clubs.
It did not help that fans have been trained to watch the game live – several per round – on television only. Those billions in TV rights have come at a cost to the gate. This column is among the many who have succumbed to the comfort of the couch – and Fox Footy – for the vast majority of games. The televisual experience of footy has improved more than the live experience, narrowing what was once a grand canyon-like chasm.
Luckily for the competition coffers, the Tigers didn't let the league down. They justified their prime-time fixture and, on Sunday, they will give the season the occasion that it desperately needs.
It will irritate some North folk that there is so much focus on Richmond, and that the Kangaroos, media-wise, are viewed like the Washington Generals versus the Richmond Globetrotters.
Win or lose, there will be more discussion of Richmond than North. Whatever happens, the neutral fan can't lose.
If the Tigers win, he can enjoy the ride on a packed bus. If they lose, there'll be the recriminations surrounding a team that has failed to win a final in three attempts under Damien Hardwick, completing a strike-out.
Actually, if we're honest, those recriminations will largely be outside the club, which will apply the same kind of review, regardless of where they finish. Once upon a time, Tiger defeats of any description might have brought bloodshed. Coaches would be knifed, players sacked or sold. Or the Tigers would buy someone expensive and ill-suited.
Alas, even if their fans remain colourful and a cult of sorts, Richmond 2.0 doesn't react "savagely" to defeat – or victory – like the Tigers of old.
Under Hardwick and chief executive Brendon Gale, the Tigers have succeeded by dint of remaining determinedly dull. They don't take drastic action, unless they've fully investigated the options. The word that best defines this incremental, patient Richmond is "sober". They're seldom flustered. They have now developed a steady pulse.
It is inconceivable that this regime would, after much confusion and discussion, recruit the likes of Ben Cousins, as the club did in 2008, when the club reacted, in part, to the threat of a supporter backlash if they DIDN'T pick up Cousins (what other club's fans would revolt at the notion of not recruiting someone as chequered?).
This incarnation of Richmond ranks as not only least scandal-prone version of the Tigers, but probably the most scandal-deprived club in Victoria. Essendon of the past two years have resembled a David Lynch movie, in terms of strange stuff lurking behind a wholesome suburban facade.
Collingwood have had positive drug tests and suspensions, an alleged "culture" problem, a saga surrounding the Malthouse-Buckley handover, the radical trading of premiership heroes and drama aplenty.
Carlton, meanwhile, can't win games and, consequently, are apt to show coaches and others the door.
The Blues have fallen to the point that far from fearing "becoming another Richmond", the Tigers are a club they should aspire to emulate. St Kilda became a collective noun for footy scandals from 2010-2013.
Richmond are newsworthy in 2015 only on the basis of football issues. Alex Rance's contractual impasse – and the possibility, however likely, that he might walk away – was one of the few spot fires for the Tigers.
Dustin Martin has caused small amounts of grief in seasons past, but he's hardly registered on footy's scandal-scale.
If Martin has been fortunate to avoid greater scrutiny, the Tigers have also learned to manage him more expertly.
Jake King's friendship with a notorious bikie leader is about the most scandalous thing to have happened at Tigerland in the past couple of years.
Richmond insiders relish their club's lack of drama. "We don't mind being boring," said one official, who pointed out that while the MCC was predicting a crowd of 88,000 for the North final, there were precious few watching training at Punt Road on Saturday. In 2013, when the Tigers reached the finals, there was far more anxiety and trepidation within the walls. This year, the club says there's been a quiet, business-like resolve.
Nothing succeeds like a lack of excess. While the Tigers have been exceptional in connecting with their fans, and in selling the idea of gradual improvement, there's a strange disconnect between fans and club in terms of temperament.
Yet, for all their progress, Tiger people remain fearful of defeat, in the knowledge that they should beat the Kangas this time. The only scandal, as one veteran of Tiger traumas said, "will be if we get beaten".
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