A Tribute Thread

[Books]

Next year will be the 20th anniversary of the Merger vote. In 1995 we finished close to the bottom. We had no money, few members and it felt like the glory days were behind us.
Few people could have predicted that by 2015 we would be a financial powerhouse, with over 70,000 members and celebrating a three-peat, something even the magnificent Hawthorn sides of the 80's never achieved.
So as we celebrate the present and the recent past, let's also take time to pay tribute to all those people, on and off the field, who have turned our club around and contributed to our current success.

 

[Books]

I'd like to make a special mention of Ian Dicker. Don Scott was the man who launched the campaign to stop the merger and he deserves our gratitude. But Ian Dicker poured so much time and effort and money into the club, without the fanfare or recognition that others get. From all I hear he is a humble, generous and thoroughly decent human being. So I send him a hearty thank you.

 

[bigton08]

Don Scott what a legend!! I handed over the $150.00 he asked to give the coffers to help save the club I attended the merger rally at glen ferrie went to the game at the G with the no merger sign... OMG I was 22 but I knew I had to save my club... And now at least I know my son will have a chance to be a hawk fan if he chooses to... Oh wow 20 years so hard to believe... Look where we are! I'm so glad I handed over that money...so glad! **** you Ross Oakley !!

 

[RelaxMax]

"A velcro hawk on a Melbourne jumper"

I will never forget that meeting or that gaame

 

[Books]

Lots of courageous decisions have been made along the way.

Trading Croad.
Appointing Clarkson.
At the times many people felt we paid overs for Burgoyne. And Gibson. And Hale. And Lake. And McEvoy. All those trades paid off.

 

[MightyHawks]

Cleaning out my parents house, always things to find...

 

[Flukey!]

Lots of courageous decisions have been made along the way.

Trading Croad.
Appointing Clarkson.
At the times many people felt we paid overs for Burgoyne. And Gibson. And Hale. And Lake. And McEvoy. All those trades paid off.

And Frawley topped us off nicely.

 

[Todman]

Updated to include the 2015 season
The aftermath of the Melbourne Hawks merger.
On Field ....(1997- 2015)............................................... Hawthorn ............................................. Melbourne
Head to Head ..................................................................... 20 ............................................................. 7
H&A wins ......................................................................... 230 ......................................................... 149
H&A losses ...................................................................... 181 .......................................................... 268
H&A Draws ...........................................................................2...............................................................3
Finals Series contested..........................................................10.............................................................. 6
Finals Wins .........................................................................19 ...............................................................6
Final loses ............................................................................8 .............................................................. 6
Grand finals ..........................................................................5............................................................... 1
Premierships.........................................................................4................................................................ 0
Brownlow Medalists ......................... Shane Crawford .... 1999 .........................................Shane Woewoedin.... 2000
Rising Star Winners..............................Sam Mitchell ..... 2003 .........................Jared Rivers.2004, Jesse Hogan 2015
Rising Star nominees .........................................................27 ......................................................................... 33
Coleman Medalists ...................................... Franklin 2008,2011, .................................................. David Neitz 2002
........................................................................ Roughead, 2013
Sacked Coaches ..................................................... 1 (Schwab) ............................. 4 (Balme, Daniher, Bailey, Neeld)
Off Field (from both clubs 2014 annual reports)

Members (1996) ............................................................12,484 .................................................................... 12,964
Presidents (since 1996)......................................................3 ................................................................................ 7
Members (2014) ............................................................ 68,650 .................................................................. 35,911
Revenue (2014) .......................................................... $ 67.6 Million ........................................................ $ 42 Million
Merchandise ............................................................... $ 5.0 Million .......................................................... $ 0.7 Million
Profit/(loss 2014) ..........................................................$ 3.4 Million ...................................................... $ 0.284Million
AFL Assistance 2014............................................................0 .....................................................................0…………
AFL Footy Dept tax ..........................………………………………………………………………………………0……………
Cash (2014) ..................................................................$ 9.7 Million ...................................................... $ 0.8 Million
Net Assets (2014) .................................................... $ 30 Million ........................................................... $ 3.5 Million

 

[Thaihawk]

I was at the Camberwell Civic Centre, and Glenferrie Oval, and the M.C.G. Like Bigton08 paid my bit to help the cause.

