Richmond’s army caught waiting

Pictures worth a thousand words…Richmond’s long line and long march – the long wait of the yellow and black army

By Steve Alomes

Sometimes, in the cliché, pictures are worth a thousand words – they tell a story visually and symbolically, more than mere prose.

A couple of years ago a December ‘garage sale’ at Punt Rd caught the essence of the Richmond story.

At 10am on a grey day, a long queue waited in the light rain (or for those seduced by Americanese a ‘long line’). Somehow, it symbolised an army and its long wait and perhaps its long march towards the finals for most of the past three decades. It was a real queue, not a virtual queue waiting for ticketcrash.com.au to sell you a ticket.

I had always been a Tiger – Yes, that means Hobart, the club which produced Ian Stewart, Burnie Payne, Ron McGowan and Jeremy Howe and other VFL/AFL players – so the yellow and black still tugged on the heartstrings, even a foreign yellow and black to a Cat man.

And there they were, waiting in the rain, hoping for footies, jumpers, scarves and future glory….

And I was there, also waiting – for pics, as in our visual era.

From Yarra Park trees to MCG dreams

From Yarra Park trees to MCG dreams

Wet December dreams of sun and premierships

Wet December dreams of sun and premierships

Even the warehouse is on the long road

Even the warehouse is on the long road

Recycled game style perhaps?

Recycled game style perhaps?

The romance of the jumper

The romance of the jumper

Where's the ball asks the tiger, oops dog

Where’s the ball asks the tiger, oops dog

Steve Alomes’ book Australian Football The People’s Game 1958-2058 is a richly illustrated exploration of footy’s past, present and future, available only from wallawallapress.com. As well as exploring dreams and hopes, and stories, it is the only footy book to discuss sports science, although briefly.  (See reviews at trove.nla.gov.au)

 

 

Comments

  1. Cheryl Critchley says

    Great pix Steve. Looks like one of the old queues for finals tickets in the 1970s when people used to line up overnight at the MCG/Punt Rd and Alice Wills would hand out place numbers and keep everyone in line. Alice is now 93 and around. Hopefully she’ll be here for the next flag too!

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