Tiger tragic who dumped chook poo outside Punt Road speaks 16 years laterTom Cowie
The Age
30 September 2017If you had to pick one moment that typifies what it means to be a rabid Richmond fan, everyone knows what it would be.
One Monday, back in May 2001, a truck reverses towards the front steps of Punt Road Oval after a tough loss to Geelong. The tray lifts up and releases its payload: five tonnes of chicken manure.
The man responsible for the unique display of frustration, a painter known as "Gecko", didn't know it at the time but his dirty deed would go down in footy folklore.
Right up there with the jibes rival supporters throw at Tiger fans about microwaved membership cards and sacked coaches, sits the load of chook poo dumped outside the training base.
Gecko, whose real name is George Kokkios, says the decision to make his feelings felt in such a pungent way came about after a bet with a Geelong supporter friend.
The Tigers had just lost their third game in a row to the Cats by 42 points, after giving up six goals to one in the last quarter. The loss was a tough one to swallow, coaching at the time was Danny Frawley.
"I said 'you know what, they played like chicken poo. I'm going to dump a load of it on 'em," Gecko tells Fairfax Media.
"We rang around and everybody was basically telling us we were dreaming and they would never do it. We finally coaxed someone into it, on the proposal that we pay him $1000 and he keeps the manure."
Once they had their dealer in dung, Gecko and a few mates went down to Punt Road Oval on Monday morning to make sure they came through with the goods.
"We didn't think it would happen, but then at about quarter to eight, we start to hear this 'beep, beep, beep'," the 47-year-old says.
The truck had arrived, and so had a bunch of TV and newspaper cameras ready to capture the moment for eternity.
"It got to the front door and the driver said 'where do you want it?' I said 'mate, right here'. He goes 'what do you mean right here?' I said 'right here, dump it'.
"And he lifted it and it came down and it was a mountain of poo."
Walking past at the time were a bunch of Richmond players heading to their Monday meeting, says Gecko.
"They were in tears laughing. Richo was one of them, he looked at it and goes 'mate that's f---ing amazing'," he says.
While the message wasn't subtle, it appeared to have some kind of effect on the players. They won their next four on the bounce and ultimately made a preliminary final, losing to the premiers Brisbane.
That was their best result before this year.
It wouldn't surprise you to hear it but Gecko is a lifelong Tiger tragic. He was born in Richmond, grew up there and still lives barely a few streets away from Punt Road.
He has no regrets about what he did on that day. He says it's something that sits in the back of mind of every Richmond supporter. "Every time we lose it comes up," he says.
At the moment, like most Tiger fans, Gecko doesn't have a ticket to the big one and is still hoping someone can help him out.
"I think it's going to be very, very close, I think the Tigers will just win it. But it's going to be brutal," he says.
And what about if they lose, will another truck be dispatched to Punt Road with a load of manure?
"I've had that posed to me maybe 100 times, the answer is no; I'm just proud of them," he says.
"No, I won't be doing anything like that. There won't be any poo."
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/richmond-tigers/tiger-tragic-who-dumped-chook-poo-outside-punt-road-speaks-16-years-later-20170929-gyrjn2.html
