Sam
Newman goes Head to Head with Graeme Richmond – The Sun, August 22, 1990.
Since 1909 Richmond Football Club has prowled the
league scene and for 26 years before then, the association.
But now, like mentor Graeme Richmond, the club faces the ultimate
challenge – survival. When you
think of Richmond, you think of Richmond. Ironically,
both are facing a future of uncertainty. While
the great club is ailing financially the great man is fighting to regain his
health. For almost a quarter of a
century he was the inspiration behind it, overseeing seven grand final
appearances, with flags in 1967, 1969, 1973-74 and 1980.
He’s done the books at Tigerland, been recruiting, coached, managed the
team, been elected vice-president and been a selector – a talent he currently
employs at state level. Today
GRAEME RICHMOND goes Head to Head with SAM NEWMAN about the problems of big game
hunting.
It looks like the cage doors
are about to shut at Tigerland.
Richmond:
It’s exceptionally grim and unless the Richmond people rally to the
cause it’s possible a team, that eight years ago played in a grand final, will
be the first victim of financial pressures.
Newman:
Can you see Richmond surviving?
Richmond:
Yes. Many good people at
Richmond would be concerned …
Newman:
….. even though only 16,000 turned up to a survival game last Saturday?
Richmond: It was disappointing, but I think next Sunday (rally at MCG) will be the litmus test. That will give the club a direct indication as to its future.
Newman:
Would you be heartbroken if the inevitable happened?
Richmond:
It would be an absolute tragedy. I’d
be devastated. It’s been such an
enormous part of my own life – like it has for the thousands who have played
for, and served, the club. It’s a
club with a magnificent history – we’ve won 10 premierships, many of them in
recent times.
Newman:
In AFL circles your opinion would be highly regarded so …
Richmond:
… well, I’d regard myself as yesterday’s man, to be honest with
you.
Newman:
You’re a current state selector.
Richmond:
Yes, but I’m not active on the administrative side so I’d say my
opinions are not sought after and maybe not valid at the moment.
Newman:
Well, as the most experienced Richmond man ever, I’m seeking your
opinion on where Richmond has gone wrong. After
all, they were grand finalists in ’82.
Richmond:
Richmond is suffering from an imbalance of inexperienced young players
and competent, experienced ones.
Newman:
And whose fault is that?
Richmond:
It’s an administration fault that’s run over a period of between
seven and 10 years. The backbone of
the successful clubs rests with the ability of the top seven or eight players
who have played between six and 12 years of football.
Newman:
Is it just a coincidence that seven or 10 years is the period you’ve
been away from the club?
Richmond:
I’m not saying that, but I’d say the administration at Richmond in
the ‘80s have a lot to answer for because the team just hasn’t got the
competency or depth of senior players which the whole show revolves around. There’s very few Royce Harts or John Colemans that walk
into football these days and are overnight sensations.
Newman:
You went down to Tasmania and got the young Royce Hart, didn’t you?
Richmond:
Yes, but you must realise Royce wasn’t an outright champion at that
stage. He developed through our
under-19s and reserve-grade teams in 1966.
His remarkable leap forward occurred over the summer of 1966-67.
He worked very hard in the gym and came out in ’67 and matched his
physique with his skills.
Newman:
Would you see a parallel between a side like Carlton today and Richmond
in the early ‘80s?
Richmond:
Carlton has one of the best football administrators in the game in Ian
Collins, but they are one of the first victims of the draft. This is something supporters of the leading clubs are going
to have to get used to. The AFL’s
charter is to conduct a well-balanced competition.
It was obvious it was becoming a gross imbalance because some of the
clubs were so competent with their marketing and fund raising they were putting
themselves into the situation where the cheque book ruled the roost.
Newman:
Like Richmond did.
Richmond:
Yes. That could have been
said of them in the ‘60s and ‘70s because we were one of the first to be
able to raise money through more traditional sources and use that money to
recruit players.
Newman:
Like when you went down to Tassie and offered Royce Hart two thousand
quid ($4000).
