Imogen Bowman, by the boundary at Western Oval watching Richmond’s VFL team
| Where born? | At Royal Melbourne Hospital, I think. |
| Age: | 59 |
| Where do you live: | Newport. They used to call it Newport West but we’ve dropped the west bit. |
| How did you come to barrack for Richmond: | My dad. My mum was South Melbourne but she wasn’t as keen on the game as dad. My grandfather on her side was Carlton, and all my cousins were Melbourne. I went with my dad. |
| Favourite all-time player? | I don’t know. I guess I’ve got to go for Royce. It was around that era I started watching and I loved all the players. Bourkey, and Dick Clay. But I think Royce was the one. He was great. He was just a beautiful player to watch. He was cat-like, he was graceful. He moved like how a lot of the Indigenous players move now. You know how they kind of float, he was like that. He was not only an aerialist, but on the ground he was clean below the knees. He was flawless, practically. You’d be listening on the radio if you couldn’t get to the game, and every time the ball went forward and they called out ‘Royce Hart’, you knew the ball was in safe hands. |
| Favourite current player? | There’s a lot of good, young kids coming through. Trent’s a star, and Lids. Alex down the back, I’ve never seen him give up. And Morris. And big Ivvy, we all love him. And Jack of course, even after last week. And Dusty. Oh, gosh. But I guess Trent would be the respectable face of Richmond, so I’ll choose him. I really admire him, he’s growing as a young captain. I just love everybody who pulls on a Richmond jumper and plays for them. |
| What do you most like about Richmond? | I love the colours, I love the song, and I love the fact that we’re Tigers. It’s also the kind of people who barrack for Richmond. They’re a type. The numbers never fall. They always hold onto hope. We’re eternal optimists. We just never give up. Not the team, but the people. Richmond people just keep turning up. |
| Do you have a match-day superstition? | I wear certain socks and then we’ll just start losing so I’ll give them up. I’ll even not wear underwear that’s the colour of the opposition side. I don’t know if that works, or not. I used to have a crystal that I wore, and I’ve had scarves and badges. But then we start losing. None of it works. They just don’t work, so why bother? |
| When will we next win a premiership? | I’m not counting the days. I’m not holding my breath. Not in the foreseeable future, not with the team we have now. We have some good young players, but we’ve just got too many holes. And with the way the draft is, and free agency, it’s really hard for the middle clubs to come up. You can’t buy a premiership but you can maintain one, because all the good players want to play for the top clubs. It’s going to take a miracle, but I’m not going to drop-off. You never know. |
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