AFL sex scandal: Richard Simkiss gossip trickle turns to flood

THE drinks were flowing, spirits were high and then it all started to come crashing down into a Christmas party hangover that cost high-flying AFL executive Richard Simkiss his job.

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IT’S the Christmas party hangover that cost high-flying AFL executive Richard Simkiss his job.

The drinks were flowing, spirits were high and then it all started to come crashing down.

A female employee at the AFL decided to stick up for her mate, Ali Gronow.

She was angry and she wanted to protect Gronow, who was having an affair with Simkiss.

The female employee was courageous. Simkiss was a St Kevin’s College old boy who had been manager of corporate business at the AFL for more than a decade.

Ali Gronow. Picture: Facebook

Richard Simkiss.

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The brave woman did what so many other women at the AFL — for the affair was well known among many staff members — didn’t do.

She went up to the powerful player within the AFL and demanded that he treat Gronow with respect.

And his response to being called out — anger. So much anger that he left the courageous young women in tears.

The public scandal did not go unnoticed among the women at AFL headquarters.

AFL sources this week told the Herald Sun of the incident, with some still puzzled as to why Simkiss, a married man, would behave so foolishly.

The daring woman who stood up to him did not comment when contacted by the Herald Sun this week. But so many other insiders did.

As the Herald Sun reported the affair of one senior manager after being contacted by whistleblowers, the chatter at the AFL went into overdrive.

For the record, that story referred to Simon Lethlean’s affair with Maddi Blomberg, the girlfriend of rugby union star Kurtley Beale.

But those inside AFL House at the Docklands believed the story was related to Simkiss and Gronow, who has worked as legal counsel for almost three years after graduating from DLA Piper in 2012.

The whistleblowers who had revealed the Lethlean affair had inadvertently outed Simkiss, and more leaks began to come out of AFL House.

At first it was a trickle; it soon became a flood.

There were serious concerns about the way that Simkiss had behaved. He had hardly been discreet.

He and Gronow were seen running together, they had been seen out to lunch together. To some observers, they looked like a couple in a relationship. In fact, they were.

Richard Simkiss. Picture: LinkedIn

But Gronow was struggling with the affair.

When Simkiss’ wife turned up to AFL events, sources claim that she became so upset she left in tears.

She took leave.

Some sources say that the leave was unplanned and may have been related to the stress of the relationship.

And there have been concerns for Gronow as she battled to deal with the fallout of the affair.

Simkiss had the world at his feet, but now when he looks down all he can see a self-inflicted bullet wound.

After finishing at St Kevin’s in Toorak, he went to Deakin University to do a bachelor’s degree in sports marketing.

From there it was a steady climb up the corporate ladder.

After almost five years as a sales manager at Elite Sports Properties he ended up at the AFL. He spent almost 12 years there, becoming corporate business manager.

But on Friday, his dream career came to an end when he resigned and released a statement confirming his personal failings.

Few people knew Richard Simkiss’ name outside AFL walls before Friday.

It will be a very long time before anyone remembers him for anything other than the way he left.

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