Richmond:
No, we didn’t. No, we did
not. Anyhow, this is no longer
possible, of course. This is where
Carlton are feeling the pinch and ultimately Hawthorn will feel it too – where
they no longer have the advantage of a magnificent country zone.
Newman:
I got the name wrong. You
offered Peter Hudson two thousand quid.
Richmond:
I did, most certainly. That’s
correct now. Peter was always
pretty keen to make every post a winner, but the principle prevailed and the
magnificent work Ron Cook (Hawthorn) had done on the Hudsons prevailed when
Peter’s form four ran out.
Newman:
Did the Richmond club just load you up with money and chuff you off to
all points of the compass?
Richmond:
We had a very good side, but our forward line was revolving around Pat
Guinane and John Northey, so I thought Peter would be better suited at the MCG.
Little did I know that John Kennedy (then Hawthorn coach) was going to
devise a plan for Glenferrie Oval by keeping the forward line virtually free of
players to accommodate Hudson’s quick movements.
Newman:
So Richmond’s decision to procure Peter Hudson was, in fact, outside
the league’s recruiting guidelines?
Richmond:
Seeing as none of these decisions are now retrospective, yes, we probably
bent the system, but our charter was to do the best for our club – which we
did. One of the great things about
our game is that we do breed a series of desperate men in charge who’ll
virtually do anything they believe they can get away with.
Newman:
What tricks would they have up their sleeves at this particular stage?
Richmond:
Firstly, the public and corporate sectors must be approached. If all else failed, concerned money people must be put into a
position to form a financial backing.
Newman:
They may think they’d be putting good money after bad.
Richmond:
I think the board would have to be prepared to look at its position
because people who are prepared to put up money in substantial lumps will want
some say over the conduct of the club affairs.
Newman:
That’s more or less buying the right to decide the club’s direction.
Richmond:
Pretty much so, but that’s the disaster scenario they’re facing as a
last resort. It could be a
benevolent ownership rather than a dictatorship, but there has to be some
collateral available to the members. That
would seem to me to be in the form of a licence.
Newman:
Another privately-owned club?
Richmond:
There are all sorts of structures available that can circumvent private
ownership as such. It would also
need a couple of years of pretty dramatic recruiting.
If other clubs are genuinely concerned about the Richmonds and Fitzroys,
then benefits given to the interstate teams should be extended to those other
ailing clubs.
Newman:
So you think the traditional clubs have been discriminated against, do
you?
Richmond:
No, but the discrepancy hasn’t been pushed forcefully enough. It needs reappraising.
Newman:
Can you see Brideshead being revisited and instead of the summer of ’89
embracing Fitzroy and Footscray, the summer of ’90 may well be Richmond and
Fitzroy?
Richmond:
It’s not palatable to either club’s supporters, but in the absolute
point of last resort, these scenarios have to be considered.
Newman:
At least the teams would be kept in the big cat family.
Is Kevin Bartlett the right man to coach Richmond?
Richmond:
I’d say he’s doing a remarkably good job.
To coach the Tigers for the past three years has been a real test.
He was really on a hiding to nothing when he took on the job.
He probably was a bit more optimistic in that he thought he could turn
some things around.
Newman:
Like what?
Richmond:
I think he thought he could handle a few of the inconsistent players a
bit better than his predecessor. He
had a good first year and the blokes who grizzled and groaned previously went
under the blankets a bit but, when everyone got used to it, the age-old problems
emerged – Geelong is a classic example this year.
The second year of coaching is the critical one.
Newman:
Do you think Richmond’s 12th spot is their true standard?
Richmond:
Every club has injuries but Richmond’s have been horrific. Richmond should have at least held their ground from ’88
(10th) to ’89 (bottom).
Newman:
What is the first ability you’d appoint a coach on?
Richmond:
A knowledge of the game and his ability to impart it. Many great players have been coaches but can’t communicate.
Jack Dyer had a very simple philosophy.
He said: “you get the
players and we’ll win the games – everything else will be put to rest.
We’ll get someone to look after the books and run the whole show.
It’ amazing how smoothly everything runs when you’re winning”.
