Richo is gone, but heart and hope endureCAROLINE WILSON
June 6, 2010MATTHEW Richardson will never really leave Richmond, but given that he described last night's tribute fund-raiser as his final farewell, it's worth reflecting on how much has already changed at Tigerland since the club's extraordinary cultural hero retired as a player.
Shortly before the first ball was bounced in 2010, Richo walked around the MCG to wave goodbye to his fans. He was flanked by a large group of children bearing his No. 12, which has been retired by the club.
Like most events Richmond has staged this year, from the guernsey presentation onwards - with the notable exception of last weekend's extraordinary release of emotion when the song was sung for the first time after the Port Adelaide victory - the MCG farewell was low-key but determined in its emotion.
I looked over at my almost 20-year-old daughter that night and was surprised to see tears streaming down her face. And then it occurred to me how much a player like Richo must have meant to Richmond fans of her age and below. For all of her living memory he has so often been the only thing worth going to the football for.
Richo never had to try to be loved. It has been written before what a phenomenon he was to have been one club's best player for a decade-and-a-half. It was sad on the nights that Scott West was narrowly pipped at the Brownlow counts, but when Richardson fell just short in 2008 the entire room seemed devastated. In the end, individual glory was all he had left to vie for.
But he was a team player for all his outbursts and a team player he remains. Interestingly, he was not hugely sought after for TV commentary jobs in the first instance because Channel Ten had experimented with him last season and not been impressed enough to offer him a contract. So the Seven Network retained him for a relatively bargain price and boy is it reaping the benefits now.
From the word go, Seven read him correctly and promoted him as he is - as Richo, masks and all. And he has delivered his loveable self, throwing in the odd perspicacious piece of football knowledge while at the same time still looking over occasionally at the camera - wondering. His enthusiasm is contagious, his boundary-line interviews a charm.
He opened Friday night's coverage of the St Kilda-Richmond clash delivering a soliloquy of hope directed at his club. Irrelevant really that the club still pays him for marketing work because he would have done it anyway. His frustration at the Tigers' defensive efforts against the pesky efficiency of Stephen Milne reverberated out of the screen.
No one is happier than Richardson that the massive hole left at the club by his departure has not resulted in lost membership and that the even bigger void on the forward line seems to have been snatched by Jack Riewoldt. His joy at Dustin Martin's rapid immersion into the cut and thrust of elite football is genuine also.
When you think about all the bad administrations Richardson has toiled through - sure he was well paid but now that the AFL has made it clear how much they believe symbolic star players are worth in a broadcast-driven marketplace, then he clearly earned every cent and more - it is only now with hindsight that his value can be estimated and applauded. In many senses he was Richmond and he kept the club alive.
And he is selling hope regarding the Tigers better than anyone. The club has an untried coach who has stuck to his own script and, despite his dislike of public appearances and the media in general, has managed to win over the masses. Richmond has hit the halfway mark of 2010 with one win and some dreadful defeats, and yet Tiger fans are full of hope. Crowds have been good and that one win seems to have been the tonic to carry the club for at least another month.
And that is what has changed at Richmond. Everyone, it seems, can see a future every time Martin, Riewoldt, Cotchin and co. run onto the ground. When a group of players did the wrong thing after a game in Sydney, they were suspended and the key transgressor punished. Even some clumsiness over Ben Cousins has seen minimal collateral damage.
But the hope is the thing, which is no small feat given the club's results this season, their still small and, in AFL terms, hokey operation and the minimal prospect of decent draft choices in the coming seasons.
There is a new chief executive who has taken the unusual step of poaching a key official (Simon Matthews) in recent days from Essendon. It is clear the board could face some challenges come the end of the season given that president Gary March's term is at an end, but even that seems to have been handled with some care.
CEO Brendon Gale's ambitious proclamation of premierships and an eradicated debt and record memberships still sound a trifle fanciful, but the love for Richmond is tangible again. For so many fans over so many years, only Matthew Richardson kept that flame burning. Hopefully, his unique value will remain for decades to come.
And hopefully he will never regret not leaving Tigerland. He is less decorated and has been far less successful in his journey than another father-son at Geelong in Gary Ablett, but both players afford similar affection from their faithful. And Ablett, should he choose to do so, will surely regret leaving the Cats.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/richo-is-gone-but-heart-and-hope-endure-20100605-xlwo.html
