Various Historical Saints Matters Answered for New Sainters

[IanRush]

Hi all,
As a new Saints member, (and remembering I was an AFL isolationist for a few years after Fitzroy was dissolved), some old Saints-specific matters did intrigue me, so could one of the more experienced fans please fill me on the following, that would be tops:

- Snowdeli’s sponsorship of the Saints, just how did that fall apart? (no team has had a cooler shirt sponsor since)
- Why did the Saints leave Moorabbin? was it to do with AFL HQ or Kingston City Council?
- Should the Saints go back to Moorabbin and play boutique games there?
- The Phillip Morris sponsorship of the Saints, when the Fed Govt was phasing out Tobacco Sponsorship of sport in the early 1990s
- Similar to above, but with Tooheys (CUB was AFL partner then)
- Stan Alves, I thought he did OK, what happened there?
- Trevor Barker – I remember him vaguely as a kid, please tell me more about him (the type of bloke he was etc)
- What southern suburbs schools, such as St Bede’s Mentone, does St Kilda FC align itself to, to get the best kids, connect with the area
- The Silvio Foschini transfer (court case and all, just what did really happen)
- Grant Thomas/Butterrs alignment seemd to be working for a while, what happened there?

They’re the questions I have for now, happy to add more.

Thanks,
Rushovski

[ripplug66]

Hi all,
As a new Saints member, (and remembering I was an AFL isolationist for a few years after Fitzroy was dissolved), some old Saints-specific matters did intrigue me, so could one of the more experienced fans please fill me on the following, that would be tops:

- Snowdeli’s sponsorship of the Saints, just how did that fall apart? (no team has had a cooler shirt sponsor since)
- Why did the Saints leave Moorabbin? was it to do with AFL HQ or Kingston City Council?
- Should the Saints go back to Moorabbin and play boutique games there?
- The Phillip Morris sponsorship of the Saints, when the Fed Govt was phasing out Tobacco Sponsorship of sport in the early 1990s
- Similar to above, but with Tooheys (CUB was AFL partner then)
- Stan Alves, I thought he did OK, what happened there?
- Trevor Barker – I remember him vaguely as a kid, please tell me more about him (the type of bloke he was etc)
- What southern suburbs schools, such as St Bede’s Mentone, does St Kilda FC align itself to, to get the best kids, connect with the area
- The Silvio Foschini transfer (court case and all, just what did really happen)
- Grant Thomas/Butterrs alignment seemd to be working for a while, what happened there?

They’re the questions I have for now, happy to add more.

Thanks,
Rushovski

I have a few answers.
1 no idea Probably the $100 we got off them wasn't enough
2 Nothing to do with the AFL. Our fault and the councils
3 No hope of ever playing again at Moorabbin. AFL, money and council would make it impossible
4 Probably but cant remember
5 I don't think Tooheys was effect by the AFL. Just time I think
6 Not sure on Alves. Maybe a few players had enough of his style. Well that part I do know. Might be more to it.
7 Barks is a saints legend. Great player but a better bloke. I'm sure others can tell you more. There is one story I can tell you though. One NYE we were at a party at Paul Morwoods house. A mate of ours went missing for a while. This guy was a huge Rugby player. Barks walked in the party holding our mate around his shoulders. God knows how he could hold him. My mate had drunk that much he collapsed in the street and Barks being the bloke he was picked him and brought him back into the party.
8 Days of schools are over. If they go to schools its usually primary and in areas like Frankston or along the shore line all the way to Bentleigh.
9 Silvio and Paul Morwood didn't want to go to Sydney. They got an injuction to play with us without a clearance. The better part of that game though was Plugger's debut. Others will know more about those 2 players.
10. GT and Butterss fell out over an incidents incidents that maybe are best left alone even though if you look back at Rods past you probably can work it out. Also GT apparently owed money to Rod but that was only really an issue once they fell out.

[The Fireman]

welcome..... If you can yell out "Go Saints" and it feels good ..then you have all you need to savor the journey.

[satchmo]

good on ya pluggs for having a crack at it!

agree with Fireman. All you need is voice.

[loris]

Here is a little historical story about Trevor Barker. I can recall hearing/reading it when Barks first started playing for the Saints.

When Trevor was a young boy ( can't exactly recall his age). Trevor loved pigeons. Parents didn't allow him to have them.

The Barkers lived a few streets away from Darrel Baldock. The Doc was a pigeon fancier, and had quite a stable/flock of racing pigeons. The Doc got to hear of the young lad in the neighbourhood who loved pigeons but wasn't allowed to have any.
Doc was tied up a lot with footy, especially on Saturdays. His pigeons had to be let out twice a day. So young Trevor Barker got the job of looking after The Doc's flock of pigeons, letting them out and mucking in a cleaning the cage etc.

Enjoy your inaugural year as a Sainter Rushie. I'm sure your inquiring mind will have you absorbing all the folk law and the facts of our quirky, unique Club very quickly - it's easy to be infected by them.

[IanRush]

Thanks all. next I need a basic saints polo shirt a basic one, black, with the club logo floating on it.

One that can be worn at the pub, that looks trendy on a Sunday afternoon, yet shows off the club's logo.

[skeptic]

I'll just nab a few here

The Kingston Council blocked every attempt we made to redevelop the Moorabbin oval... The final straw was when we tried to move the social club to South Rd, and the Council blocked it by refusing for us to move the existing number of pokie machines a few hundred meters down the road.
People are very critical of the move to Seaford, but I think few realise how oppositional Kingston were and how much the threat of abandonment has forced them to cut the crap.

GT and Butters started off really well but it seems that they lacked a particular formality about their professional relationship and a lot of personal issues basically resulted in them working against other by the end.
As plugger pointed out, the scuttlebutt was that GT owed RB money, and the personal choices of one individual was heavily questioned by the other.

As far as Stan Alves goes, from his view he was selected as more of an interim coach that the board never intended to stay on, but that the on field success made it hard for them to move him on as they would have liked.
Post 97, it seemed as though he wasn't able to make list decisions as he wanted e.g. Replace Shannahan , and then as the team's performance began to crash late 98, he started to get angry and frustrated to the point that the players developed concerns.