Richmond Football Club AGM in 2002


January 14, 2008

A busy day at the Australian Open and then straight off to the Tigers AGM on a balmy summer night. This report was sent to Crikey subscribers on January 25, 2002.

It wasn't long after returning from the tennis that I strolled up the road to the Richmond Football Club AGM at the Grand Hyatt and asked 3 questions which was 75 per cent of the total questions asked because only one other member got up for the entire night during the 90 minute meeting.

Given that the long-suffering Tigers finished third and made a $512,000 profit, the mood was pretty upbeat. The life membership presentations were characterised by non-players Terry Grigg and Jack Malcobsen (who wrote the Tigerland theme song in 1962) going on for too long and the players (Duncan Kellaway, Matthew Rogers and Paul Broderick) being suitably brief.

My questions related to cash flow from the Waverley sale, cash flow from the Telstra internet deal and corporate sponsorship revenues given that Eddie McGuire had gloated that the Collingwood jumper is 70 per cent more valuable than any other in Australia and that he'd jagged $7 million in corporate sponsorship last year.

It may have been gratuitous but I got in a good sledge on Eddie McGuire cranking up his corporate sponsorship at Collingwood by plugging key sponsors on The Footy Show and in his Herald Sun column.

President Clinton Casey, who has the skeleton of a time-share business failure in his closet from many moons ago, said Waverley would provide Richmond $2 million over 8 years and the Telstra internet deal would deliver $200,000 a year and a bonus of between $50,000-$100,000 depending on traffic levels.

Compare that with the Sportsview deal where Collingwood, Carlton, Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs have been forced to pay the McGuire/Vizard outfit $50,000 a year for the next 5 years just to get out of it and onto the Telstra cash.

After the meeting Herb Elliott wondered over and introduced himself, saying we'd crossed paths at the Pacific Dunlop AGM where he is also on the board. Having missed the September announcement that Herb had joined the Richmond board I embarrassingly asked him what he was doing at the meeting.