The Hafey Years by Elliot Cartledge

The last few Christmasses I’ve had football books on my wish list, specifically those that relate to the Richmond Football Club in some way, shape or form, and this year was no exception. Santa had a copy of The Hafey Years by journalist and fellow Richmond tragic Elliot Cartledge in his sack for me.

To bring anyone who isn’t aware up to speed: between the years of 1966 and 1976 the Richmond Football Club was coached by former player Tommy Hafey. While Hafey was a modestly talented player, he was a revolutionary coach with an extraordinary ability of getting players to give their utmost, and in his ten years at the helm of the Tigers he delivered 4 Premierships, including the back to back efforts of the 1973 and 74 seasons. Although Richmond did win the 1980 flag, beating arch rival Collingwood by what was then a record winning margin, the years since Tommy Hafey’s departure have been pretty barren.

The book is written from an unashamedly Richmond viewpoint, although it does not attempt to paint a rose coloured picture of anyone involved with the club at the time. Players and officials are human and they have their strengths and their weaknesses. In the case of legendary administrator Graeme Richmond, his strength and weaknesses are often one and the same. While GR had a lot to do with the success enjoyed by the Tigers during the Hafey Years, he was also largely responsible for the team’s fall from grace; a pit they are still struggling to climb out of.

Having lived through the Hafey era, although being a kid during all of it my memories are fairly incomplete, the book was a trip down memory lane for me. Even the players and games I don’t recall well or at all I have memories of my parents, in particular my father, speaking fondly about. It’s a time that many of us, who are desperate to see the team succeed again often relive or long to return to, and Cartledge’s book with it’s quarter by quarter descriptions of the Premiership games, interviews with the players, officials and in some cases the opposition, certainly did that for me, and probably will for many other supporters.

The research in the book is considerable and sheds light on some incidents I had heard of, but been unaware of the full circumstances of. Readers can come to understand people like the often frustrating and eternally enigmatic Billy Barrott or the mercurially talented, but volatile Neil Balme. I even gained more of an insight into the driven Kevin Sheedy, who has been in the media spotlight as a coach and outspoken part of the game ever since he hung up his boots in the late 1970’s.

Many of the names in The Hafey Years are spoken with a hushed reverence by Richmond supporters: Paddy Guinane, Fred Swift, Roger Dean, Royce Hart, Kevin Bartlett, Dick Clay, even the backroom power broker Graeme Richmond and Hafey himself. The book pulls no punches and examines the reasons for the club’s success and why it eventually fell apart.

One thing I was struck by when reading was the similarity with the circumstances of the club just prior to Hafey’s arrival as coach and now. It gives me hope that things are finally turning around and that the Tigers are on the track to some onfield success at long last.

Fans and students of the game will get something out of The Hafey Years, regardless of club affiliation, but the book was written by and for Richmond supporters. If you were fortunate enough to see the club during all or some of the Hafey years then you will love reliving that golden period when the Tigers ruled the AFL (VFL as it was then) jungle. If you’re a supporter who did not see the powerful Richmond of the late 1960’s and 70’s then you’ll still get a smile from The Hafey Years as it will remind you why you follow the Tigers and exactly what the club is like when it’s up and about.

Any Richmond supporter will find The Hafey Years a fascinating and enjoyable experience. One of the best descriptions of the team and it’s success that I’ve been privileged enough to read.

Ben Cousins My Life Story

I couldn’t help but compare Ben Cousins My Life Story with Matthew Richardson and Martin Flanagan’s Richo, about the only things the 2 have in common is that they’re both football biographies and the subjects of them spent time playing for Richmond Football Club. Whereas Richo is described as ‘not a normal football book’, My Life is very much a 'normal football book'. It essentially chronicles the life and times of Ben Cousins in the man’s own words (I suspect it was ‘ghosted’ by someone though).

I was a little surprised that Cousins decided to call the book My Life Story and not Such Is Life (the final words of bushranger Ned Kelly, Ben called his documentary that, he has the words tattooed across his stomach and he admits to identifying with the legendary bushranger). The early part of the book is pretty much like that of every other footballers biography out there. Brief family history, early years, adolescence, getting picked by an AFL club, fitting in, becoming a decent player, etc… That is until Ben discovers ‘recreational’ drugs.

For almost a decade Cousins managed to avoid detection, although he was regularly using and abusing drugs of dependence. He did this with a mixture of cunning and luck, he also used the somewhat flawed testing system along with it’s 3 strikes policy that the AFL uses to check their players. I suspect many people bought the book for the story of Ben on drugs and the author doesn’t shy away from any of that. I did wonder how he hadn’t managed to accidentally kill himself or completely fry his brain on some of his binges. While he may be hard on himself and remarkably honest about what he was up to during those times, he seems to let a few well known (some were team mates) friends off easily and probably omits certain details about them.

Being a Richmond supporter one part of the book I found of great personal interest were Ben’s views on team captain Chris Newman and former player now assistant coach Wayne Campbell. Because when it comes to how he sees people on pure football terms he doesn’t tend to pull punches it was interesting to see that he has very opinions of both men. Up until this point I wasn’t too sure about Newman’s leadership capabilities or Campbell’s coaching ability. According to Ben I was wrong.

For an honest and confronting account of how someone who had absolutely everything going for them: looks, talent, wealth, money and success, could nearly throw it all away because of an addiction I’d recommend Ben Cousins My Life Story.

Richo

It is stated at the very beginning, the first chapter in fact, that this is not a normal football book. Journalist Martin Flanagan got that right, probably just as well, because his subject was not a normal footballer. Over 282 games and 17 seasons Matthew ‘Richo’ Richardson alternately amused, amazed and annoyed supporters, coaches, players and commentators. Quite often he did all 3 in the one game.

