Blooming beauty!
Geoff McClure | April 20, 2007
The Age
IT REMAINS one of the classic off-field AFL events of the past decade, from way back in 2001, when Richmond was overrun in a round-nine match by a rampant Geelong, which kicked seven goals to one in the last quarter to win by 42 points. Well, such was the anger from Tiger fans that next day, one of them drove a truck up to Punt Road Oval and dumped about $600 worth of chicken manure at the front door, the supporter saying the players deserved it "because they played like chooks". History will tell us the exercise may well have had the desired effect because after being five wins from nine games at the time, the Tiges went on to win 10 of their remaining 13 home-and-away games and finished the season in third place.
Well, we discover now that the manure did a lot more than improve the Tigers' football. Discussing Richmond's horrendous start to the 2007 season, Frawley revealed yesterday that once the media had left Punt Road on that infamous 2001 day, he got a loan of a shovel from the property steward, filled up several bags with the manure, put them in the boot of his car and later that afternoon re-dumped it on the garden of his Brighton home. "I thought, 'Bugger it, I might as well put it to good use'," Frawley said. "Being from a farm, I knew how good chicken manure was for the garden and that winter was the time to use it, so I put it on my roses and the lawns and come spring, the place was absolutely blooming. I used to walk out of my place in the morning and see how good things were looking and I'd have a chuckle to myself every time."
FRAWLEY certainly got a rude awakening about what it's like to be in the Tiger hot seat. He said: "I remember thinking at the time, 'Gee, if this is how the supporters react after a bad loss, even though we were five and four at the time, imagine what they're like if we're losing more often'." It wasn't all that long before he found out. From third in 2001, the Tigers finished 14th, 13th and 16th — and Frawley was gone shortly after. Ol' Spud, by the way, has sold his Brighton property since then, but as you can see from these photographs, taken when it went on the market a few years after the manure treatment, his garden was still looking an absolute treat!
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/blooming-beauty/2007/04/19/1176697004278.html
