Football > Memorable Moments

Memorable moments #6: 80's Trade Wars: Part 1 - Three champions walk

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one-eyed:
The early-mid 1980s was an environment of trying to buy your way to a flag. Esculating transfer fees and player salaries, writs against clubs and player poaching both from interstate and other VFL clubs were all part of the norm. Most VFL clubs were spending money they just didn't have. At the end of 1982 alone 7 players issued writs against their own club in order to force a clearance. Out of interest one was by Grant Thomas against St Kilda  ;).

At Richmond in 1982, a disquiet was brewing among certain senior Tigers who were non-plus over new coach Francis Bourke's strict style and the fact teammates brought (and bought) in from interstate were on more dollars than they were. 19 wins from 23 games kept things in check as another flag looked on the cards but 1982 grand final loss brought with it a implosion that rocked the Club and a lust for revenge that would almost put the RFC out of existence.

At the end of the 1982 season, the Tigers gained David Palm from WA in the then interstate draft, Brian Taylor upset about being left out of the Grand Final threatened to walk but eventually stayed on a lucrative 2-year contract and the late Terry Smith went to St Kilda in a swap. It was then that all hell broke loose!

one-eyed:
Cloke - "Treated like a School kid"

TIGER CLOKE WALKS OUT

By Michael Horan
The Sun
Saturday, December 4, 1982

RICHMOND captain David Cloke yesterday resigned from the club.

Cloke, 27, telephoned Richmond yesterday afternoon to inform them of his decision.

"I had a meeting with them yesterday (Thursday) to discuss the situation,"  Cloke said last night.

"But after talks, and thinking about it over night, I've decided to resign.

CIoke said his decision was personal and not for financial reasons.

"l had a few differences of opinion with the coach on my playing arrangements. We couldn't agree on how I should play," he said.

"I've been at Richmond since 1973 and for eight years I really enjoyed pIaying.

"This year I didn't enjoy it at all, that's why I'm going.

Richmond officials were unavailable for comment last night.

Cloke said he toId Richmond he feIt he was treated "like a schooI kid instead of an adult."

"I wasn't aIIowed to play my natural game of football. I want to play with a team which will let me play naturally at centre half-forward."

It was well known last season that Cloke was unhappy with how Francis Bourke expected him to play the position.

CIoke was centre half-forward for Victoria in its two interstate clashes SA and WA last season.

The burly centre half-forward, who played 176 games with the Tigers, said he had not decided which club he wanted to join.

"I'll probably make a decision next week. When I've made up my mind I'll go down to VFL house and pick up some cIearance papers.

"That's, of course, if the club I want to go to wants me."

Clokes name has been linked with MeIbourne.

But with Footscray's Kelvin Templeton, aIso a centre haIf-forward, taking Supreme Court action in a bid to join the Demons, he is unlikely to be interested.

Collingwood captain Peter Moore also has issued a writ in a bid to join the Demons.

Cloke said he didn't know how Richmond would view his clearance application, but said he wouId go to court if necessary.

one-eyed:
Cats Lead Cloke race

By Michael Horan
The Sun
Wednesday, December 8, 1982

RICHMOND yesterday gave Geelong permission to interview its disgruntled captain David Cloke.

The Cats spoke to Cloke yesterday afternoon and more meetings will be held before he decides whether to play at Kardinia Park.

He has already indicated that he has a high regard for his old coach Tom Hafey, who will be in charge of the Cats next season.

Richmond has indicated that it is not interested in money for Cloke's clearance. The Tigers want either a player or players.

Richmond yesterday refused permission for at least four other VFL clubs to speak to Cloke.

Tigers general manager Kevin Dixon would not name the clubs last night, but it is believed they are Collingwood, Essendon, St. Kilda and Melbourne.

And other teams are expected to show interest in the services of the robust centre half-forward following his resignation from Punt Rd, last Friday.

Mr Dixon said a meeting between Cloke and the Richmond hierarchy was planned for tomorrow afternoon.

"We're still hopeful it may be resolved, but it doesn't look good," Dixon said.

The gulf  between Cloke and the Tigers widened when club president Ian Wilson yesterday criticised Cloke's attack on coach Francis Bourke.

Mr Wilson said that "in view of his outburst" Richmond would look at offers from other clubs if it could gain a player, or players, of adequate replacement value.

