The redevelopment of Punt Road Oval’s famous Jack Dyer Stand, in order to house Richmond’s new museum, has unearthed an interesting Tiger relic.
The eastern side of the stand has been gutted, as part of the building works, revealing the old bar area for match-day patrons, complete with original signage.
Ron Reiffel, who played six senior games for Richmond in 1951-52, and was the Club’s first museum curator, has vivid memories of watching the Tigers in action from that particular part of the ground.
“As kids, we’d stand up on the old parapet, looking over into that bar area, and when the big games were on - Richmond-Essendon, Richmond-Collingwood, Richmond-Carlton - there would be fights out in the park,” he said.
“They’d drift and push out into the park, and blokes would be punching the hell out of each other. You’d be able to look down over the parapet and see it.
“Like any bar area, it jammed up during the big games, but it was an exciting time to play around out there.
“I was about 10 or 11 when I first started coming here. For the first few years, I wasn’t allowed to go to away games, so I’d come down and see Melbourne play here during the war.
“I’d come down with my dad, who was an ex-Melbourne player, but there wouldn’t be the atmosphere that would be here the next week when Richmond played, and I’d come along with all my friends from school.
“It was just exciting . . . The premiership pennants - 1920, ’21, ’32 and ’34 - would be fluttering from the top of the stand, and you’d get goose-bumps coming down Punt Road, walking past all the houses, especially if there was a north wind blowing and they were flying in the breeze . . . It was really terrific.”
Reiffel recounted a great game-day story emanating from the old Punt Road Oval bar, involving talented, but temperamental Tiger big man, George Rudolph, who was Jack Dyer’s boyhood idol.
“This friend of my dad’s, a chap called Jack Hickey, who lived in Richmond, was a very staunch Richmond man, and he used to come to our place regularly.
“Anyway, he was telling me that one day he walked into that bar and George Rudolph was there, well imbibed with his ‘Foster’s’, or whatever it was.
“Apparently George was having trouble with the Club at the time, and he screamed out, ‘There’s only one man out there who could beat me, and that’s Geddes!’ (champion Richmond wingman of the 1920s-30s Alan Geddes).”
Reiffel, who ran the Tigerland museum for many years, from its original site tucked away in the Social Club building, is delighted with the impending move into the Jack Dyer Stand, which formerly housed the Club’s football department.
“It’s a wonder the old building’s still standing, it’s had so many face-lifts, but this one will be fantastic because it will take the history back to its original place. I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
