Vale Paul Sproule

Richmond is mourning the passing of dual premiership star and former coach Paul Sproule.

Richmond is mourning the passing of dual premiership star and former coach Paul Sproule, aged 80.

Sproule played a significant role in the Tigers’ back-to-back premiership wins of 1973-74 and later coached the Club for one season in 1985.

He started his senior football career with the Hobart Tigers in Tasmania in 1962 alongside another player who would subsequently rewrite the League record books – Ian Stewart.

A decade later, after Stewart had won his third Brownlow Medal, the pair would team up again in Tiger colours - this time at Richmond.

The story of Stewart’s arrival at Punt Road, and subsequent dominance, has been well-documented. Sproule, however, slipped into Tigerland with little fanfare or fuss.

The 180cm midfielder had spent four seasons at Essendon and been a member of the Bombers’ losing Grand Final side in 1968, but at the end of the ’71 season he was left off their senior list.

Richmond’s leading football administrator of the day, the late Alan Schwab, couldn’t believe his luck when Sproule became available.

“I first saw Paul Sproule play with Hobart in 1965. I was assistant secretary of St Kilda at the time, and it was my first interstate recruiting trip,” Schwab recounted.

“On the Saturday morning, I saw a skinny kid playing with Clarence under-age named Royce Hart (he had already been signed by Richmond)...in the afternoon I saw Paul Sproule.

“Of all the hundreds of recruiting trips I have made since, I doubt I have seen two such talented and highly-promising players on the one day.

“When I returned to St Kilda, I told them of Sproule, but they were not overly impressed. Later I read that he had signed with Essendon, and I followed his career with interest.

“Every time he played against Richmond – I had since joined them – I thought he was a terrific player.

“Then, at the end of 1971, he was dropped off the Bombers’ list. Tom Hafey, Graeme Richmond and I could not believe it. We tore out to his home, and, after a fair bit of talking, he agreed to join Richmond.

“Strangely, Paul’s only doubt was his ability to gain a regular game. For this reason, he almost signed with a VFA club.”

All-up, Sproule cost Richmond a moderate transfer fee of $2000. That figure was to represent enormous value for money in the ensuing four seasons.

Sproule became a pivotal member of the powerful Tigers’ team due to his professionalism, prolific possession-winning ability, top-class disposal, goal sense, superb fitness levels and all-round football ‘smarts’.

In Sproule’s time at Punt Road, Richmond never finished below third, and he had an extremely impressive winning strike-rate of nearly 71 percent.

He was one of Richmond’s best players in both those Grand Final triumphs, over Carlton (21 disposals) and North Melbourne (24 disposals) respectively.

In the ’74 premiership decider against North Melbourne, Sproule was shifted into the centre 10 minutes into the second quarter, after the Roos had raced to an 11-point lead. Richmond proceeded to kick six goals in the next 15 minutes, with Sproule, Kevin Sheedy and Royce Hart dominating, and providing the catalyst for another Tiger premiership.

This prompted former Essendon champion and Grand Final coach, Jack Clarke, to write the following tribute to Sproule in his post-Grand Final column for ‘Inside Football’ magazine.

“There is a much-forgotten skill in football, and I believe Richmond’s Paul Sproule has mastered it," Clarke wrote.

“It’s reading the play at the centre hit-outs, and this is where Sproule excelled on Saturday.

“I thought he was probably the best man on the ground.

“Perhaps the fact I knew him from his Essendon days influenced me to look more closely at his performance.

“But Paul is a highly-professional and polished League footballer.

“He has the know-how and the uncanny knack of reading the play, which is rare in football.

“Sproule has obviously spent many hours closely studying the movements and actions of other players in centre contests and is highly skilled in successfully anticipating these.

“That’s why he was able to break free from the centre so many times on Saturday.”

Those in the inner sanctum at Tigerland during the glory days of the 70s, speak in glowing terms of the outstanding contribution made by Sproule to the side’ success.

Richmond Team of the Century member and three-time premiership hero, Kevin Sheedy, played alongside Sproule throughout the ex-Bomber’s four seasons at Tigerland, and was a big fan of the way he went about his football business.

“Paul was an excellent player. He had an extremely intelligent football brain. He read the play extremely well and had that ability to get where the ball was all the time,” Sheedy said.

“We got on really well...he was my changing partner, along with Ian Stewart...we’d all have stints on the ball.

“He was a calculating player...he knew exactly what he was doing and was very, very fit.

“He might have been under-rated outside of Richmond, but I can assure you that among his teammates he was very, very highly regarded.”

Sproule’s impact throughout his playing career at Tigerland was huge. Overall, he played 86 games and kicked 93 goals in a top-class career with Richmond, earning a reputation as one of the Tigers’ best-ever pick-ups from a rival League club.

At the end of the 1984 season, Sproule returned to Punt Road as senior coach following an extremely successful coaching stint with Sandy Bay and Hobart in Tasmania.

The Tigers won nine games and lost 13 in the 1985 season under Sproule and showed some promising signs, but he was subsequently replaced after just one year at the helm by returning premiership coach Tony Jewell.

Richmond sends its deepest sympathy to Paul’s family and friends.

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