Richo [merged]

[Tigermonk]

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

 

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS 

[julzqld]

Shut up Monk

[TigerLand]

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

 

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS 

Monk show a bit of class.

Will never be the same without Richo. But change opens up windows of oppurtunity we can only hope someone crawls through it with half as much passion Richo had and I'd be happy.

All the best Matthew and hope your still around the club for a long time.

Richo Richo Man I wanna be a Richo Man!!

[Go Richo 12]

A friend of mine, in his mid 40's and a mad keen Tiger fan, had an operation on his shoulder after it kept on dislocating. He played 400 senior games in the country and countless reserves games afterward till he was about 42. The operation went badly and the shoulder got infected. He nearly died and his arm is lucky to be still attached. He spent months in hospital. Richo got wind of it through one of the assistant coaches who has a mutual friend. Even though Richo does not know the man, he went down to the hospital to visit but unfortunately my friend was having another operation at the time. Richo left a signed jumper hanging over his bed for when he woke up. This was not a publicity stunt for a childrens hospital but an aact that he would never get publicity for and one he certainly did not have to do. Well Done Richo!!!

You have a bright light through many years of darkness and i'll certainly miss you!
Your critics on this forum have probably never played or quit when the bodies they played against became more mature through fear of being hurt. Not only did  you get hurt but you played hurt and still gave 100%

[Tigermonk]

l am showing class Popelord  l said he would not play again but was told by the forum knobs l was wrong,
seroiusly if anyone thought Richo could have played on after that serious injury at his age &  in todays modern game  another pre season would have done more serious damage to his health & caused more problems later in life. Most of these champions have many operations to correct damage many years down the track
His been carrying several injuries & getting help for some years,  it was only a matter of time.
You can only pump so much stuff into a human before serious damage takes it toll, Then it affects you mentally,  just ask the soccer knob on here who never played football in his life   
Its harder waking up & getting through the week than making it onto the field on game day. thats when players turn to other substances to get them through life 

Richo had the decision made for him  it was correct & for the best interest of all concerned

[one-eyed]

Richo decides to hang up boots
Michael Gleeson | November 13, 2009

THE dramatic, fantastic career of football's great romantic figure has ended. Matthew Richardson will not play another AFL game.

The son of Tiger player Alan ''Bull'' Richardson, Matthew was a sacred cow at Punt Road and was given the latitude to decide the timing and manner of the end of his career. He has decided to make it official at 10.30 today with a press conference.

Richardson informed the club yesterday that while his mind was willing, his body had become increasingly unreliable. While Richardson had begun jogging, it is believed he would not have been able to join full training until April at the earliest.

He was told by doctors that his surgically repaired hamstring was no further advanced than it was four months ago and as a result they could not guarantee that he could get through a full season without breaking down. In fact, they reckoned further problems were likely.

At 34, and having endured a horrible season with injury this year - his last game being for Coburg in the VFL making a failed attempt to push his body back again - Richardson was not mentally prepared to endure another year of breakdown and recovery.

Richardson said on the club's website he had decided to retire after assessing his first few weeks of the pre-season campaign. ''I wanted to see how I pulled up after a few weeks of training before I made a final decision, but the hamstring is just not good.

''It hasn't felt right when I've been running and the medical prognosis with it isn't positive. So, weighing everything up, it is definitely the right time for me to retire. I didn't want to spend the last couple of years of my career riddled with injury.

''I consider myself fortunate to have played at such a great club as Richmond in front of such wonderfully, loyal, passionate supporters. There are so many memories from my time at Tigerland that I will cherish.''

Until the doctors' assessment, Richardson had felt more confident about the idea of playing next year. But he has fluctuated almost weekly between pessimism and optimism about entering an 18th AFL season.

Richardson played 282 games, but only six last season. He kicked 800 goals and amassed 140 Brownlow votes. Oddly he only won the club's best and fairest once. He won All-Australian honours three times.

Counting statistics for Richardson is like reading music - they might suggest a certain tone but they offer little feel for the grandness of the player. Twelve months after narrowly missing out on a Brownlow Medal (he was equal third) Richardson departs the game as one of its most compelling and attractive players - in large part because of his flaws.

He was a superbly athletic figure yet it was his body that ultimately could not compete with the years.

He was a creative, instinctive player in a game of regimented, structured play, a passionate man in dispassionate times.

He was a demonstrative player who was often unable not to show his feelings as boldly as the yellow slash on his jumper, a fact that infuriated coaches at times and appealed to fans.

