Hawthorn to hold gala dinner to celebrate 2013 premiership
Hawthorn will celebrate a decade since its 2013 flag with a gala dinner in grand final week, but a cloud hangs over the attendance of some of the biggest names from that team.
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Hawthorn is spruiking $400-a-head tickets to a gala dinner celebrating its 2013 premiership and is hopeful most of the team, and coach Alastair Clarkson, will attend the event.
Hawks fans have been invited to the 10-year premiership reunion dinner in grand final week on Tuesday September 26, which will cap a current season which has been one of the most turbulent in club history.
Four-time premiership coach Clarkson recently slammed Hawthorn’s “shameful” conduct in launching a cultural review into the club’s practices that eventually led to an independent AFL investigation.
He remains at odds with his former club, which paid out the final season of his contract but still reminded him not to work for new club North Melbourne until his deal officially expired.
Clarkson would seem unlikely to attend the event, and while the Hawks are hopeful that can happen they are aware of his current issues with the club.
Cyril Rioli is in Darwin and has also fallen out with the club despite its efforts to bring him back into the fold.
Lance Franklin would be a star attraction if he attended the dinner and will likely have officially retired by then.
The club has given all premiership players advance warning of the dinner but is unsure if Franklin will attend.
Captain Luke Hodge and star Sam Mitchell, the current senior coach, will be joined at the event by most of the premiership participants.
There will likely be an informal player and coach-only function during the same week, which could be more likely to lure Clarkson if it does not have any official ties to the club.
In June, Rioli was one of a group of former players and their families which issued an open letter about Hawthorn’s conduct as he prepares to take Clarkson and co. to the Human Rights Commission.
In that letter the individuals said their “confidence was betrayed” by Hawthorn.
“We are some of the Indigenous families who endured racism at the Hawthorn Football Club,” they stated.
“We were separated from our families. We were told an unborn child would ruin our futures. We were treated as special projects and control of our lives was taken from us.”
The club’s chief executive Justin Reeves moved on this year in part because of the fallout of the First Nations inquiry, which was disbanded with no charges laid against Clarkson, Chris Fagan or staffer Jason Burt.
The trio have denied any wrongdoing.
The 2013 group outlasted an inaccurate Fremantle by 14 points in a team that included Luke Hodge, Brian Lake, Jarryd Roughead, Franklin, Rioli, Sam Mitchell, Josh Gibson and Shaun Burgoyne.
Fans can pay $400 for the gold package, $245 for the silver option or $2013 for a special package, which includes two tickets and a commemorative 2013 premiership guernsey.
Originally published as Hawthorn to hold gala dinner to celebrate 2013 premiership
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