Crows fans vent their anger as board member Mark Ricciuto apologises for comments that disgruntled fans can barrack for someone else
As Adelaide announces a wholesale review, fans continue to vent their anger following yet another disappointing season and comments board member Mark Ricciuto later apologised for. See what they and our footy experts have to say.
- Your chance to write an open letter to the Crows board
- Roos comments spark fan fury
- This just proves its time Crows members have more say
HUNDREDS of Crows supporters have signed a petition calling for more transparency from the club’s leadership.
Five members of the Crows-Cast podcast penned the petition calling for an end to what they say is a “closed-ranks” approach from the club.
About 600 people have signed the petition, which was emailed to the club on Monday.
The petition accuses the Crows administration of being “arrogant, dismissive and insular”.
“We want action. We want change. We want you to be honest with yourselves and us,” the petition says. “We demand an open, honest and transparent review of the club. From the board to the boot studder.”
Podcast organiser Rob (who asked his surname not to be published) said members felt powerless and it was time for change.
“We’ve got a point where we felt like we were powerless because as members and supporters we don’t have a vote, or any sort of mechanism to instigate change at the club,” Rob said.
“We felt like at least putting a petition together it was at least a way for us to communicate with the club that the supporters were itching for change and uneasy with the direction the club is heading.”
Anthony Phillips and Ali Schiller, who together make up the TwoCrows podcast, have started a social media hashtag — #premiershipsbeforeprofits — to send the message to the club that supporters are tired of indifferent on-field performances.
“It’s great that we have a very healthy balance sheet, but we exist to win finals and premierships but since 2017 we’ve gone backwards,” Phillips, who has been a paying member for seven years, said.
“I love the club dearly and I try and defend them as much as I can, but the last two years it’s impossible because … there appears to be a lack of authenticity towards fans and members.”
Phillips said he was reconsidering paying for his membership next year because he couldn’t see the hope.
Schiller, who has been a Crows member for 26 years, agreed that Ricciuto’s comments were not what members and fans needed to hear at the end of another disappointing season.
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“Members need reassurance right now and it felt like we got a clip instead,” she said.
“I haven’t seen this much disharmony with how Crows members are feeling in the whole time I’ve supported the club, and I’ve been through all of the bad stuff as well as the good.”
Justin Ahrns is a Victorian-based teenager who loves the Adelaide Football Club.
“I’m 19, supported the Crows my entire life, have watched every game since I became a fan, I have never seen a premiership,” he told The Advertiser.
“But, I’ve always enjoyed the ride. I’ve enjoyed the promise of youth, the legacy of retiring legends, the fast-paced game style.
“This year, however, all I have felt is anger. Frustration. I’ve never felt so disconnected with the club as I do right now.”
And that feeling has been made all the worse by weekend comments from Adelaide board member Mark Ricciuto — made inside a wide-ranging six-minute radio interview on Sunday — that Crows fans should support the club’s decision-makers or “maybe they don’t need to barrack for the footy club”.
Despite Ricciuto’s apology, Ahrns said it felt like the club had made a concerted effort to ignore the opinions of supporters.
“We don’t want a scapegoat. We want a mass exodus of the filth that has destroyed the very soul of our club … we want respect from administration.”
EXPERTS HAVE THEIR SAY
INAUGURAL Crows coach Graham Cornes has commended Mark Ricciuto for apologising to angry fans after suggesting that those unwilling to back the club’s decisions should no longer support the tri-colours.
Cornes said Ricciuto, the 2003 Brownlow Medallist, eight-time all-Australian and three-time club best and fairest, had always will be a warrior and a legend of the club.
“His club’s under attack, he’s fighting back, maybe a little bit too vigorously, but to his credit he’s apologised,” Cornes said.
“Some fans are saying horrible things … he’s standing up for his club and I respect that.”
Adelaide’s only premiership captain Mark Bickley — who won flags in 1997 and 1998 — said he listened to Ricciuto’s entire radio interview and thought it was quite good until he mentioned the fans.
“You could sense that he said that out of frustration,” Bickley said.
Sunday Mail columnist Dwayne Russell said he was prepared to cut Ricciuto some slack considering the fact that spending so much time behind a microphone, sometimes phrases didn’t come out the way they were intended.
“At lest he’s making comment about his club … Roo has to answer the questions even on the bad days,” Russell said.
Columnist Kane Cornes said Ricciuto deserved credit for clarifying and apologising for this comments, but his overall feeling was that since the 2017 grand final loss there was a disconnect with fans.
“And there’s some sort of arrogance that separates themselves from the fans which is never going to end well, I think they need to make it a more inclusive footy club and start right from the top,” he said.