Michael McGuire: The whole ridiculous, militaristic tone of the camp sounded like it had been designed by a 10-year-old boy with anger problems.

That infamous camp, blaming fans for failure or team legends for valid criticism all raise big questions about the running of a club that says it’s for all South Australians, writes Michael McGuire.

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From the outside, the Adelaide Football Club is a very strange beast.

I write this only as an observer. I’m not a fan. My AFL loyalties lie with a team that plays in red and white in another state.

But if you live in Adelaide, it’s hard to ignore the Crows. Whether I like them, or don’t like them, is neither here nor there. The truth is they hold something of a psychological, emotional and cultural fix over this city. Sorry, Port fans.

Crows boss Andrew Fagan, chairman Rob Chapman and board member Mark Ricciuto in the rooms after the 2017 Grand Final loss. Picture: Sarah Reed

It’s true all footy clubs are a bit strange. Supporting any team requires some form of suspension of rational thought. Logically, there is no reason to care about 22 players chasing an irregularly shaped ball around a well-mown paddock.

But, even by prevailing standards, the Crows are a bit weird. Maybe it goes back to the way the club was formed in 1990. It was presented as a state team and in some dark times for SA in that decade maybe took on a disproportionate level of influence.

Even today, the Crows present themselves as “the team for all South Australians’’. A statement as self-serving as it is wrong.

Whatever the reason, over the years the club has developed a bit of a reputation for managing to combine a sometimes unhealthy arrogance with an inability to cope with criticism.

A trait which possibly reached a nadir last year when former captain and current director Mark Ricciuto advised fans unhappy with the team’s inept performances to seek out another club.

Perhaps Adelaide could get away with this if it was successful on the field. But it’s now 20 years and rising since the Crows last won the premiership.

It’s an astonishing feat for a club that is among the best resourced in the AFL, and has had a string of excellent players, not to have another flag in that time. A total of 11 teams have won a flag since the Crows last in 1998. That leaves them in a group with the Gold Coast, Melbourne, Carlton, Giants, Fremantle and St Kilda.

That’s three clubs formed after the Crows, and all of which have been basket cases at one time or another. Like the Crows, even Melbourne and Carlton have played in a losing grand final since 1998. St Kilda played in three.

That moment of hope for Crows’ fans in 2017 didn’t last long. This week saw another story leak from Adelaide’s infamous pre-season camp on the Gold Coast.

The details were excruciating, and while the Crows have denied aspects of the allegations, the whole ridiculous, militaristic tone of the camp sounded like it had been designed by a 10-year-old boy with anger problems.

That the camp was allowed to go ahead suggests a problem with how the place is run. And it’s not the first suggestion in recent times that it’s behind the scenes where most of the problems start.

The statement by the club’s greatest player Andrew McLeod that “something is wrong’’ with the culture at Adelaide was damning enough. That most of the reaction from the club blamed McLeod for stating his view was probably even worse.

Crows players including Taylor Walker hang their heads after the losing to the Swans in round one Picture Sarah Reed

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It suggests an insularity at the club that is not healthy. It comes across as a club for insiders. Not helped by the number of players who keep fleeing the place.

There’s not a lot of room for dissent.

It’s not helped by the club’s constitution and how it picks board members. Adelaide is not an independent entity. It’s owned by the AFL.

Only two of a maximum nine members are member elected. The rest are chosen by the AFL after having a chat with the club’s nomination’s committee. Not too many rebels will come through that system.

Now there is talk about new appointments, and winemaker Warren Randall has joined, maybe even a new chairman, although it was reported this week some of the board are trying to convince Rob Chapman to remain.

Adelaide will finish last this year for the first time in its history. Most of the talk will be about “draft picks’’ and a “rebuild’’.

But, Adelaide should be looking to rebuild inside as much as outside on the oval.

Originally published as Michael McGuire: The whole ridiculous, militaristic tone of the camp sounded like it had been designed by a 10-year-old boy with anger problems.