Damien Hardwick's decision to resign as Richmond’s coach this week revived memories of Tommy Hafey’s shock departure from Tigerland 47 years ago.
Richmond, under Hafey’s astute coaching guidance, had won four premierships during a golden decade, but missed the final five, as it was in 1976, finishing seventh in the then 12-team competition.
It was the first time since 1970 that the Tigers had not participated in the finals.
A couple of weeks after Richmond’s season had finished, Hafey was reappointed as coach for a 12th year by the Club’s committee.
The vote was 8-2 in Hafey’s favour, but one of those who voted against the four-time Tiger premiership coach was powerful club official Graeme Richmond.
Without the support of GR, Hafey felt it was pointless continuing in the coaching role at Punt Road.
So, just short of a fortnight after his reappointment, Hafey told Richmond president Ian Wilson he was resigning as coach.
Wilson desperately tried to convince Hafey to continue in the role, but all to no avail.
Hafey subsequently accepted an attractive offer to coach the Tigers’ arch-rival Collingwood.
Richmond replaced Hafey with its assistant coach and triple premiership star Barry Richardson.
Here, courtesy of ‘The Hafey Years’ book by Elliot Cartledge, are comments from Hafey, Wilson and champion players Francis Bourke and Kevin Sheedy about that tumultuous time at Tigerland.
Tommy Hafey
“There were a couple of people on the committee who wanted me out. I wasn’t really satisfied . . . I wasn’t really pleased with it . . . It wasn’t as though we were down near the bottom; we finished seventh (in the 12-team competition). Sometimes you have that. We had injury after injury. Our side was not as strong as the previous year and it was a year when everything went wrong. It was just one of those years . . . I was unhappy not everybody was voting for Tommy Hafey. We had a winning rate of 70 per cent over my time there, which was freakish, we never went after the big-name players, and we had the lowest-paid players in the whole competition. Everybody knew that . . . They appointed me for my 12th year. People think I got the sack, but I actually resigned a fortnight after I was appointed. I finished up by ringing Ian Wilson and said, ‘Look, I’m not happy and I don’t think I can do this . . . I’m going to resign’. I think a coach needs to be regenerated just as a team needs to be regenerated, but I wasn’t thinking that at the time. I was upset because there were a couple of people on the board who were critical of Tommy Hafey – not to me – but I’d heard these things. I just didn’t think I could be there while they were taking a vote deciding should I still be coach. I didn’t talk to any of the players, not even Kevin Sheedy or Kevin Bartlett. I don’t think I spoke to anyone apart from (wife) Maureen.
Ian Wilson
“There were 11 people there, but the president doesn’t vote. It was moved that Tommy Hafey be reappointed. Eight people put up their hands to vote yes and two voted against it. Graeme Richmond was one (Neil Busse the other). I didn’t know beforehand that Graeme was going to vote against Tommy but later he told me that he thought Tommy had run his race. Tommy called me and said, ‘I’m resigning’ . . . He told me he’d heard about the committee vote and it wasn’t unanimous. He insisted that was it, he was going to resign. I remember pleading with him at his home, telling him, ‘Look, you’ve been reappointed’. I left it for him to cool for a couple of days then come and see me, which he did. He came to my office and I said, ‘Tommy, before you say anything, I hope you are not going to resign – it would be the wrong thing to do’. But he had found out that Graeme had voted against him and that was that. He didn’t feel comfortable anymore.”
Francis Bourke
“At the end, I understand Graeme voted against his reappointment and that must have really disappointed Tommy, to not have Graeme’s support at that particular time. Graeme was once again putting his own personal feelings and loyalties to one side; to follow what he thought was best for the footy club – at a great personal cost. But this only came out years later.”
Kevin Sheedy
“If Graeme didn’t support Tommy there’s no value in staying at Richmond. So, Tommy thought, ‘I may as well leave’. If you didn’t have Graeme’s support, you were wasting your time . . . Both Kevin Bartlett and I felt he was harshly done by. That’s the way I look at it.”
