1967, THE YEAR OF THE TIGER
[transcribed from a 1968 RFC publication]
Part 1 - WINNING THE FLAG
The 1967 Richmond premiership win over the talented Geelong side has already been described as one of the most sensational and spectacular VFL grand finals ever played.
Even the old-timers rate it as almost on a par with the 1937 Geelong-Collingwood grand final, "the greatest game ever", and this is extremely high praise.
It places the 1967 Richmond combination among the greats, a place they earned with a combination of brains and brawn, and a good dose of football brilliance.
Possibly the most significant feature of the premiership win was this: FOR THE FIRST TIME A RICHMOND SIDE HAD TAKEN THE FLAG WITHOUT PREVIOUS FINALS EXPERIENCE.
In fact, Richmond are the only side to achieve this feat in the League. Nearest to them are Hawthorn who won in 1961, after some of their players had been in the 1957 finals.
Even in the early days of the VFL, the premiership teams were experienced finalists from their Association days.
Although Richmond had the Melbourne Cricket Ground as their home ground, and this helped them in the finals, it was still a great effort. Many splendid sides in the past have folded up in a grand final because of nervous strain.
The 1967 Richmond team had as much nervous tension as any other grand finalist. They knew it was up to them to break a 24-year-long football drought -Richmond's dreariest run without a premiership.
Some football commentators have claimed that Geelong were the better team although they lost the premiership. They point out that Richmond's teamwork was not as smooth throughout the game as it should be.
But in saying this they are overcritical, and fail to give Richmond due credit. The Richmond players are men, not machines, and came through a nerve-wracking ordeal extremely well.
When all the shouting about disputed decisions died down after the grand final, the hard fact was that Richmond had beaten Geelong for the third time in the season.
To win the premiership they had to hold off a third quarter burst by Geelong which would have paralysed any other side, and then had to prove their courage time after time in a hair-raising last quarter when the scores changed with almost terrifying rapidity.
In the end it was the great heart of the Richmond players, rather than their football skills, which won the premiership.
It was resurgence of the true Tiger tradition where players keep going until they drop, and refuse to consider defeat no matter what happens.
The 1967 team is a team to honor.
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Part 2 - THE PLANNING
The most far-reaching decision ever made by the Richmond Football Club committee was to switch to the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1965. It was also the most rewarding.
After languishing in the football shadows for so long, the Tigers suddenly were catapulted into the limelight.
With a team tailor-made for their new ground, they became the glamour team of the Victorian Football League as thousands upon thousands of spectators flocked to see them in action.
Trial and error, painstaking experiments, years of worry eventually produced the players good enough to win the flag.
Coach Tom Hafey provided the extra spark, the enthusiasm and the drive to turn hope into reality, and now Richmond have the premiership cup.
To a new generation of football fans, even Richmond barrackers, who did not know the record of the great past premiership sides, the sharp rise of the Tigers to football power came as a surprise.
They had thought that Richmond, like St Kilda, Hawthorn, Footscray and North Melbourne, had always been underdogs, and were tasting victory at last.
But this is not so. Richmond have by far the best record of the "new" teams in the VFL, those admitted by invitation, and on merit, after the original competition started in 1897.
Richmond came into the League in 1908. Hawthorn, Footscray and North Melbourne entered in 1925.
In 60 seasons, Richmond have made the four 23 times, more times than South Melbourne and St Kilda who were VFL foundation members. And they are almost equal with Fitzroy.
Richmond's six premierships rate them equal fifth on the list of VFL premiership winners, and they could have been higher still.
Ten times, Richmond sides have had the galling experience of finishing second, but there are no cheers, and no rewards for the runners-up.
Their percentage of runners-up to premierships is the highest of any League club, apart from South Melbourne.
Richmond now are the major drawcard of Victorian football, watched by well over 500,000 people each year.
They aim to stay that way, and keep their premiership touch. Maybe at last they can improve that ratio between firsts and seconds.
The future looks bright because in 1967 Richmond seniors and under 19s were premiers, with the Reserves runners-up, giving the Tigers the club championship for the first time. The Fourths (under 17s) also won a flag.