Newman:
Meaning, if you had the right players, the coach was incidental?
Richmond:
We’d been very well handed by Len Smith (then Richmond coach) in the
mid-60s. Len virtually taught us
how to play. He took us from the
prop and cop game to the game Geelong used to play in the ‘50s – playing on
off their half-back line. Len then
went to Fitzroy and, when they played us, we didn’t know what hit us. I used to go and watch Fitzroy train when I was Richmond’s
under-19s coach and came to the conclusion we’d have to get someone to teach
us some new tricks.
Newman:
So you went to Shepparton and got Tom Hafey.
What did you think his particular talent was?
Richmond:
To everybody’s horror we went and got Tommy but Tommy was a much better
player than his record indicated at Richmond.
He was a tremendous mark, a magnificent kick and iron tough but he made
the fatal mistake of going into a milkbar and I’ve no doubt the long hours
sent his football down the gurgler pretty quickly.
Tommy and Jack Hamilton were the first two players I knew to train on
weights. Everybody was terrified
you’d become muscle bound and go stale but one of the so-called skills of
being a coach was to judge when a player was fit and, thus, blokes would
invariably get nights off training in case they got overfit and stale.
Newman:
And Tom changed all that.
Richmond:
Earlier, we’d brought in blokes like Harry Gallagher, Percy Cerutty and
Franz Stampfl, who convinced us we weren’t training hard enough and that fear
of training too hard was all rubbish – it was in the mind.
They said that, in a pecking order of fitness on a world scale,
footballers were disgracefully unfit. I
don’t mind telling you our ears did prick up.
We’d had a fitness adviser called Barry Stanton, an Australian 400m
hurdles champion, who’d been hammering on this point for a while.
In the end, we reckoned not all these blokes could be dills, so we
introduced an extra training night on Wednesdays and a “running out” period
on Sunday mornings.
Newman:
So, you were to blame for Sunday morning training.
I often wondered who was responsible for that.
Richmond:
All this was right up Tommy’s alley, as Len (Smith) was a brilliant
tactician, but a gentle man. Tom
brought an edge of hardness to us and he went along with our style of handball
and long kicking. I’d also like
to point out we tried to get Ted Whitten from Footscray after we’d failed with
Peter Hudson. I’d been
tremendously impressed with Ted in the ’66 carnival in Hobart.
Newman:
Did you offer Ted the mandatory two thousand quid, or had we moved into
decimals at this stage?
Richmond:
Ted had got the boot as coach from Footscray (’66) and was pretty sore
about it, so I tried to get up his jumper a bit – I even rang him on Christmas
morning to wish him well. But full
marks to Ted, I think he copped a bit of flak about Footscray’s recent revival
because the people thought he was AFL-oriented, but no one went closer than me
to get him out of the red, white and blue.
But, when the crunch came, he just couldn’t see himself playing for
anyone else than the Dogs. I’d
also like to point out we had a very strong go at John Newman a few years ago
and, to his credit as well – I mean Geelong weren’t going any good and we
had plenty of dough …
Newman:
I should have taken it.
Richmond:
I know you don’t mean that. If
we trace Richmond’s predicament we get back to ’83 when, over summer, we
lost Bryan Wood to Essendon, our captain David Cloke and our most
naturally-talented player, Geoff Raines, to Collingwood.
Newman:
Well, you sacked Raines.
Richmond:
We never did. We didn’t
pay him what Collingwood had offered in their financial stupidity of the day. Not only did it make Collingwood broke, but it bankrupted
Richmond of its talent in the process.
Newman:
Are you saying David Cloke and Geoff Raines didn’t have the same ethics
as Ted Whitten or Peter Hudson?
Richmond:
I think they were a bit sore about some other matters as well, but it was
disappointing, particularly as they had developed through our junior teams.
People who changed their religion or politics were considered heretics in
those days. The closest thing in my
lifetime to that would be to change Richmond to Collingwood and, while Victoria
St divided the two, never the twain did meet.
