There was no chance that supporters of Melbourne – a club that 48 years ago lost one of its greatest players in a vile defection and hasn’t won a premiership since – were going to let Tom Scully’s return to the MCG slide.
Earlier in the week Scully was starting to feel better about facing his old team. The tweets from fans on the Demon’s website made no reference to him (eg “Thank you @melbournefc for a lovely night at the mid-season function!” :)) and he was comforted by the thought that many of them would be at the snowfields on Sunday.
But then harsh reality entered his world via the uncensored Twitter-sphere.
Beginning with relatively benign posts like: “Tom Scully: I’m not a violent person, and wish no harm upon you, but heavens to Betsy I hope you cop an earful on Sunday”, they then progressed to the more vitriolic and threatening: “Please please smash that loser Tom Scully this week. Absolute scum!”
And one chap who is clearly more comfortable writing abuse than yelling it on matchday tweeted: “Just letting u know, Tom Scully is a massive ****. Can’t wait to boo him on Sunday!”
The fury over Scully’s “betrayal” has been made more pungent by the death of the club’s much-loved President. Apparently Scully assured Jim Stynes during 2011 that he hadn’t made a decision, with Stynes later discovering that Scully’s father Phil had signed a long-term contract as a player recruiter in late 2010. Scully Jnr denied knowledge of his father’s dealings which, I admit, is difficult to believe.
Souring things further is the fact that Scully’s recruitment as number one draft pick – compensation for consecutive wooden spoons – saw the club rise to 13th position in 2011.
After seven rounds this season, however, the grand old flaggers were floundering on the bottom again – under new brats Gold Coast and Scully’s GWS.
Look, I don’t know Tom Scully personally. He might be a shifty disloyal right t*rd and a gutless wonder; but then again it’s also possible he’s a sensitive kid who couldn’t bring himself to tell his teammates or an ailing Stynes that he was leaving the club for money.
Perhaps the move was forced on him by his father’s dream to leave the roof tiling business and become an AFL recruiter.
Loyalty is still a poweful force in the AFL. Almost no one leaves their club, as evidenced by the abundance of player re-signings taking place prior to the introduction of free agency next season.
Even if Scully had announced his decision immediately the 2011 season would have been a rough trip for him. Despite being offered a fortune it probably took more courage to leave than to stay.
But whatever the truth about Tom Scully, gee is he going to cop it on Sunday at 3:15pm Australian Eastern Standard Time when he fronts up against his former team – the navy blue & reds and the oldest club in the land – dressed in the orange charcoal and white of the competition’s newest franchise.
Understandably eager for everyone to forget, he has been incessantly using the phrase “moving on” which has only served to rile Demons supporters further.
Ron Barassi used a similar line (“you have to get on with things”) when he infamously left the club for Carlton at the end of the 1964 season – receiving an equally chilly response.
Scully’s “Yeah, look I’m not missing Melbourne too much.” is not going to help him on Sunday either.
Jacqui
Guest
Melbourne is one of the most loved teams in the AFL. I wonder what's happened to our supporters when I watch them boo scully. We don't want someone on our team that doesn't want to be there. We want our players to be honoured to play footy for the red and blue. Bottom line is if scully doesn't want to play for the Dees, we're better off without him. We only want hearts that beat true for the red and the blue!! I think Scully will regret his choice when he's not part of a Premiership side and will be forgotten. I think the Melbourne supporters should take note, we're better than booing!
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
You can go to the snow and buy them a drink !
clipper
Guest
Balmain used to be a very working class suburb, therefore league heartland. That has very much changed now, especially down the Brichgrove end, so the area would be split between AFL, Soccer Rugby and league, as per most of the inner city.
Australian Rules
Guest
Oh come on, if we can't niggle the Dees supporters during ski season, what CAN we do?
Australian Rules
Guest
Birchgrove OVAL may be touted as a sacred league site (for the purpose of that article) but the real loser out of this is soccer. Cricket and soccer share the oval, the latter during winter, and there's never been an issue. This is just another verse from the "AFL is the enemy" songbook.
Bill Larkin
Guest
Absolutely agreed. . The thought that Melbourne is bleeding over losing Scully is fantasy. The concessional pick they got for him is worth far more. The Demons are on the right track. I'd rather be a Demons supporter than a Tigers or Bombers one. Their time will come and go before the Demons.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Jaceman, Wests Tigers dont have any money to do this, because Balmain Leagues Club dont give them much of the gambling profits. According to the 2010 annual report, the Leagues Club gave $242 000 to the football operation. If this doesnt work, google 'Wests tigers annual report" http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CFYQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tigers.org.au%2Fuploads%2FFile%2FUploads%2FBTRLF_2010_Final%2520Report.pdf&ei=HtfiT9ufH6yRiQe_vKT6Dg&usg=AFQjCNH0iRiicRoJQ23YGa1Iei_OTloIHQ&sig2=LkrPIGkNSGam30_D23BUiw
amazonfan
Roar Guru
That quite unnecessary. I would have expected that kind of a comment from a NRL/soccer troll. Disappointing.
