Discussion Who remembers the Doug Cox affair?

I was just thinking about this a few weeks ago....for those of you that were too young at the time or for those who haven't given it a thought....here's a quick summary.

The year is 1981.....a few years before the dark,dark years descended on us in the mid 80"s.

We recruited a player named Doug Cox from an Adelaide club(he was originally from South Mildura)

From memory,about 1/2 way during the season Richmond lodged a protest to the VFL that the trade was illegal due to a zoning issue/rule at the time(Mildura was Richmond's zone in those days).....Protest upheld YIKES !!!!

Somehow...amazingly we had won 2 games at this point(our usual quota per year during a lot of the 80's)

The AFL stripped us of the 8 points.....and we "plunged" to the bottom of the ladder(sound familiar)all at St.Kilda and supporters were stunned.
And fined 5K to rub it in !!!!

We played Richmond a little later at VFL Park and the tension everywhere was at fever pitch....you could just feel it in the stands(I was about to explode).....it was billed as the "Grudge match"......over 40.000 were that day and we took it up to them but they ran over us in the last 1/4.

Later in the season the AFL amended those rules and our 8 points were reinstated.

I tell the story to Saints Supporters who weren't following us back then and they look at me and say.."NAH...your making that up"...they are amazed when they realize it really did happen.
 
Oct 20, 2007
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I hope you don't mind me contributing to this, but yes I do recall it, albeit faintly. When the VFL ruled that Cox should have a Richmond player, I think that we actually then 'cleared' Cox back to St Kilda for a transfer fee, which was the norm in those days. He then continued to play for the Saints. The game itself at Waverley was a ripper with the Tigers kicking 11 goals in the 1st quarter, but the Saints hit back and actually took the lead late in the 3rd quarter.
 
I hope you don't mind me contributing to this, but yes I do recall it, albeit faintly. When the VFL ruled that Cox should have a Richmond player, I think that we actually then 'cleared' Cox back to St Kilda for a transfer fee, which was the norm in those days. He then continued to play for the Saints. The game itself at Waverley was a ripper with the Tigers kicking 11 goals in the 1st quarter, but the Saints hit back and actually took the lead late in the 3rd quarter.
Your memory is better than mine.....gee...the Tiges kicked 11 in the first 1/4.....no wonder I don't remember that.......LOL..

GULP......the only thing I do remember about the game was the crowd was in a frenzy at some point...it must have been with the Saints mounting a comeback.
 
Oct 20, 2007
1,138
2,193
Cranbourne, Vic
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Richmond
Your memory is better than mine.....gee...the Tiges kicked 11 in the first 1/4.....no wonder I don't remember that.......LOL..

GULP......the only thing I do remember about the game was the crowd was in a frenzy at some point...it must have been with the Saints mounting a comeback.

The return match at Moorabbin later in the year was a historic one as well. It was the day that the Senior & Reserve Umpires went on strike, so the round was umpired by the Under 19 panel of Umps. For the record, Richmond won the game at Moorabbin with a goal after the siren from Paul Sarah.
 
Do you remember who played his first game for us the day Morwood and Foschini lined up against Geeliong.
When Foschini came to the Saints i was in my mid teens. I liked him. Played some good games for us and loved a goal.

Went from the Swans
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To the Courts
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Then to the Mighty Saints
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Do you remember who played his first game for us the day Morwood and Foschini lined up against Geeliong.
I'll take a punt and say it was "Whacko Jacko"......aka "The Clown Prince".....I'm pretty sure he was in that time frame....what on earth were we thinking !!!!!!!

Who could forget his handstands....
 
The return match at Moorabbin later in the year was a historic one as well. It was the day that the Senior & Reserve Umpires went on strike, so the round was umpired by the Under 19 panel of Umps. For the record, Richmond won the game at Moorabbin with a goal after the siren from Paul Sarah.
What a great flashback that info is.....well done.....

An umpire strike....were they p...... off with OPSM or something...LOL...
 
Oh...it was Plugger....got that wrong...thought it was "Whacko Jacko"...