Harry Dyke, our late and great president, would stand up on a Thursday
night before we played Collingwood, take his hat off, and quote Lord Nelson:
“I expect every man to do his duty” – and they invariably did.
Cloke and Raines going was a very bitter pill to swallow.
Newman: Maybe you need Harry and his hat down there now.
Continued soon with part 2 of
the interview.
Sam Newman goes Head to Head with Graeme Richmond –
The Sun, August 23, 1990.
Newman:
What mistakes did you make at Richmond?
Richmond:
Until the arrival of Cameron Schwab, we didn’t adequately replace Alan
Schwab – who left us at the end of ’76 to return to the league. He was the last of the great Richmond administrators .
Richmond has suffered since. The
basis of success in a club is a good president, secretary, coach and doctor.
Newman: Could
we take it from this that you don’t think Richmond has had a good president,
secretary, coach and doctor since Alan Schwab left?
Richmond:
Neville Crowe is a well-received populist leader and the committee has
several competent members.
Newman:
So competent they’re about to go out of business.
Richmond:
The inherited deficit of the mid-80s has been impossible to overcome
especially as the team had struggled onfield.
Richmond were very lucky in the halcyon times because Ray Dunn (ex
Richmond president) organised the move of Richmond to the MCG and this launched
the Tigers financially.
Newman:
Obviously someone has scuttled the ship.
Richmond:
Ray was succeeded by Al Boord as president.
He was president in ’73 when we won the flag and had formerly been
chairman of our very powerful financial executive.
Then Ian Wilson succeeded him and “Octa” was almost peerless in his
capacity as president of Richmond. He
gave the club style and flair.
Newman:
He loved those walks around the boundary before the game – especially
during the finals.
Richmond:
He was a ferocious fighter for the club at the league.
His fights at the league table have gone down in its history and he’s
become almost a mythical figure. His
fights were both physical and verbal, I might add. You had to be a very good in-fighter in those days to make
sure your club got a fair crack of the whip.
Newman:
This is maybe why there is an AFL Commission now.
Richmond:
But the success of any club is – you’ve only got to look at Hawthorn. OK, we can all grimace over the zone they got and whereas the
zones were meant to be redrawn every three years, that convention very smartly
went down the gurgler when the clubs realised what a good wicket they were on.
They forgot about the next stage and decided to stick with the status
quo. But Ron Cook, another of the
great football administrators I’ve known, was smart enough to have Hawthorn
capitalise on what they had.
Newman: Who
has been the best football administrator?
Richmond:
Alan Schwab – by a street. The
best grass roots and practical administrator in the game.
Newman:
If he’s so good, perhaps he should have Ross Oakley’s job.
Richmond:
No, I think Ross is very, very good in his role.
Ross has grasped a very difficult portfolio and walked into the job in
the tough times of interstate football, TV rights and the like.
I think he’s grown in the job and I think the league is very fortunate
to have both doing the jobs they are.
Newman:
I assume, that as you’ve fought valiantly for the success of Richmond
in a local competition, you’re opposed to a national league.
Richmond:
I can tell you quite truthfully that I’ve been a proponent of the
expansion of the VFL competition going back to the early ‘70s.
When Richmond and North Melbourne played practice matches two years in a
row on the Gabba in Brisbane, which was a crook ground for our game, we were
absolutely stunned at the enthusiasm they received. We played in pouring rain both years and you couldn’t have
got an ant into the place. Sydney
had to happen, but it would have been better if a pincer movement had tone to
Queensland first – and not to the Gold Coast.
I’ve no doubt the national comp will continue to be an outstanding
success as we move into the ‘90s.
Newman:
Meaning it already is?
Richmond:
Look, there were difficulties in 1926 when the league brought in
Footscray, North Melbourne and Hawthorn. They
were an embarrassment. They
couldn’t beat an egg.
Newman:
And now Port Adelaide looks like compounding the situation.
