EFL 2019: Alan Richardson reflects on East Burwood’s 1999 and 2000 premierships
Before Alan Richardson was coach of St Kilda, he led East Burwood to its last flag — 19 years ago. Now, he’s hoping the club can break its premiership drought, and has revealed just what it’s like to have that winning feeling.
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Alan Richardson knows what it’s like for East Burwood to win grand finals.
His father, Stuart, won six premierships during the club’s glory days more than half-a-century ago.
Former St Kilda coach Richardson, 54, won three. He was a member of the 1985 success and was playing-coach in 1999 and 2000.
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He’s the club’s most recent premiership mentor — but he’s ready to hand that title over to one of his former players.
It could belong to Stuart Wynd this weekend.
Wynd was full-forward in the back-to-back triumphs.
“He was a bloody great player … and from reports has done a good job wherever he has been with his coaching,” Richardson said.
“From all reports, he has brought the club closer together and drawn on what it means to be an East Burwood person.”
On Sunday, Wynd will lead East Burwood to its first grand final since 2004 as it attempts to break a 19-year flag drought.
The reserves and under-19s will also contest grand finals.
Richardson’s family is linked with the Rams from the time the league was formed in the 1960s.
His parents met at the club. Father Stuart was a champion player, former president and hall of fame member. Mother Pat was a long-serving volunteer.
Pat wrote the book marking the club’s first 90 years in 2001 and Alan was named coach of the team of the century.
“My mum was secretary and made rolls for the canteen. She was actually making rolls right up until a few years ago,” Richardson said.
East Burwood was a powerhouse of the EFL. Its 12 premierships stand as the second-most by any club in the competition’s history.
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But the club has known tough times this decade.
The Rams were relegated four times in six seasons, tumbling from the top tier to lowest division.
A dearth of juniors and financial troubles hit hard.
Richardson is a passionate East Burwood person but has watched its recent struggles from afar — his time was absorbed by duties as an AFL coach.
He credited the work of president Stephen Worner, vice-president Peter Storey and club greats Stuart Cook and Andy Lennie for rebuilding the club.
Storey “keeps me in the loop in terms of what’s going on” and champion players Adam and Luke Slater provided him with results and “a bit of a gossip”, he said.
Richardson also supported the club through its football academy, aimed at fostering young talent.
“It’s frustrating when the club needs its former people as coaches and players that I haven’t really been able to help,” he said.
“The biggest frustration for me, or disappointment, were the periods when we didn’t have junior teams coming through.
“That really worried me. That started to look pretty grim in terms of the future of the footy club.
“It’s just so pleasing that through the work of those people that I mentioned that the footy club appears to be back on track and not only have strong numbers, but it sounds like they have strong teams.
“It’s just the right thing to do. When you break it down, footy clubs are these little communities to service the broader community.
“That’s really what they’re there for, as well as trying to win, so it’s great to see they’re back and strong in that space again.”
Richardson played his junior football at East Burwood and joined his father as a senior premiership player aged 20 when it defeated Vermont in the 1985 decider.
The 1999 and 2000 grand final wins were also against Vermont. Richardson noted: “That probably says as much about Vermont as it does about us.
“The reality is, if you want to win the premiership in first division, you’ve generally got to beat Vermont. They’ve been enormous, haven’t they?
“That’s a good feeling to beat a club that’s been so strong.”
He returned to the Rams as an assistant in 1997 following a 114-game career at Collingwood.
East Burwood gave Richardson his first senior coaching gig.
It gave him the foundations to serve a long VFL and AFL apprenticeship before accepting the St Kilda position in 2014. “Everyone starts somewhere,” he said.
He took the Rams to consecutive premierships for the first time since the 1967-68 flags.
“At local level, you are really coaching the footy club, you’re not just coaching the team,” he said.
“You have such an influence on so many and you need to but it was a great opportunity.
“I was always going to go to that footy club because of my father’s involvement and absolutely loved it.
“That feeling that you have after the game, initially of relief but then of enormous satisfaction that everyone you hold so dearly … for all them to be just so happy at the fact the Rams were doing what the Rams should do, yeah, it was very satisfying.”
The club had a premiership reunion in May to celebrate the first of the back-to-back premierships. Richardson was in attendance.
“They’ve been a lot of fun and next year there will be three teams because we won all three,” he said.
“That’ll be a pretty special night. It’s always pretty good to catch up with some faces and run into some blokes you haven’t seen in a while.
“It’s bloody great when you can go to those functions and spend time again with the players and people that supported you off the field to have a beer together.”
Richardson recalls being overwhelmed with relief after the September success: “They were winners. That club was meant to win.
“When I came back from the Maggies, as Stuey’s son, we were supposed to win, so it was a bit of relief really because that’s just what the club did and had done for such a long time.
“It was special times. In two years there were six premierships up for grabs and we won five of them — firsts, seconds and thirds.”
Richardson hopes to be on hand when East Burwood meets Fairpark in the decider at Scoresby Reserve.
The Rams will start as favourites.
Richardson wished Wynd well in delivering East Burwood its 13th EFL premiership.
“He’s been around the traps for a while and he’s certainly played in some finals so hopefully, as his former coach, albeit many years ago, that he was listening,” he said.
“I’m sure he’ll be right. I don’t think he’s going to get much from me now.”
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