I remember Prez Lindsay Fox creating all sorts of heartburn down at VFL HQ over High Court challenges etc.....

I also remember at the AGM a year or 2 after the Doug Cox affair...Prez getting up and referring to it and saying.."Every dog has it's day"

Ummmm....I'm still waiting.... LOL.....
 
Oh...it was Plugger....got that wrong...thought it was "Whacko Jacko"...

I remember Prez Lindsay Fox creating all sorts of heartburn down at VFL HQ over High Court challenges etc.....

I also remember at the AGM a year or 2 after the Doug Cox affair...Prez getting up and referring to it and saying.."Every dog has it's day"

Ummmm....I'm still waiting.... LOL.....
Hey mate you might be right.
I just thought it was Plugger cos he debut in 83 didnt he?
But Jacko was there as well.
We need somebody who isnt a lazy arse like me to go back through the stats and check.
 
Was there for all those Cox, Morwood, Foschini & Plugger games.

As I recall it, at the Richmond game at VFL Park we had a banner which read something like "Hands Off Our Cox" :D
 

borderbarry

Premiership Player
Sep 10, 2006
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Cox was a bigger version of Grant Thomas.

Can anyone help me with the Lester Ross affair? My memory is that we picked him up from Prahran. He got three brownlow votes in his first game. Prahran was booted out of the VFA over the incident. Prahran was forced into the Metropolitan comp for the season. It was either 1956 or 57. I was playing for Thornbury in that comp and I remember playing against and getting thrashed by Prahran.

Does anyone remember what the issue was with Lester's tranfer?
 
I was just thinking about this a few weeks ago....for those of you that were too young at the time or for those who haven't given it a thought....here's a quick summary.

The year is 1981.....a few years before the dark,dark years descended on us in the mid 80"s.

We recruited a player named Doug Cox from an Adelaide club(he was originally from South Mildura)

From memory,about 1/2 way during the season Richmond lodged a protest to the VFL that the trade was illegal due to a zoning issue/rule at the time(Mildura was Richmond's zone in those days).....Protest upheld YIKES !!!!

Somehow...amazingly we had won 2 games at this point(our usual quota per year during a lot of the 80's)

The AFL stripped us of the 8 points.....and we "plunged" to the bottom of the ladder(sound familiar)all at St.Kilda and supporters were stunned.
And fined 5K to rub it in !!!!

We played Richmond a little later at VFL Park and the tension everywhere was at fever pitch....you could just feel it in the stands(I was about to explode).....it was billed as the "Grudge match"......over 40.000 were that day and we took it up to them but they ran over us in the last 1/4.

Later in the season the AFL amended those rules and our 8 points were reinstated.

I tell the story to Saints Supporters who weren't following us back then and they look at me and say.."NAH...your making that up"...they are amazed when they realize it really did happen.

I sort of remember it , but I was pretty young , didn't really understand what was happening.


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Wasn't Cox in the Army or something and got transferred to Victoria from SA . I also think he may have gone on to play for Essendon for a short period but I could be wrong.


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Now I could be wrong as my memory isn't as good as it once was . But the week before I turned up at Moorabbin at half time in the twos and watched the second half before the main game . There was this big kid playing full forward totally dominating the game . I didn't know who it was as I forgot to buy a record that day . The following week he was promoted. It was Lockett. Now can someone check somewhere , was that the only reserve game he played or had he played some others that I missed ? It makes it a good story to say it was his only reserve game and I was there , lol, but I don't know how true it was .


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Harvey to Hayes

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Jun 8, 2003
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Doug Cox coached the reserves at my Club in Brisbane in the late-'90s, I was in seniors so never played directly under him but would always have a beer after games and at functions and discuss his time at Saints, really nice guy.

I was at that game at VFL Park when Foschini and Morwood played their first game, even as a youngster it felt like we'd finally had a win off-field after years of being screwed over. I loved Silvio, had is name/number on my duffle coat for his whole time with us.

I miss looking at people's duffle coats, why did that disappear?
 
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