We had a hard and difficult entrance into the V.F.L. No big incentives like the recent teams got. We battled to the top and peaked in the 80s.

From information I received on the night of the meeting, I believe the whole merger was just a conspired plot to get Ridley into the top job at the V.F.L.

Thank you to all who voted against. Just imagine if we had failed, we would never have seen that term of endearment used by opposition posters, "poos and wees," on Big Footy.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

When I joined up as a member, many moons ago, we had around 7,000 members. We now have 10 times that amount, a remarkable achievement.

The one thing, possibly above all other that has thrilled me about our phoenix-style rise from the ashes and incredible success is the way we continue to thwart the ambitions of an AFL who is more interested in the growth and health of their bank account than the genuine growth and health of the game.

Ross Oakley was an arrogant man, and a stupid one. His continued snide remarks aimed at Hawthorn people fighting to keep our club alive were disgraceful, he was just a pig of a man. And to see the faces on Demetriou, and now Gilligan as Hodgey and Clarko raise yet another premiership cup has filled me full of pride knowing the club has once again triumphed over evil.

As the merger talks continued in 1996, living so far away it was hard to envisage the gravity of the situation, especially when I was hearing the words of Alan Jeans, Brian Coleman, Peter Hudson, people I had so much respect for, supporting the fact Hawthorn needed to merge to survive. In view of the fact we would have been lucky to have 10,000 members, as opposed to the likes of Collingwood, Essendon, Carlton, etc who had around 30,000 members, I was beginning to believe they had a point.

I held off filling in my voting slip until I attended the anti-merger game against Melbourne. Ironically, one of Melbourne's better players working so hard to keep Hawthorn out of the finals was none other than Alastair Clarkson. I attended the rally at Glenferrie before heading off to the MCG, and was gobsmacked by the almost rabid opposition to the merger.

Attending the game, the sea of brown and gold all around the ground was incredible to witness. I'd never seen so much support for the Hawks at a game before in my life. It was then that I knew the merger would be defeated, that the Hawks would survive, so I happily voted NO to the merger. Once the merger was defeated, I rang the club to renew my membership, and when they told me we had over 30,000 members I was so emotional. This thing was going to work!!! It must have been a great feeling for the people who worked and lived within the club to see the membership tally continue to climb as it did.

In the 19 years since that night, the Hawks have pulled out 4 flags, more than any other club. Ross Oakley, it's not possible to be any more wrong about something than you were. How does it feel?

However, the road to recovery wasn't easy, and despite growing membership there was a lot of work to be done on and off the field. For a short while we seemed to lose our way until the club made the first of several great decisions. It came in the form on the 2001 National Draft, Pick 1 ... Luke Hodge. What an inspired selection this was. People criticised us for not selecting Judd, but we didn't need a flashy midfielder, we needed a tough role player and on field leader. I am certain that had we not selected Hodgey, we wouldn't be experiencing the success we are having right now. Wouldn't have won the 2008 flag for a start.

Most people know how that draft began ... 1 Hodge, 2 Ball, 3 Judd, etc, but I wonder how many people recall pick 7 in that draft was David Hale for the Kangaroos? Later in the draft at 36 we selected some kid from Box Hill named Sam Mitchell. The 2001 draft was a monumental one for the Hawthorn Football Club.

Anyway, I've said enough. Could go on .. but I won't

 

[RelaxMax]

I was at the Camberwell Civic Centre, and Glenferrie Oval, and the M.C.G. Like Bigton08 paid my bit to help the cause.

