It’s 50 years ago this round since one of Richmond’s all-time greats played his first game of league football. Tony Greenberg takes a look at the dramatic Round 2, 1966 debut of Dick Clay...
No Richmond recruit has made the transition into league football amid more fanfare, publicity and controversy, than what Dick Clay did back in 1966.
Clay, a star key forward with Victorian country club Kyabram, had originally signed to play for North Melbourne.
He’d become the first player in the Goulburn Valley League to kick 100 goals in a season, finishing with 116 in 1964 and winning the competition’s Morrison Medal the same year.
The Kangaroos were convinced Clay was a future VFL star, and were delighted to have secured his signature on a Form Four agreement, which was valid for two years.
Richmond, however, along with several other league clubs, also expressed keen interest in the super-talented Clay.
With ruthless football secretary Graeme Richmond at the helm, the Tigers hatched a bold plan to remove Clay from North Melbourne’s clutches and steer him to Punt Road.
Clay played one practice match for North, but subsequently went cold on the idea of a league career with the Roos.
All the while, in the background, GR was doing his best work to convince Clay that Tigerland was where his football future lay.
Eventually, as was normally the case back then, GR won the day, with Clay agreeing to play for Richmond once North Melbourne’s hold on him had expired in April 1966.
The Roos were livid and they pleaded with the VFL for a full investigation into the Tigers’ tactics to secure Clay’s services. Clay was subsequently summoned to appear before the league’s permit committee.
After a lengthy hearing, however the VFL ruled in his, and Richmond’s, favour.
He was free to start his league career with the Tigers, and was immediately named at centre half-forward in their side for the Round 2 clash with Footscray at the MCG.
His opponent would be none other than ‘Mr Football’, the legendary Ted Whitten.
In the lead-up up to the match, Clay was front-page and back-page news. He was a household name before he’d even run out on to the field to play for Richmond.
Although Clay understandably was nervous, given the circumstances surrounding his league debut for the Tigers, he certainly didn’t let the huge build-up, or the occasion, get the better of him.
The 21-year-old, although a little astray with his kicking for goal (he finished with 0.4), had 22 disposals (19 kicks, three handballs) and took four marks in a fine, first-up display, as Richmond recorded a crushing 70-point win.
‘The Sun’ newspaper, in its review of the match, was full of praise for the way Clay handled the pressure of his debut performance . . .
“The much-publicised, controversial Dick Clay from Kyabram did much better than most Richmond officials and supporters dared hope.
Anyone who can win 19 kicks in his League debut against Ted Whitten has a bright and prosperous future ahead.
Clay put the mark of class on his work by making use of every kick.
He is certain to become the focal point of Richmond’s attack in the games to follow.
Dick Clay looked more like a player with 100 League games behind him than a first-game recruit in his debut with Richmond against Footscray at the MCG on Saturday.
Clay, 21, played a fine game, particularly in the first half, against Footscray captain and coach Ted Whitten.
He showed he had all the attributes of a top-class centre half-forward and is certain to be the focal player in Richmond’s attack this season.
He is a strong mark, a long kick and he has very quick recovery for a big man.
In the first half he outplayed Whitten to get 13 kicks and five marks.
After the half-time interval Whitten gained the upper hand, but Clay still picked up a further six kicks and also used handball to advantage.
In all, it was a fine debut for Clay, who has had the strain of permit worries hanging over his head for several weeks.”
Clay was typically modest in his assessment of his first-up effort, opposed to the mighty EJ Whitten.
“I knew Ted Whitten because he’d also been up to Kyabram to try to get me to play for Footscray,” Clay said.
“I got a few kicks early, but after half-time he gave me a couple of back-handers . . . that was Teddy. He probably knew it would slow me down a bit, so he gave me a couple to go on with.
“But I reckon I learnt more in that first game than I did for the next six months. Just the fact that whenever he got the ball he did something with it, and he was in the packs pushing and shoving and leading his charges on.
“He was just a classic player. Not that you’d stand back and watch him, but you’d think, “Shit, that was good.
“The club persisted with me even though I was pretty slight, keeping me at centre half-forward and full-forward for the rest of the season.”
Dubbed the ‘Kyabram Kid’, Clay quickly captured the imagination of the Tiger faithful due to his explosive pace, poise and long kicking.
Clay went on to play 213 games and kick 79 goals for the Tigers in a wonderful league career from 1966-76. He was a member of the Club’s premiership sides in 1967, 1969, 1973 and 1974, playing a key role in all four triumphs.
To highlight his amazing versatility, he was on a wing for the first two premiership wins, and then full-back for the next two. That, of course, was after making his debut with Richmond at centre half-forward, where he had been a sensation in country football.
A handy player by the name of Royce Hart pushed Clay out of the centre half-forward role in his debut season the following year (1967), but the original Kyabram Kid soon found his niche on a wing, before eventually becoming one of the competition’s best full-backs.