Other players have been as demonstratively emotional in the taboo of showing disappointment - think Brendan Fevola - yet it was Richardson's boyishly self-deprecating humour away from the field that most appealed.

The man who the fans call Richo - and his teammates call Ricky - was the very definition of the spectacular footballer. He was a star.

Football will be the lesser for the great Tasmanian not playing in the Tiger colours next year.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/dramatic-career-ends/2009/11/12/1257615125615.html

[Fwoy3]

Thanks for the memories Richo

[one-eyed]

Matthew Richardson retires from AFL
Jon Ralph | Herald Sun

RICHMOND legend Matthew Richardson has been forced into retirement after recent scans showed he required more surgery on his injured hamstring.

Medical scans this week indicated that if Richardson was to play on into an 18th year, he would have needed a lengthy rehabilitation period.

Richardson, 34, will front a 10.30am press conference at Punt Road today to announce the end of one of the most popular careers in the AFL.

He told club officials yesterday afternoon there was no way he could play on for another year.

"I wanted to see how I pulled up after a few weeks of training before I made a final decision, but the hamstring is just not good," Richardson said tonight.

"It hasn't felt right when I've been running and the medical prognosis with it isn't positive."

So, weighing everything up, it is definitely the right time for me to retire.

"I didn't want to spend the last couple of years of my career riddled with injury."

Richardson had attempted to train through November to test his surgically repaired hamstring but several times he pulled up sore after running sessions.

The Tigers delegates at today's meeting did not attempt to convince Richardson to play on, aware his decision was final.

While the Tiger faithful will immediately go into mourning that their favourite son had retired, Richardson was said to be relieved that he had finally come to the decision.

"It's never easy walking away from something that you've loved doing for so long, but I consider myself fortunate to have played at such a great club as Richmond in front of such wonderfully, loyal, passionate supporters,'' Richardson said.

"There are so many memories from my time at Tigerland that I will cherish," he said.

Sadly for Richardson, his final moments in elite football were a few short minutes playing for VFL-affiliate Coburg in which he again hurt his hamstring.

He will retire after 282 games and 800 goals for Richmond, having won the club's best and fairest in 2008 and finishing second four times.

While initial scans showed he had a strong chance of returning to football, the most recent diagnosis would have again resulted in a lengthy rehabilitiation period.

Richardson recently returned from a holiday in America and upon ramping up his training regime it immediately became apparent his body could not withstand the rigours of football.

The Tigers would not comment today out of respect for Richardson, but ironically the news was confirmed at a media drinks function to meet coach Damian Hardwick and his new coaching team.

Rumours of Richardson's impending retirement had swept through the football world all week, but as recently as Tuesday both president Gary March and head of football Craig Cameron denied to the Herald Sun he was set to pull the pin.

Both were worried by Richardson's state of mind but told the Herald Sun on Tuesday they were hopeful he would play on into next year.

It was only when Richardson met with the Tigers yesterday that he confirmed to them he would retire.

While attention will quickly turn to tributes about Richardson's wonderful but unfulfilled career, it also leaves an immense vacuum for the new administration at Tigerland.

The club is clearly in rebuilding mode and will face the massive task of selling memberships - and hope - without the club's most dominant personality over the last two decades.

Richardson has been the club's best player and most charismatic personality in his time at the club after being recruiting as a father-son candidate back in long-time manager Ricky Nixon had as recently as Sunday told the Sunday Herald Sun he believed Richardson would play on as long as he survived the next month of training.

But Nixon was also counselling Richardson that he must be absolutely certain of both his physical and mental state if he was to play on.

Nixon had not returned calls all week and would not comment tonight.

The Tigers have now lost vast experience from their list in a matter of months, with fellow father-son recruit Joel Bowden, former captain Kane Johnson and best-and-fairest winner Mark Coughlan all delisted.

The Tigers will have more than a dozen new players at the club next year on a list which is virtually unrecognisable from Terry Wallace's side this year.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/matthew-richardson-set-to-retire/story-e6frf9jf-1225797058120

[one-eyed]

Richo bled yellow and black
By Cheryl Critchley
Fri 13 Nov 2009, Herald-Sun, Page 47

I'm devastated.

It wasn't meant to end this way. OUR Richo was supposed to have a send-off like no other.

Richmond Cheer Squad president David Norman already had it planned.

For his 300th or final game, whichever came first, the banner would probably feature Richo carrying the Richmond Football Club on his shoulders, a la Charles Atlas, with the words: ``Did you ever know that you're our hero?''

