Plan for Punt Rd the 'centrepiece'
Paul Gough
afl.com.au
10:00:42 PM Tue 20 May, 2003
New Richmond chief executive Ian Campbell is working on a plan to make the Tigers’ traditional base Punt Road the centre of all football activity in Melbourne – even during the off-season.
Campbell, speaking exclusively to richmondfc.com.au also sees the recently-refurbished Punt Road as the centrepiece of his plan to make the Tigers the ultimate community club within a national competition.
The former head of Nike in Europe and of the National Basketball Association in Australia says one of the main reasons he was lured back from the United States to accept the job as CEO of the Tigers was he realised the enormous opportunity to grow what is already considered one of the AFL’s biggest and most passionately supported clubs.
But what impressed him most about the Tigers was the location of the club’s training and administration base in relation to its home playing venue and the suburb the club represents.
“The opportunity here is quite honestly bigger than people realise in terms of the whole of Richmond – the club itself and what the clubs stands for.
“Every day I look out from my office and I see (the suburb of) Richmond – you’ve got Punt Road Oval, Swan Street, Bridge Road and the MCG and you say this is a piece of history.
“We are right next to the G – on the edge of the CBD and Richmond - it’s a unique blend of opportunity and tradition.
“Our home base is pulling more than two million eyeballs a week (from the non-stop traffic on Punt Road) as an icon sitting here as part of Melbourne so you don’t need to be a brain surgeon to figure out there could be something special here.”
Under the Campbell plan, all AFL clubs will be encouraged to use the ground for pre and post-game activities when playing their matches at the nearby MCG while he would even like the ground to play a role in the staging of the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
“This year when we played Essendon we had a wonderful post-game get together between the two teams down in our gym,” he said.
“We have to work with the other clubs to help educate them that you can utilise the Punt Road facilities – when we are not playing - to help promote the game.
“Where else can you go with the family and have a sausage sizzle and a kick on the ground before the game and two minutes later be looking for your seat at the MCG – this is the only place.
“The Punt Road precinct is what we are calling it and we are thinking about what kind of events we can put on here even in the off-season so our members and all Melburnians can participate in what Punt Road can be because we have found anecdotally that even a lot of non-Richmond people have a soft spot for Punt Road.”
Campbell is also working on ways to make a Richmond membership more valuable by tying it in with access to the many restaurants, cafes and pubs that surround the Punt Road Oval and the MCG and at the same time ensure the Tigers continue to represent the suburb which the club is named after.
“I saw it last Saturday night after the Melbourne game and the cafes and pubs were full of people with the yellow and black on after the game,” he said.
“We need to recognize that and that somehow we can provide value to the businesses in the area.”
Campbell said he plans to meet as many Richmond traders as possible in coming months - ahead of preparing the membership packages for 2004 – which could result in Tiger members getting discounts at some of the local cafes and restaurants.
“This (Richmond) is one of the best suburbs in not only Melbourne but all of Australia,” he said.
“We are about the only club that has an opportunity to do something like this (due to closeness of Richmond attractions to Punt Road Oval and the MCG).”
“The Richmond Football Club is already contributing to all these things but the question is how do we (the club) make it better for all our friends and supporters.”
Paul Gough
afl.com.au
10:00:42 PM Tue 20 May, 2003
New Richmond chief executive Ian Campbell is working on a plan to make the Tigers’ traditional base Punt Road the centre of all football activity in Melbourne – even during the off-season.
Campbell, speaking exclusively to richmondfc.com.au also sees the recently-refurbished Punt Road as the centrepiece of his plan to make the Tigers the ultimate community club within a national competition.
The former head of Nike in Europe and of the National Basketball Association in Australia says one of the main reasons he was lured back from the United States to accept the job as CEO of the Tigers was he realised the enormous opportunity to grow what is already considered one of the AFL’s biggest and most passionately supported clubs.
But what impressed him most about the Tigers was the location of the club’s training and administration base in relation to its home playing venue and the suburb the club represents.
“The opportunity here is quite honestly bigger than people realise in terms of the whole of Richmond – the club itself and what the clubs stands for.
“Every day I look out from my office and I see (the suburb of) Richmond – you’ve got Punt Road Oval, Swan Street, Bridge Road and the MCG and you say this is a piece of history.
“We are right next to the G – on the edge of the CBD and Richmond - it’s a unique blend of opportunity and tradition.
“Our home base is pulling more than two million eyeballs a week (from the non-stop traffic on Punt Road) as an icon sitting here as part of Melbourne so you don’t need to be a brain surgeon to figure out there could be something special here.”
Under the Campbell plan, all AFL clubs will be encouraged to use the ground for pre and post-game activities when playing their matches at the nearby MCG while he would even like the ground to play a role in the staging of the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
“This year when we played Essendon we had a wonderful post-game get together between the two teams down in our gym,” he said.
“We have to work with the other clubs to help educate them that you can utilise the Punt Road facilities – when we are not playing - to help promote the game.
“Where else can you go with the family and have a sausage sizzle and a kick on the ground before the game and two minutes later be looking for your seat at the MCG – this is the only place.
“The Punt Road precinct is what we are calling it and we are thinking about what kind of events we can put on here even in the off-season so our members and all Melburnians can participate in what Punt Road can be because we have found anecdotally that even a lot of non-Richmond people have a soft spot for Punt Road.”
Campbell is also working on ways to make a Richmond membership more valuable by tying it in with access to the many restaurants, cafes and pubs that surround the Punt Road Oval and the MCG and at the same time ensure the Tigers continue to represent the suburb which the club is named after.
“I saw it last Saturday night after the Melbourne game and the cafes and pubs were full of people with the yellow and black on after the game,” he said.
“We need to recognize that and that somehow we can provide value to the businesses in the area.”
Campbell said he plans to meet as many Richmond traders as possible in coming months - ahead of preparing the membership packages for 2004 – which could result in Tiger members getting discounts at some of the local cafes and restaurants.
“This (Richmond) is one of the best suburbs in not only Melbourne but all of Australia,” he said.
“We are about the only club that has an opportunity to do something like this (due to closeness of Richmond attractions to Punt Road Oval and the MCG).”
“The Richmond Football Club is already contributing to all these things but the question is how do we (the club) make it better for all our friends and supporters.”
