The football solution

This book was partly written in response to Richmond Football Club winning the Australian Rules Premiership in 2017. Richmond has now won twelve premierships since the club joined the Victorian Football League in 1908. As there had been a 37 year drought between the premierships of 1980 and 2017s the 2017 victory was well and truly celebrated by members and fans of the Richmond Football Club. Since then the success of the club has continued with the team finishing on top of the AFL ladder in 2018, but not making the Grand Final, followed in 2019 with both the first and second teams winning premierships.

Many articles have recently been written along with discussions in the media that Richmond Football Club is special in Melbourne not just because it has the largest membership of any AFL team but because there is a distinct and special culture within the club which affects the on field and off field performances of the team. Richmond Football Club has faced many ups and downs and for years there was a feeling of 'not 9th again' at the end of each season. However good club management, long term goals, faith in the coach and players (even in tough times) and a feeling of inclusion and support among team members has resulted in a cohesive team of skilled, dedicated and successful players.

George Megalogenis has written this book analysing the history and development of the club since its inclusion in the VFL / AFL and equating it with how leaders in Australian politics and economics could learn from observing how the Richmond Football Club is managed.

The book is divided into three time periods - 1850s to 1960s, 1970s to 2000s and 2010-2017. The author looks initially at the development of Australian Rules Football from its beginnings to the place it holds in many states today. Starting in Victoria it has grown into a natioanl sport although the stronghold is primarily in the southern states. Megalogensis looks at the suburb of Richmond and the relevance of football to that suburb over the years.Support for Richmond Football Club has now extended across the state of Victoria.

The author argues that, as in sport, tribalism has become a part of Australian politics with policy often driven by opinion polls rather than by sound management. He compares this with the changes made in the management the Richmond in 2010 which included the introduction of collaborative management, stable leadership plus  long term goals to improve the perfomance of the club. Despite criticism from the public at one stage the board continued to back the coach and players and, as they say, the rest is history.