Martin Flanagan doesn’t just talk about the man they called ‘Richo’, that’s because the book is not just about him. It’s got all his facts and figures, it describes some of the games, it talks about the great moments of his career, but there’s so much more in this book.

‘Richo’ is a celebration of the game and the people around it. There are stories about Matthew Richardson’s life, the history of his family and some of the people who have been with him on his incredible journey, but then there are stories that Flanagan just seemed to dig up. Little bits of history, musing on the state of the game then and now. Stories about the club that ‘Richo’ gave his life to; the Richmond football club, stories about players from other clubs, those clubs themselves and from outside of the AFL itself.

I think what makes ‘Richo’ work is that it’s a book about someone who loves the game, by someone who loves the game, although they come from separate worlds. Matthew Richardson was a player, one of the greats and Martin Flanagan was never able to play the game at the top level, but has devoted his life to writing about it. I was pleased when I found out that Martin Flanagan was the journalist who was going to write ‘Richo’s’ story. I’ve always enjoyed Flanagan’s everyman way of looking at the game and writing about it. Martin Flanagan is not like many of his contemporaries who are ex-players or objective journalists, he’s a storyteller and this is a great story.

Three Days Before

Cerebus is suitably horrified and annoyed to see the walking irritation that is Elrod step back into his life. He promptly knocks the albino unconscious mid sentence, and bundles him into a cab, (coincidentally driven by the same cabbie that took Cerebus to the Rams Lords Tavern the night he arrived in Iest) with orders to put him on a ship going somewhere very far away.

Once safely back behind The Regency's doors, Cerebus heads for his room to stay out of trouble. Before he can get there he is accosted by a well dressed and groomed young man who starts spouting some sort of prophecy at him. Initially Cerebus has no idea who this is, until he introduces himself as Bran Mac Mufin (despite the fact that he's spelling the surname differently it is the leader of the Pigts, last encountered in issue #5). Convinced that any association with Mac Mufin (these days due to a derogatory nickname supporters of my Aussie Rules team; the Richmond Tigers, have bestowed upon the less than brilliant Jordan McMahon, I have problems disassociating the two, in fact I think I'd rather prefer that we had the Pigtish leader on our list) will only cause trouble Cerebus waves him away, and continues onto his room. It appears that people from the aardvark's past are popping up all over Iest. The reason for this will become apparent at the end of the chapter.

Thinking that he has now successfully avoided all possibilities of trouble, and can tell Astoria 'Nyah-Nyah!' when she returns, and he is sitting quietly in his room doing nothing, Cerebus enters the room only to find a dripping wet Elrod waiting there for him. About to throw Elrod out the window, Cerebus is startled by the Moon Roach appearing there and vowing to kill everyone who attempts to help the aardvark. Cerebus is about to climb out the window, and give chase when Elrod tells Cerebus that the Roach can't possibly carry out his threat, because Cerebus' actions in bringing the Inquisition to it's knees has garnered him more friends and allies than the Moon Roach could ever wipe out single handedly.

Astoria reenters, and before Cerebus can stop him Elrod introduces himself to her, and then takes his leave. Instead of being angry with him, Astoria asks Cerebus how he managed to cultivate the most charismatic swordsman in Estarcion as a friend. Cerebus cannot believe this. To me this illustrated that ever since he arrived in Iest Cerebus has been so busy concentrating on his own issues that he never even thinks about the greater world outside of himself. Cerebus only cares for one person and that is Cerebus, he often does this to the exclusion of all else. At times the aardvark seems completely cut off from the world around him.

Cerebus demands an apology from Astoria for remaining out of trouble while she was gone, she's about to grant it grudgingly, and mentions telling the desk clerk to cancel all her appointments while she was gone, when suddenly Cerebus remembers that he didn't do that.

Astoria goes downstairs to try and put right what missing all her appointments has messed up, and comes back to tell Cerebus that she's going to need 500 crowns. Cerebus has 1,000 crowns that she gave him on the day the Elf left, so gives Astoria 500. Once he's gone Astoria opens a hidden safe, and puts the 500 with the neat piles of crowns that Cerebus is obviously unaware she has hoarded. While she is closing the safe Elrod reenters to give Astoria an invitation that he forgot for Cerebus.

Astoria looks at the invitation, and sees with wide eyes that it is an invitation to Lord Julius' Petuniacon at The Regency with guest of honour King Elrod of Melvinbone (Lord Julius' nominee to be the next ranking diplomatic representative of Palnu in Iest).

The bit about Petuniacon made clear to me the title of the issue (Three Days Before), and why people like Elrod and Bran from Cerebus' past had suddenly bobbed up. By this stage in the life of the comic I'm betting Dave had been to his fair share of cons (short for convention, they're very popular amongst sci-fi/fantasy fans and comic book collectors), and this was his little joke about them. It was a successful stepping stone of an issue and had some very interesting things: Astoria's hoarding of money, Cerebus' growing popularity, Elrod's fame and relationship with Lord Julius, and the reappearance of Bran Mac Mufin.

There are some characters in long running TV shows, book series and comics that make fans react when they reappear. In Cerebus Elrod was one such character. Most fans like him. I never really did. Once you got past the fact that he bore a similar name to a popular Moorcock hero, and looked like the same character, but was totally incompetent, and spoke like Foghorn Leghorn that was it, joke over. By the time he came back into the book in High Society I felt that the character had outlived his usefulness. He was still wearing the outdated medieval style dress that made him an anachronism in cosmpolitan Iest, which favoured an almost 19th century Victorian mode of dress and lifestyle, yet we were supposed to believe that people saw him as a dashing, charismatic heroic type. Yet the fans and Dave liked the character enough that this would be far from the last time we saw the albino.