Mr Wilson criticised Cloke for not fitting in with the team's style of play, his public criticism of Bourke and his demands for a 200 percent pay increase.

He said Cloke had sought $65,000 for the 1983 season as part of a new contract which would guarantee him more than $200,000 for three years.

He is believe to have been on $22-25,000 this year.

Cloke's criticism of Bourke is apparently based on the coach's instruction to him to avoid congestion near goal and not to drift down the ground to contest marks in the goal square.

Cloke is 27, and has played 176 games in nine seasons at Richmond.

one-eyed:
Tigers play it tough!

By Peter Simunovich
The Sun
Thursday, December 9, 1982.

RICHMOND has started its own investigation into the alleged poaching of some of its top players.

Tigers' general manager Kevin Dixon said yesterday that if Richmond found evidence that another club approached a player without permission it would lodge an official complaint with the VFL.

Mr Dixon said the club believed most of its senior list have been approached by clubs since last season's grand final.

But it is obvious that the Tigers are aiming their investigations primarily at captain David Cloke, Geoff Raines and Bryan Wood.

Geelong has been given permission to interview Cloke, who has admitted he had a strained relationship with coach Francis Bourke this season, while Raines wants a new contract.

And Wood's three-year agreement has expired and he is renegotiating with the Tigers. He has been at the club for the past 11 years and was captain in 1981.

Several Richmond senior players are not happy because they are not getting the same money as several interstate recruits.

And this is causing the Richmond administration problems.   

Raines, 26, has won we club's best and fairest award three times.

If an amicable arrangement is not reached, the talented centreman might be forced into switching clubs.

Mr Dixon said: "We've made an offer, which is realistic and it will take him to the end of 1985."

He said Raines was under contract to Richmond until the end of next year and Cloke was tied to the club until January.

one-eyed:
Tiger Bourke on the attack . . .

" ... I had the club at heart"

By Lou Richards and Peter Simunovich
The Sun
Wednesday, December 15, 1982

FRANCIS BOURKE knows that Richmond coaches are never there long enough to collect superannuation and long service leave ...

Unless there is instant success!

Despite the threat of the chopper hanging over his head, Bourke attacked his job in the first year the same way he played his 302 games - honestly.

Maybe St. Francis was too honest and upset a few players when he insisted they play the game he wanted.

The one least expected to buck Bourke was captain David Cloke, who is big and strong enough to go to the top of the class in just about anything in football.

Yet Cloke claimed that Bourke sometimes treated him like a schoolboy, and now he wants to go elsewhere like GeeIong, Essendon, Collingwood, North Melbourne, the Swans ... etc.

Fair dinkum, Bourke must have felt like giving his captain 2000 lines - "I must obey the coach."

But, typically, Bourke said: "David has said enough about it all, I wouldn't like to add to it.

People can make up their own minds.

"I don't want to see good pIayers like him go but l believe in Richmond and what the club is all about.

"I'm not saying I was always right, but whatever I said and did I had the club at heart.

"If we had won the premiership this may not have happened, but this is one of the prices you have to pay when you lose.

"The coach lays down the law for all players to adhere to. If that's treating someone like a schoolboy ... then I don't know."

There's no doubt Cloke is finished at Richmond. But has Bourke, like other coaches, ruffled any other Tigers?

"We're all human, sometimes people can take things too personally," he said.

"I thought my criticism was positive. People have to expect criticism the same way as compliments.

"I don't think I was personal. I was always talking about on-field incidents and moves."

That's fair enough. A coach has to be tough if the club wants to succeed.

Perhaps that's what is wrong with some players today - they want to travel first class all the time.

Nobody could ever accuse Bourke of travelling this way when he spilled blood for Richmond.

Maybe he was expecting too much from the boys in yellow and black.

"I don't think I did, all I ever expected was the right attitude, determination and dedication," he said.

"I don't see any reason why Richmond shouldn't be the most dedicated and determined team in the VFL."

But a Francis Bourke comes along once in a football lifetime.

He never joined the queue outside the pay office at Punt Rd, never gave his coaches headaches or was a problem for the administration.

"When I played I was satisfied with what the club could afford. It didn't matter to me if someone was getting more than I was."

That's more than I can say for Geoff Raines.

"Geoff had another year of a three-year contract and I hope he sticks by his word and honors it," Bourke said.

That's one thing St. Francis always does.

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