We had a hard and difficult entrance into the V.F.L. No big incentives like the recent teams got. We battled to the top and peaked in the 80s.

From information I received on the night of the meeting, I believe the whole merger was just a conspired plot to get Ridley into the top job at the V.F.L.

Thank you to all who voted against. Just imagine if we had failed, we would never have seen that term of endearment used by opposition posters, "poos and wees," on Big Footy.

Some of us have even embraced it

 

[RelaxMax]

When I joined up as a member, many moons ago, we had around 7,000 members. We now have 10 times that amount, a remarkable achievement.

The one thing, possibly above all other that has thrilled me about our phoenix-style rise from the ashes and incredible success is the way we continue to thwart the ambitions of an AFL who is more interested in the growth and health of their bank account than the genuine growth and health of the game.

Ross Oakley was an arrogant man, and a stupid one. His continued snide remarks aimed at Hawthorn people fighting to keep our club alive were disgraceful, he was just a pig of a man. And to see the faces on Demetriou, and now Gilligan as Hodgey and Clarko raise yet another premiership cup has filled me full of pride knowing the club has once again triumphed over evil.

As the merger talks continued in 1996, living so far away it was hard to envisage the gravity of the situation, especially when I was hearing the words of Alan Jeans, Brian Coleman, Peter Hudson, people I had so much respect for, supporting the fact Hawthorn needed to merge to survive. In view of the fact we would have been lucky to have 10,000 members, as opposed to the likes of Collingwood, Essendon, Carlton, etc who had around 30,000 members, I was beginning to believe they had a point.

I held off filling in my voting slip until I attended the anti-merger game against Melbourne. Ironically, one of Melbourne's better players working so hard to keep Hawthorn out of the finals was none other than Alastair Clarkson. I attended the rally at Glenferrie before heading off to the MCG, and was gobsmacked by the almost rabid opposition to the merger.

Attending the game, the sea of brown and gold all around the ground was incredible to witness. I'd never seen so much support for the Hawks at a game before in my life. It was then that I knew the merger would be defeated, that the Hawks would survive, so I happily voted NO to the merger. Once the merger was defeated, I rang the club to renew my membership, and when they told me we had over 30,000 members I was so emotional. This thing was going to work!!! It must have been a great feeling for the people who worked and lived within the club to see the membership tally continue to climb as it did.

In the 19 years since that night, the Hawks have pulled out 4 flags, more than any other club. Ross Oakley, it's not possible to be any more wrong about something than you were. How does it feel?

However, the road to recovery wasn't easy, and despite growing membership there was a lot of work to be done on and off the field. For a short while we seemed to lose our way until the club made the first of several great decisions. It came in the form on the 2001 National Draft, Pick 1 ... Luke Hodge. What an inspired selection this was. People criticised us for not selecting Judd, but we didn't need a flashy midfielder, we needed a tough role player and on field leader. I am certain that had we not selected Hodgey, we wouldn't be experiencing the success we are having right now. Wouldn't have won the 2008 flag for a start.

Most people know how that draft began ... 1 Hodge, 2 Ball, 3 Judd, etc, but I wonder how many people recall pick 7 in that draft was David Hale for the Kangaroos? Later in the draft at 36 we selected some kid from Box Hill named Sam Mitchell. The 2001 draft was a monumental one for the Hawthorn Football Club.

Anyway, I've said enough. Could go on .. but I won't

I enjoyed reading that

First time I ever heard my Dad drop the F-bomb was over the support of the merger from Peter Hudson

It wasn't business

It was personal

 

[Thaihawk]

When I joined up as a member, many moons ago, we had around 7,000 members. We now have 10 times that amount, a remarkable achievement.

The one thing, possibly above all other that has thrilled me about our phoenix-style rise from the ashes and incredible success is the way we continue to thwart the ambitions of an AFL who is more interested in the growth and health of their bank account than the genuine growth and health of the game.

