Maureen Hafey, wife of Richmond coaching ‘Immortal’, Tommy Hafey, reflects on her time at Tigerland in her acceptance speech after receiving life membership of the Club at last night’s 2015 Annual General Meeting.
Wonderful Punt Road journey
“I’m really excited about receiving this award and I would like to thank the people who voted me for this. The football club’s been a very special part of my life . . . I was 21 and Tommy was 23 when we came here and, wow, what a journey we had!”
Premiership success
“It’s devastating to lose premierships, but it’s so ecstatic to win them, and you never ever forget that. I hope in the next year you (coach Damien Hardwick) and your boys make new history here, too.”
My Tiger boys
“I still call all those players who played under Tommy my boys. I have beautiful girls in my family, but the boys are now about 60. I think I really should start calling them men. But, anyway, they did the job. They trained really hard and, although the clubrooms were pretty ordinary, that didn’t stop us from winning premierships.”
The Richmond football family
“It was different in those days, the players used to socialise at our place quite a bit. We would invite them for dinner and they would come over . . . In those days, the players used to have to have a job and they’d train Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We became a family – a football family, I always used to say.”
Tiger pride and passion
“Richmond Football Club, this great club, has been a big part of my life. It has been a great journey and a great love.”
