Biggest crisis in our history: Sanders

Formers Crows general manager Bill Sanders enjoying a holiday in Robe. Picture: Earl Lechelle. Source: Sunday Mail (SA)

CROWS patriarch Bill Sanders wants to believe there are prosperous times ahead. Most of South Australia does.

But he concedes he has been troubled by what he called the biggest crisis in the club's history.

Sanders, the Crows' inaugural general manager and later a long-serving chairman, gets hit up about the fate of the club everywhere he goes: at the local shops, when he's on a weekend with mates down at Robe, or over the telephone.

He is still well-connected, even though he has stepped down from the chairmanship to make way for Rob Chapman. He's still in the loop when it comes to the latest news.

Sanders was the general manager/chief executive of the club from its first match in 1991 until 2001.

He then spent time working with the AFL on the Sanders Report into umpiring before coming back as chairman of the Crows from 2004-2008.

He continues to be the man old rusted-on members look to for answers, especially during the turbulent times the club finds itself in right now.

Sanders' message to the Crows' supporters was to remain calm and not jump to conclusions until all the facts were on the table. The club's hearing in front of the AFL Commission, which was meant to be heard tomorrow, has been postponed until later in the year.

"There's a lot to consider and a lot of comments have been made," Sanders said.

"But people need to take a step back until such time that all of the information is available and then arrive at their own conclusions. The AFL will deliver its findings; let's not react to everything that's said now.

"A lot of the time when you only get part of the information you can go off half-cocked."

However, despite his calming comments, Sanders did not underplay the situation.

He was in beach-side Robe in South Australia's south-east yesterday with mates, casually discussing the winning chances at the gallops, but the gravity of his club's situation was not far from his thoughts.

"This is the biggest crisis the club has ever faced," Sanders said.

"For all the people that have gone before them (the incumbent leadership), our confidence has to be in the people in charge with the responsibility of restoring the trust and credibility of the club.

"The people that have been charged with the responsibility - they have to fix it.

"I've been asked many times to comment on this but this is the first time I've done so, because we all realise the challenge that is before the club."

jesper.fjeldstad@news.com.au

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