Ross Oakley was an arrogant man, and a stupid one. His continued snide remarks aimed at Hawthorn people fighting to keep our club alive were disgraceful, he was just a pig of a man. And to see the faces on Demetriou, and now Gilligan as Hodgey and Clarko raise yet another premiership cup has filled me full of pride knowing the club has once again triumphed over evil.

As the merger talks continued in 1996, living so far away it was hard to envisage the gravity of the situation, especially when I was hearing the words of Alan Jeans, Brian Coleman, Peter Hudson, people I had so much respect for, supporting the fact Hawthorn needed to merge to survive. In view of the fact we would have been lucky to have 10,000 members, as opposed to the likes of Collingwood, Essendon, Carlton, etc who had around 30,000 members, I was beginning to believe they had a point.

I held off filling in my voting slip until I attended the anti-merger game against Melbourne. Ironically, one of Melbourne's better players working so hard to keep Hawthorn out of the finals was none other than Alastair Clarkson. I attended the rally at Glenferrie before heading off to the MCG, and was gobsmacked by the almost rabid opposition to the merger.

Attending the game, the sea of brown and gold all around the ground was incredible to witness. I'd never seen so much support for the Hawks at a game before in my life. It was then that I knew the merger would be defeated, that the Hawks would survive, so I happily voted NO to the merger. Once the merger was defeated, I rang the club to renew my membership, and when they told me we had over 30,000 members I was so emotional. This thing was going to work!!! It must have been a great feeling for the people who worked and lived within the club to see the membership tally continue to climb as it did.

In the 19 years since that night, the Hawks have pulled out 4 flags, more than any other club. Ross Oakley, it's not possible to be any more wrong about something than you were. How does it feel?

However, the road to recovery wasn't easy, and despite growing membership there was a lot of work to be done on and off the field. For a short while we seemed to lose our way until the club made the first of several great decisions. It came in the form on the 2001 National Draft, Pick 1 ... Luke Hodge. What an inspired selection this was. People criticised us for not selecting Judd, but we didn't need a flashy midfielder, we needed a tough role player and on field leader. I am certain that had we not selected Hodgey, we wouldn't be experiencing the success we are having right now. Wouldn't have won the 2008 flag for a start.

Most people know how that draft began ... 1 Hodge, 2 Ball, 3 Judd, etc, but I wonder how many people recall pick 7 in that draft was David Hale for the Kangaroos? Later in the draft at 36 we selected some kid from Box Hill named Sam Mitchell. The 2001 draft was a monumental one for the Hawthorn Football Club.

Anyway, I've said enough. Could go on .. but I won't

One of the best posts I have read, AH. Great work, and I can remember that day vividly. That was just another GREAT HAWTHORN VICTORY.

 

[Todman]

I was at the Camberwell Civic Centre, and Glenferrie Oval, and the M.C.G. Like Bigton08 paid my bit to help the cause.

I too was there. And I was part of the crowd that shouted down Allan Jeans when he got up to speak on behave of the merger.
"For ten years I been telling yous how its gonna be......" the roar from the crowd meant I never heard the rest.

 

[Davo23]

When I joined up as a member, many moons ago, we had around 7,000 members. We now have 10 times that amount, a remarkable achievement.

The one thing, possibly above all other that has thrilled me about our phoenix-style rise from the ashes and incredible success is the way we continue to thwart the ambitions of an AFL who is more interested in the growth and health of their bank account than the genuine growth and health of the game.

Ross Oakley was an arrogant man, and a stupid one. His continued snide remarks aimed at Hawthorn people fighting to keep our club alive were disgraceful, he was just a pig of a man. And to see the faces on Demetriou, and now Gilligan as Hodgey and Clarko raise yet another premiership cup has filled me full of pride knowing the club has once again triumphed over evil.

