In the lead-up to the Club’s 2021 Annual General Meeting (Monday, December 20), Richmond Media is taking a look back at the Tigers’ 1971 Annual Report magazine. Over the next few days, we will reproduce some articles and items of interest from the ’71 Annual Report (in the exact style they appeared in the publication). It was a year in which Richmond finished third, winning 16 games and losing eight. And, highly-publicised star recruit Ian Stewart capped off a brilliant inaugural season at Tigerland by winning the Brownlow Medal. First-up is an article, under the heading “ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT SEASON 1971”. . .

To the Members of the Richmond Football Club,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The 1971 season will be remembered as the year in which the Tigers re-established themselves as one of the leading powers in the Victorian Football League – following the bitterly disappointing preceding season when we slipped dramatically from first to sixth – but were unable to cap off the improvement when tossed out of the Premiership battle on a cold, wet and un-September-like day by a team whom we had beaten twice in the first round.

The inability to repeat our premiership winning efforts of 1967 and 1969 was a bitter disappointment which must be erased from our memories in 1972.

An enormous amount of time and effort went into the re-establishment of the Club. Endless hours were spent in streamlining the Club’s administration; in recruiting the players considered necessary to take us to the top; in ensuring the stars of the two premiership sides produced the form they were capable of but which had, in many cases, slipped drastically in the previous season.

The effort was fantastic. Driven fanatically by our fine Coach, Tom Hafey, all seemed well when we had won a berth in the Final Four and had progressed past the First Semi-Final, defeating Collingwood convincingly.

But the Preliminary Final was a different story. In the inclement conditions we floundered and were beaten by a better team on the day.

So the battle starts again.

Our members can rest assured that everyone involved within the Club is prepared to give a 100 per cent effort to bring total success.

The glorious moments associated with the winning of a League football flag are not easily forgotten. They are still fresh in the thoughts of many in our Club who dearly want to see their beloved Tigers return to the prestigious No. 1 Club in the greatest football competition in this country.

We must not relax in our relentless campaign to bring the best of the youthful talent to the Tigers. We feel sure, in due modesty, that some clubs have been able to introduce Rules through the Victorian Football League to limit clubs such as our own – country zoning (which has not been a success) and allowing each club to sign only two Interstate players in each year (the players must have attained 20 years of age) has not helped.

With these limitations it has meant that we must ensure that every potential player in our Metropolitan and Country District is given every possible opportunity to make the grade . . .

Overall, 1971 can be regarded as a year of advancement. Many young players, chosen for the first time, showed that with proper guidance they can reach great heights in senior football. Many others who had been brought along steadily through the junior grades, blossomed out. Together with the nucleus of several experienced players, we look confidently to 1972 as being “our year”.

To achieve our ultimate goal, nothing must stand in our way.