Redb
Roar Guru
Bunch of paranoid sooks.
Maximus
Guest
Ta
Australian Rules
Guest
I reckon all 1,200 Melbourne supporter are gonna give Scully a real ear bashing on Sunday.
mds1970
Roar Guru
The ex-Freo ruckman Melbourne signed up that you're thinking of is Jeff White.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
Many cynical, two faced individuals who are Melbourne supporters are remarkably proud about how well Mitch Clark has gone for them this year. You know, the guy who forced a trade from Brisbane so he could go home. To Perth. Scully was out of contract. He signed with another team. Melbourne got a kings ransom in compensation, which they turned into a pretty decent KPF.
TW
Guest
Speaking of history of the Melbourne footy club and Ronald Dale Barrassi`s departure - There has been launched today online a new Footy history site to replace the excellent Full Points Footy web site. Go check it out - It appears to be an attempt to recognise the game across the country from day dot. We wish them well. http://australianfootball.com/
Kev
Guest
Going up and down the ladder seems to be the story of Melbourne over the past 2 decades and nothing has changed. I agree that they way he handled making the decision to go to GWS wasn't great but you can't blame him for wanting to leave Melbourne. Here's some food for thought which team out of Melbourne, GWS and GC are more likely to win a flag in the next 10 years? Frankly I don't see Melbourne winning one within the next 20 or 30 years unless they get their act together.
Christo the Daddyo
Guest
This paragraph was interesting: "Loyalty is still a poweful force in the AFL. Almost no one leaves their club, as evidenced by the abundance of player re-signings taking place prior to the introduction of free agency next season." I'm not disagreeing with the statement, but generally people want to be loyal to something/someone that they see value in. The fact that Scully moved teams speaks volumes about the culture at Melbourne. It might have history on its side, but the current situation seems a little lacking at the Dees...
Jaceman
Guest
As maximus suggests in the last line, perhaps Balmain should put some money into Birchgrove Oval (as the AFL is doing) to gain such cred with the Council. That would be the smart strategy - perhaps the Council are playing the game too..
TomC
Roar Guru
I think at least some of the anger at Tom Scully is just Melbourne fans looking for someone to vent at. They are in a bad place. This season even Brisbane and Port Adelaide, teams that have been hopelessly mismanaged over the past few seasons, have moved past them. Tom Scully is a particularly poignant reminder that things weren't supposed to be, as he was taken with the priority pick they got after an insipid 2008 season. Tanking was meant to be the price they paid for future success, but that success doesn't seem any closer now than it did then.
mds1970
Roar Guru
Birchgrove Oval isn't important. If it was, the plaque in that story wouldn't be in such poor condition. In and case, rugby league will continue to be played on Birchgrove, same as it always has. The Tigers rugby league people are just using it as an excuse to take pot-shots at Leichhardt Council. They're not really interested in Birchgrove - the real agenda is to pressure the council to approve their proposed high-rise pokie palace on Victoria Road.
Maximus
Guest
This would be melbourne who with Gutnicks money took Freos ruckman of 10 years ago (his name esacpes me for the mo) and Clark from brisbane and maloney from geelong and.... BTW this what the GWS has to put up with in Sydney (back page - lead article)headlined cradle snatchersin the paper edition http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/afl-raid-on-the-cradle-of-league-20120620-20olf.html The problem is: they are not stealing - they are sharing (Balmain junior RL plays on Sundays and the Dockers on saturdays); Drummoyne Rugby club has happily shared with the Dockers at Drummoyne Oval for years which however is not a full sized field and is used by Balmain cricket in the summer; Birchgrove Oval appears more suited to AFL than Drummoyne; no-one has mentioned throwing Junior NRL off Birchgrove; as Balmain ratepayers perhaps they should be happy someone AFL is paying rent and providing capital to help defray costs; as stated Balmain AFL preceeds NRL in the district; Birchgrove is more in Balmain than Drummoyne is; People wonder why AFL roarers are always defending the AFL -its article s like this in the Sydney herald that are so biased - no AFL input , RL writer (in a week of a big AFL Swans home game - half a page on AFL) which annoys AFL roarers BTW is it coincidence or are the NRL putting subtle pressure on Leichhardt Council (the local council) to approve the redevelopment of Balmain Leagues club into a mini metropolis.by suggesting that the Council is anti RL.... ir