Richmond:
South Australian football is going backwards and the standard of its game
is not good. Naturally they are
looking to preserve their competition, but the exercise that’s been done on
the financial viability of a team in Adelaide – well, all I can say is that if
they want any shareholders, count me in. I
think it would be an outstanding success. It’s
a bit disappointing where, I believe, we’ve opened the door to SA and SA have
continually slammed it shut. There
have been all sorts of machinations gone on from the SA side that haven’t
amounted to anything when it’s come to the real crunch.
The AFL have forced them to the negotiating table by a very clever
tactical ploy. Now it’s up to
wiser heads to prevail.
Newman:
Do you have any reservations abut today’s game?
Richmond:
It’s a changing, softer society than the one I grew up in. We came out of depressions and wars, and it was an accepted
way of life. Currently, there’s
tremendous apprehension about being knocked around too much outside the rules.
We must be pragmatic because the good old days are gone.
But the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
The league is experiencing its most successful season, in terms of
attendances, ever. They must be
doing something right.
Newman:
That’s of little comfort to Richmond and a few others, who are really
struggling.
Richmond:
The point I’m making is that the structure of the game, introduction of
the player draft and the salary cap have all had an effect on restoring
people’s confidence in the game. This
confidence wavered drastically in the early ‘80s as player went from club to
club, were paid outrageous salaries, huge transfer fees and it all put the game
in jeopardy.
Newman:
So why do you think Ross Oakley boycotted a radio station last Saturday?
Richmond:
I suppose they (AFL) have to have an ability to register.
They’re in a position to be well and truly shot at, but people who are
competitive by nature like to have some sort of comeback.
They’ve obvious taken umbrage to Peter Keenan’s comments which,
frankly, I thought were unjustified, and that’s their protest.
They have very little other form of recourse.
I must say, if I was in their position, I would certainly have answered
in some shape or form, but it’s not always possible to turn the other cheek.
I’d like to remind those who wonder about Oakley’s credentials that
he was a very good St Kilda player who had the misfortune to be injured when St
Kilda won its 1966 premiership. He
was also coach of Collegians in the A-grade amateurs so he’s no mug as far as
football’s concerned. The
competition, with the exception of the bottom clubs, is in outstanding shape.
Newman:
Isn’t that a contradiction in terms?
Richmond:
I’m quite certain hep for the bottom clubs is already on the
commission’s agenda.
Newman:
The trial by video and sterner tribunal approach have tended to highlight
the violence. How would you
overcome this?
Richmond:
I’d conduct tribunal hearings on Sunday mornings and because of the
reportage of the games in Monday morning’s papers it’d be lost in transit.
Newman:
Who made the most of their ability in your time?
Richmond:
Kevin Sheedy. When he came
to us from Prahran he couldn’t mark and he couldn’t kick.
Newman:
Why did you
Richmond:
He was highly recommended and when we put him into his first practice
game we knew why. It was one of the
most memorable practice games I’ve ever seen.
We turned him loose on our star centreman Billy Barrot one Sunday
afternoon at the Punt Rd Oval. Well,
we’d never seen a rougher, tougher, spitting, snarling bloke in our lives.
Newman:
What was he like on the footy field?
Richmond:
I hope that doesn’t get back. Anyhow,
we provided a kicking coach for him and with tremendous application he improved
so much that he ended up being best man on the ground in two successive
premiership teams (1973-74).
Newman:
Another man to fit the rough, tough, spitting, snarling Richmond
blueprint was Neil Balme.
Richmond:
It was instinctive. When he
opened up he was a terrifying sight. He
took to Carl Ditterich one day on the MCG and poor old Carl was never quite the
same afterwards.
Newman:
I suppose it would have been a banquet for your eyes when he attacked
Geoff Southby in the ’73 grand final.
Richmond:
It was unfortunate. The ball
was there.
Newman:
Where?
Richmond:
In flight, when Geoff actually copped a round-arm whack. I still feel a bit guilty because he really is a lovely bloke
and a magnificent player. Possibly
one of the two or three best full-backs of all time.
I know he’s still hurt by the incident psychologically more than
physically.
Newman:
Tom Hafey was criticised for taking his hard training ethic to
Collingwood, especially the week before the grand final replay in ’77.
