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Opinion: Ashley Browne
What I’m thinking
with Ashley Browne
Final peg on a long line of success
Pioneering Richmond president Peggy O’Neal will host her last match-day function this week.
Sunday 1.10pm. It is the timeslot that those charged with getting people to come to the footy, especially when it involves forking out a few dollars to dress nicely and sit in a dining room, find the most challenging.
But the Richmond president’s lunch on the second level of the Northern Stand at the MCG this Sunday will be bursting at the seams with all 600 seats long sold out.
And not because of any particular anticipation ahead of a clash between the Tigers, who by their recent lofty standards aren’t exactly flying, and Hawthorn, well into rebuild mode and with nearly a quarter of its list already in rehab mode ahead of pre-season training for season 2023.
No. The reason why Sunday’s lunch is the hottest ticket in town is because it will be the last to be hosted by Peggy O’Neal, who steps down at the end of the season after 10 years of distinguished leadership as Richmond president.
Her story is remarkable.
Born and raised in a now abandoned coalmining town in West Virginia, she became the first member of her family to go to university, studying law at the University of West Virginia.
She met an Australian backpacker while holidaying in Greece and moved to Melbourne in 1989, settling in Richmond.
She was introduced to the local football team by friends and her interest soon became a passion. She started out as a player sponsor, helped form the club’s business network – the Tommy Hafey Club – and joined the board in 2005.
With her strong background in governance, she became an influential off-field figure at the Tigers and in 2013 replaced Gary March as president, becoming the first woman to hold such a position in the AFL.
It was the start of an enduring partnership with Brendon Gale as chief executive and Damien Hardwick as senior coach during which the Tigers shed their perennial ‘sleeping giant’ status to become the largest club in the AFL with three flags – 2017, 2019 and 2020 – and a membership base that surged past 100,000.
Using her background as one of Australia’s leading experts in risk, governance and compliance, O’Neal oversaw the Tigers becoming as formidable off the field as on it.
She displayed her mettle in 2016 when she stared down a rival group, Focus on Football, that wanted a spill of the board.
O’Neal was an impressive operator and moving her on didn’t seem quite right.
Nevertheless, a searching review of the football department led to Hardwick remaining as coach.
Favourite son – and premiership whisperer – Neil Balme finally returned home as director of football to complete the puzzle and the Tigers swept all before them over the next four years.
Channel Seven cameras showed O’Neal and Gale seated together at the MCG in the dying minutes of the 2017 Grand Final as the club closed in on its first flag in 37 years and, whereas Gale struggled to keep his emotions in check, O’Neal looked cool, calm and collected as she took it all in.
But don’t think for a moment she’s not passionate. “She hates to lose at anything,” Gale reminded this writer.
O’Neal won’t formally step down as president until the annual general meeting later this year, and her replacement won’t be known for at least another month.
Gale hasn’t yet really considered how life will be at Tigerland without the constant check-ins with O’Neal, but did reflect on the difficult conversations they had during the demanding COVID-afflicted 2020 season when he would call her from his base in the Queensland hub, often with worrying news.
“Oh, Brendon,” she would respond, with the unmistakeable air of disappointed parent.
O’Neal has been an inspiration and a role model for thousands of women across all levels of the game.
If the Tiger army has been her main constituency, then women in football have run a very close second and it is likely no coincidence that just as her final presidential function takes place, Richmond’s AFLW team will be on the MCG just a few metres below playing in a practice match against Hawthorn.
In keeping with her style, her final match-day address as president will be low-key.
But doubtless, she will end as always by saying, “May there be no injuries, no reports and let’s hear ‘Yellow and Black’ sung around the ground at the end of the game. Go Tigers.”
If the footy gods do their thing, they’ll grant her each of those one last time.
TIGER DYNASTY:
Peggy O’Neal, the AFL’s first female club president, formed a successful partnership with CEO Brendon Gale (above) and coach Damien Hardwick (right).
