Ron Reiffel RFC Museum Curator
Ron Reiffel: A True Believer
Happy Birthday Ron
The son of former Melbourne forward Lou "Pop' Reiffel and father of Paul, the former Australian Test cricketer, Ron Reiffel is the curator of the Richmond museum, where he volunteers two days a week. He is also part of the Richmond historical society and a former treasurer of the former players' association. "I went to school at St Ignatius on Richmond Hill. It was a traditional Richmond school because Jack Dyer went there and Kevin Sheedy, Martin Bolger and Jack O'Rourke. "I started going down to Punt Road around 1943 with my dad, who had retired by that time. During the second World War, Melbourne and Richmond shared the Punt Road ground because the MCG was being used by the Americans and the air force. "We went to see Melbourne, who were going down a little bit after a very successful 1930s and the crowds weren't there. But the next week, when I went with my friends from school, Richmond were playing and the place was just jam-packed and Dyer was running loose and it was just a tremendous atmosphere so I gravitated to Richmond. "In 1950, I was invited down as a player and in 1951 and 1952, I played in the Tigers seniors side for 6 games. I wasn't a star by any means. But it didn't worry me, I was still really proud to play for the club. "I joined the Richmond former players' association in 1963 and served on the committee until 2000. We had a lot to do with launching Tigerland, the history of the Richmond Football Club. Around 1993, Bill Meaklin, the club historian, approached me with the idea of forming a historical committee. We had meetings and compared notes and compiled photos and mucked around down at the club for a few years until we were allocated the museum in 1996 in the social club building. I had retired in 1991 so I was able to go down to the club a couple of days a week and Bill said, well, you're the curator of the museum'. "One piece that I really like is a football that was given to us by Doug Strang's family. Doug Strang holds the record for the most number of goals kicked in a match by a Richmond player, which was 14 goals in 1931. Our aim is to have something of every player that's ever played for the club on display somewhere in the museum. For mine, there's just a photograph from the 1950s, there's not much nepotism down there!" Ron was also a candy seller at Tiger homes games as a kid walking the boundary line with his tray. Problem was he couldn't take his eyes off the footy and more so Jack Dyer. After numerous warnings to conecentrate he was sacked from the gig!