Richmond:
If people realised the enormity of the job he did – taking Collingwood
from last to virtually top and to have put a succession of Collingwood sides –
goodness gracious me, how they ever beat Geelong in the 1980 preliminary final
is one of the wonder of the modern world. Geelong
beat Richmond, who eventually won the flag, with five weeks to go by six goals
and I remember saying to my father as we left the ground:
“Dad, I don’t know that we’d do any better.
We had our best side and in-form players, an enormous crowd and still,
bright conditions.” We had no
doubt we’d have to beat Geelong in the ’80 grand final to win the flag so we
were stunned when Collingwood got up against the Cats.
Newman:
Don’t blame me, I got dropped.
Richmond:
Collingwood would have been 1000-1 to beat us the next week and we
subsequently rolled them by 81 points … and blow me down, they bobbed up again
the next year against Carlton. It
was incredible.
Newman:
You’re obviously a great rap for him, so why didn’t he coach Richmond
again?
Richmond:
I felt he should have at some stage over the last eight years, but he
needed an administration. Tom’s
very hard on administrations; he hasn’t a high regard for the pomp and
ceremony.
Newman:
You’re a great judge of footballers, or let’s hope you are because
you’re a state selector, so how long does it take you to recognise talent?
Richmond:
I’ve heard all these great coaches philosophise over the years but,
basically, no team plan will work if you haven’t got the ball. I understand there are carriers who won’t necessarily go
into a war and win a Victoria Cross for you, but the engine room still revolves
around those who’ll set the whole thing in motion.
Therefore, you’ve got to look at whether a bloke can get the ball and,
when he’s got it, what he can do with it.
Newman:
If you’d just arrived back from Jupiter in late ’86 and saw Warwick
Capper play for the Swans in ’87, would you have said he could play?
Richmond:
I’m not a great rap for blokes who can’t kick at least 50 yards.
Short kickers won’t prevail in finals.
Warwick is a hell of a nice bloke but he would always worry me if it was
Richmond he was playing for.
Newman:
You mentioned earlier that “Octa” Wilson fought for Richmond but so
did you, of course, out at Windy Hill on May 18, 1974.
Richmond:
It was an unfortunate thing on the day.
Circumstances always govern these things. I was on the bench that day as teach manager of Richmond and
when the fracas broke out between Mal Brown and Laurie Ashley (Essendon runner),
the umpires had virtually left the ground for half-time. My involvement was with an official of the Essendon club
(fitness adviser James Bradley) because I took umbrage to his manhandling of Mal
Brown.
Newman:
You said you thought he was an enraged spectator.
Richmond:
I didn’t know who he was. He
had a tam-o’shanter on so I didn’t recognise him to be who he was.
It’s no good preaching loyalty to players if you don’t react when
something like that happens. I
suppose it was fair enough I got the big stick, but …
Newman:
… well, you got more than the big stick.
You got fined $2,000, which you refused to pay, and warned off, and
barred from speaking to players on grounds until 1975.
Richmond:
I was pretty sour on the league at the time and it eventually went to
court where I was exonerated. Once
that happened it made it pretty hot for the league to handle so they withdrew
the whole matter.
Newman:
You, in fact are having as big a personal battle to survive as the
Richmond Football Club is.
Richmond:
I’ve had a battle for several years.
I’ve had a series of major operations and am under pretty intensive
chemotherapy treatment. I’m
holding my ground but I’ve learned a lot from football.
Football is the great lesson in life itself. The support I’ve got from football people has been as close
as that of my family.
Newman:
Do you think you have a better future than the club?
Richmond:
We’re both capable of surviving if we fight hard enough. Richmond has a future if the Richmond people want it.
Men can do almost anything if they gear themselves up to it.
Newman:
What’s wrong with you?
Richmond:
I have tumors in both lungs and I’ve had them removed from my bowel and
liver. At the moment I’m OK and
I’m hoping they’ll go into remission or, at worst, will be manageable. For every day you are kept alive, medical science has a
better chance of keeping you in business – permanently.
Newman:
You and Richmond both, let’s hope.