As the merger talks continued in 1996, living so far away it was hard to envisage the gravity of the situation, especially when I was hearing the words of Alan Jeans, Brian Coleman, Peter Hudson, people I had so much respect for, supporting the fact Hawthorn needed to merge to survive. In view of the fact we would have been lucky to have 10,000 members, as opposed to the likes of Collingwood, Essendon, Carlton, etc who had around 30,000 members, I was beginning to believe they had a point.

I held off filling in my voting slip until I attended the anti-merger game against Melbourne. Ironically, one of Melbourne's better players working so hard to keep Hawthorn out of the finals was none other than Alastair Clarkson. I attended the rally at Glenferrie before heading off to the MCG, and was gobsmacked by the almost rabid opposition to the merger.

Attending the game, the sea of brown and gold all around the ground was incredible to witness. I'd never seen so much support for the Hawks at a game before in my life. It was then that I knew the merger would be defeated, that the Hawks would survive, so I happily voted NO to the merger. Once the merger was defeated, I rang the club to renew my membership, and when they told me we had over 30,000 members I was so emotional. This thing was going to work!!! It must have been a great feeling for the people who worked and lived within the club to see the membership tally continue to climb as it did.

In the 19 years since that night, the Hawks have pulled out 4 flags, more than any other club. Ross Oakley, it's not possible to be any more wrong about something than you were. How does it feel?

However, the road to recovery wasn't easy, and despite growing membership there was a lot of work to be done on and off the field. For a short while we seemed to lose our way until the club made the first of several great decisions. It came in the form on the 2001 National Draft, Pick 1 ... Luke Hodge. What an inspired selection this was. People criticised us for not selecting Judd, but we didn't need a flashy midfielder, we needed a tough role player and on field leader. I am certain that had we not selected Hodgey, we wouldn't be experiencing the success we are having right now. Wouldn't have won the 2008 flag for a start.

Most people know how that draft began ... 1 Hodge, 2 Ball, 3 Judd, etc, but I wonder how many people recall pick 7 in that draft was David Hale for the Kangaroos? Later in the draft at 36 we selected some kid from Box Hill named Sam Mitchell. The 2001 draft was a monumental one for the Hawthorn Football Club.

Anyway, I've said enough. Could go on .. but I won't

Very interesting post, AH.
I'm waiting for the next episode!

Just on Luke Hodge: for many years I've regarded the great big game players as Dermie Brereton and Gary Ayres; they were the players you looked to when a Grand Final was on the line and something special was needed.

Now, I have to add Hodgey to that, he's the latest Mr September (and October)!

 

[Thaihawk]

I too was there. And I was part of the crowd that shouted down Allan Jeans when he got up to speak on behave of the merger.
"For ten years I been telling yous how its gonna be......" the roar from the crowd meant I never heard the rest.

It was shattering listening to the crowd booing at Hawthorn people doing what they believed at the time was the right thing. The booing that night makes Goodes' noise like a whisper.

 

[dermott]

The real positive about the so called merger was that it got the Hawthorn supporters motivated to keep the club alive. Unfortunately before that many of our supporters were too complacent to take out membership or support the club financially. When it became clear the club could fold people emerged from the woodwork in great numbers and saved our great club.
Let this be a reminder to our younger supporters that poor management and complacency can sink any organisation.

 

[Roddy]

I distinctly remember, as the merger vote was approaching, the talk was very strong that it would go through. I thought about it long and hard, and by the day of the vote, I had made my decision and I was ready to barrack for the 'Melbourne Hawks'. I had made the psychological leap.
When it didn't go through, I was very happy. Then we were absolute rubbish for the next few years, and all I could think was 'maybe we should have merged. We'd all be used to it by now and we'd be a much stronger side.'
Then came the false dawn of 2001. I joined as a member at that point (and have remained ever since).
Then we were absolute rubbish again.
Now, obviously the merger vote and the tough times are strong but distant memories.
So that's my story, of the emotional roller coaster that being a Hawk supporter has been for he last 20 years...