Richo was much more than a hero to us Tiger tragics.

One of the last of the true one-club champions, he WAS Richmond and is going to leave a hole in the club bigger than Rex Hunt's mouth.

Richo is simply irreplaceable and Richmond fans will turn up to round one next year with heavy hearts.

We just can't imagine footy without Richo. He had been playing for seven years when my first child, now 10, was born.

She has worn No. 12 ever since.

Richo was always a champion, often struggling in a mediocre side but giving his all.

It only took the rest of the footy world 16 years to find that out.

Finally, last year, after years of Richo-bashing from all directions -- including by some Tiger fans -- the rest of the footy world finally ``got'' him.

Who can forget Richo finishing third in the 2008 Brownlow Medal?

While others shudder nervously when they get that close and the cameras zoom in, Richo made faces, giggled and joked with his ``date'', Chris Newman.

It was great and we weren't surprised.

For most of his career many wrongly thought Richo was a hothead because he lost his temper on the field.

But it was usually with good reason. He was passionate, and either annoyed with himself for missing an easy shot or upset that yet another pass had sailed 10m over his head.

If Richo played for a quality side he would have kicked 150 goals -- and probably 150 points -- a year.

Off the field he is a gem -- a great sense of humour, self-deprecating and one of the most generous players I've ever seen with his time.

At almost every family day -- and I've been to plenty -- he'd have a queue 10 times longer than anyone else's.
But he'd stand there, often for hours, until every last autograph was signed.

On the field he has provided us with countless memories, some frustrating but most unbelievable. Like an arm-wrestle against the Kangaroos where he'd kicked 1.6 deep into the last quarter, then kicked the winning goal. Bliss!

Sadly, Richo never reached his potential. He missed the 1995 finals series after doing his knee in Sydney, and only played in one finals series, in 2001. He deserved so much more.

Like all of us long-suffering Richmond fans, who have literally relied on Richo to carry us through the past 17 years, David Norman was inconsolable last night.

``Richo, in my opinion, will be No. 2 to Jack Dyer in the history of the Richmond Football Club,'' he said. ``I've got a hole in my stomach bigger than you would believe.''

So have I.

Cheryl Critchley is a Richmond member who saw most of Matthew Richardson's 282 games and her three kids have never known life without him

[Moi]

l am showing class Popelord  l said he would not play again but was told by the forum knobs l was wrong,

You always turn every thread, including this thread about Richo, about yourself
You're unbelievable
But I do understand arrogance is a family trait 

[Tigermonk]

l am showing class Popelord  l said he would not play again but was told by the forum knobs l was wrong,

You always turn every thread, including this thread about Richo, about yourself
You're unbelievable
But I do understand arrogance is a family trait 

lol kick it to me  l thought you disappeared 
stop ya crying about Richo its the best thing for the club.

[Jacosh]

So long Richo and thanks for all the wonderfull memories.   

Matthew Richardson retires from AFL
Jon Ralph | Herald Sun


The Tigers will have more than a dozen new players at the club next year on a list which is virtually unrecognisable from Terry Wallace's side this year.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/matthew-richardson-set-to-retire/story-e6frf9jf-1225797058120

This line is the best thing ive read for a long time.

[2JD]

seen that coming long time ago

yeah yeah he will play on,  you dont know what your talking about 

well its finally all over cya big Fella  you made the best choice for the club moving forward. 
There will be no more excuses for the Richmond football club 

Didnt take long for the "I knew first" moron to step up. Ever stop to think that most of us probably had a fair idea that he wouldnt play on, that we were just hoping he might? Nothing wrong with hoping.
Dont know why you dont have a bigger role down at the club with all your knowledge, oh thats right, your best work is done on a keyboard on internet forums!

  ...thick as!

[Moi]

l am showing class Popelord  l said he would not play again but was told by the forum knobs l was wrong,

You always turn every thread, including this thread about Richo, about yourself
You're unbelievable
But I do understand arrogance is a family trait 

lol kick it to me  l thought you disappeared 
stop ya crying about Richo its the best thing for the club.

I'm on holiday - there's only so much crap from you I can bear lol
Yeah, that's right, everyone can do without the heart and soul of the club 
What an absolute moron you are 

[eliminator]

Richo was a true champion. The heart and soul of the club. Best I have ever seen at taking a contested mark. The fact he used to beat several opponents at a time with the delivery to him being average speaks of how good he was. He should be recognised as one of the greatest players in the modern era. The club should offer him some sort of position at the club