Prime-time slot excites Tigers bossHerald-Sun
29 May 2016TIGERS boss and proud Tasmanian Brendon Gale knows as well as anyone the significance of this week’s historic clash against North Melbourne at Blundstone Arena.
The state’s first game in the much-sought-after Friday night slot will attract up to 1.3 million TV viewers nationally.
“It is the marquee slot in the AFL fixture,” Gale said.
“It is just great to play on a Friday night. Players get the weekend to rest and recover but, most importantly, it is an opportunity to showcase your club, your players and your corporate partners.
“But it is also an opportunity to showcase your city and your venue. I’m sure Channel 7 and the programming around the match be profiling Tasmania and Hobart and the attractions. It is a real event.
“Being a Tasmanian, I’m proud to be involved and I see the opportunities for the state. It is not just Hobart, it is the whole state.”
Gale, a lawyer and former AFL footballer originally from Burnie, is the chief executive of the tide of emotion that is the Richmond Football Club.
In a game built on passion, Tigers fans leave others for dead, switching between despair and pure adulation from one week to the next.
Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale.
Gale, a veteran of 244 games for the club and chief executive since 2009, has seen it all before, but that does not make it any easier.
“It is almost not a roller-coaster, it’s like Groundhog Day. It is becoming a very repetitive pattern unfortunately,” Gale said of the Tigers’ slow start to the season.
“It is like any business or any organisation – when you are short of expectation, it is pretty tough and people ask questions ... vigorously.”
Gale, 47, has led the Tigers to a period of off-field stability. Despite a lack of real on-field success, coach Damien Hardwick is the third longest serving at Richmond and the club had record memberships and crowds last season.
Gale was formerly an AFL Tasmania board member and still receives regular reports from Richmond recruiters on the state of play and the talent coming through.
He is fully across the trials and tribulations facing Tasmania’s talented junior footballers as they compete against well-resourced kids from NSW and Queensland for draft spots.
“The thing I worry about as an outsider is that compared to other states we [the AFL] don’t invest enough in Tasmania,” Gale said. “I’d like to see more thought and more investment into our elite pathways.
“It would seem in the northern states where there is that investment and thought, they are more productive. The most recent carnival would illustrate that [won by NSW with Tasmania finishing last].
“Tassie football, particularly at the junior level, has had one hand tied behind its back. It really punches above its weight.”
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/our-primetime-slot-at-blundstone-arena-excites-tigers-boss-brendon-gale/news-story/5e6ef6f12bd39d1a126b9942694f4c3c