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

What basically happened at Hawthorn in the mid 80s was you really only needed about $1 million in the bank to be a secure football club. Possibly not being aware of how much financial resource would be needed to compete in an expanded VFL with teams from WA and Qld coming in, the Hawks were sitting pretty.

So they decided to upgrade the Michael Tuck stand at Glenferrie including the offices underneath the stand. The whole project was quoted at $700,000 but when the final bill came in, it amounted to $1.6 million which pretty much blew our cash reserve. It was discovered the (then) President of the club (name withheld) had a conflict of interest as he had shares in the company who performed the upgrade.

He was dismissed, and when the new President took over, he discovered the vault was just about empty. Hawthorn had gone from being one of the most secure clubs in the competition to teetering on the edge financially. Then came the expanded competition where a lot more money was needed just to keep afloat, and the Hawks were losing the battle with each financial year.

Realising we had poor membership and very little chance to improve our lot, the board looked to amalgamation as our saviour. We learned the lesson as to how important it was to have a stable, reliable, and accountable group of people running the club.

Brian Coleman was a fine and loyal Hawthorn person who seriously thought he was doing the right thing by proposing the merger. The VFL were keen to merge clubs and make way for newer clubs from interstate, so they were offering attractive packages to any club/s who moved in that direction. However, Brian lacked the financial acumen of Ian Dicker who came along at precisely the right time and saved the club from the unthinkable. The timing of our Presidents has been perfect.

Dicker told the members to be patient while we re-built the club financially and on field successes would be few and far between. Once we reached the desirable destination, we turned to rebuilding the club on the field. A lot of people don't like Jeff Kennett, and he has his faults, but he was the perfect successor to Dicker in that he gave the club a profile, in pretty much the same way as Eddie Maguire at Collingwood. This made us attractive to any would be sponsors such as Tasmania.

Andrew Newbold is pretty much the quintessential President with his low key, no nonsense, just get the job done attitude. We have been blessed to have such capable and high quality people taking responsibility for the welfare of our club.

 

[RelaxMax]

I like how you write AH

 

[Flukey!]

Very interesting post, AH.
I'm waiting for the next episode!

Just on Luke Hodge: for many years I've regarded the great big game players as Dermie Brereton and Gary Ayres; they were the players you looked to when a Grand Final was on the line and something special was needed.

Now, I have to add Hodgey to that, he's the latest Mr September (and October)!

Its a really good point you make Davo23 on Hodgey.

Its easy to look back more fondly on the heroes of the past like Ayres and Brereton and Tuck and Matthews and Dunstall and Moore and say they were the best. Remembering that golden era those guys played in extended 20 years!

But Hodgey sits comfortably among those names now.

 

[bluespooner]

So what happens Adelaide Hawk in the event Norwood gets an AFL licence?

What Hawthorn has achieved on and off the field without the assistance of the AFL is truly remarkable. Compare this to the AFL largesse provided to the expansion clubs and the struggling melbourne clubs Melbourne and Carlton with the writing off of debts and one-off payments; something that Oakley was never going to provide to Hawthorn.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

So what happens Adelaide Hawk in the event Norwood gets an AFL licence?

It's never going to happen, so I don't even think about it.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Very interesting post, AH.
I'm waiting for the next episode!

Just on Luke Hodge: for many years I've regarded the great big game players as Dermie Brereton and Gary Ayres; they were the players you looked to when a Grand Final was on the line and something special was needed.

Now, I have to add Hodgey to that, he's the latest Mr September (and October)!

Hodgey's always been a favourite of mine. A good, tough, old fashioned player who should now rate favourably amongst the all time greatest players in the club. Hodgey would have sat most comfortably in our 1983-1991 era and would have been a star then too. Great player.

 

[crazywildhorse]

If Newbold is the quintessential president, Ross Oakley was the quintessential flog.