Ian Wilson, former Richmond president, dies aged 91

In a 1974 interview with The Herald ahead of that season’s grand final, Wilson said:

“I know a lot of people feel we have brought Richmond to where they are today in a very ruthless fashion – particularly in the way we have taken players from other clubs.

“But I like to think of it as a determination to reward those unbelievably loyal supporters who put up with the 23 years we spent languishing at the bottom of the ladder.

“We are not ashamed of single-mindedly fighting for success – that’s our job.”

Richmond went on to win the decider by 41 points.

Wilson’s daughter Caroline Wilson was the first woman to report on the game full-time, and was this masthead’s chief football writer from 1999-2017.

In 2017, she wrote that, in a move reminiscent of those powerful Tigers of old, her father had advised the club in grand final week to stuff the AFL and wear their proper jumper – they were required to wear a yellow away guernsey – and pay the fine later.

Loading

“‘What could the AFL realistically do,’ reasoned dad, had the team ignored head office once they ran onto the MCG,” Caroline wrote.

She also recalled Sunday celebrations at the Wilson house after a premiership, “particularly with the larger-than-life rogues’ gallery that adorned led by Whale Roberts, Robbie McGhie and later the exuberant Peter Welsh, whose growl punctuated the 1980 party”.