Thirty-five years of exemplary service to Footscray, Brisbane and most notably Carlton has earned Shane O’Sullivan universal acknowledgement as the 2014 recipient of the AFL’s Jack Titus Award.
Endearingly known to those in the caper as “ShaneO”, O’Sullivan becomes the award’s 40th recipient since its inception in 1977, and only the fifth winner with Carlton connections after Newton Chandler in 1984, Bruce Comben (1989), Keith McKenzie (1993) and Wes Lofts (2001).
The award – which carries the name of the much-respected former Richmond player, match committee member, vice-president and senior coach – will be bestowed upon O’Sullivan, now officiating as Carlton’s Football Administration Manager, at the League’s 2015 Annual General Meeting in March.
O’Sullivan knew nothing of his nomination, and only learned of his award by way of correspondence in the mail late last month.
“I got a letter from the League, and saw Gil’s (AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan’s) name at the bottom. I thought it must have been one of those Christmas wish cards, but when I opened it up I found out exactly what it was,” he said.
“It’s really humbling. To be included alongside some of the great names in footy to have won this award, well, I’m pretty chuffed about it. Keith McKenzie was actually my very first boss as General Manager when I first came to Carlton, and I’m very pleased to be in the company of others like Graeme Richmond, Ian Drake and Jim Cardwell.”
O’Sullivan’s League football odyssey commenced as Promotions Officer in the Carlton Premiership year of 1979. His responsibilities back then included organising clinics and training schedules for Under 19, reserve and senior players, and liaising with the club’s local and country regions.
The following year, he was promoted to Assistant General Manager, a position he retained through the back-to-back Premiership seasons of 1981 and ’82.
For O’Sullivan it only seems like yesterday that he first reported for work - the week “Jezza” led out the likes of Doull, Jones and Maclure in the opening round of the ’79 season against Geelong.
Shane O'Sullivan rushes in to break up the infamous stoush between Percy Jones and Tony Jewelll in 1980. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)
“Wes Lofts was standing there in his big, long overcoat and I just couldn’t believe I was beginning work and it was football I was working in,” O’Sullivan said.
“You dream about playing League football and I trained at Richmond in 1978 and early ’79 although I wasn’t good enough.
“But the next best thing is to remain involved and earn a living out of it, and 35 years later you wonder where in the heck all those years have gone.”
At the end of the ’82 season, and after much cajoling from the then Footscray President Dr Tony Capes, O’Sullivan accepted the position of Bulldogs General Manager. The role presented numerous challenges, but the club made real progress under the GM’s watch – and he was an integral figure in the push for Michael Malthouse’s appointment as Senior Coach in ’84.
Always one to help grow the game, O’Sullivan accepted the role of General Manager of Football for the Brisbane Bears Football Club when it was admitted into the competition on the eve of the 1987 season. At that pivotal moment he helped establish the foundations and culture of the new club, and was chiefly responsible for assembling the Bears’ playing list, appointing coaches and sourcing a training base.
For six years, O’Sullivan committed his energies to Brisbane, forging healthy relationships with the respective senior coaches Peter Knights, Paul Feltham, Norm Dare and Robert Walls before returning to Melbourne at the conclusion of season ’92.
After a brief stint with VFA outfit Oakleigh as Senior Coach in ’93 (during which time he also assisted North Melbourne in a part-time capacity in recruiting), O’Sullivan’s working life came full circle with his appointment as Carlton Recruiting Manager, a position he retained for 12 years. Since 2004, he’s served as Carlton’s Football Administration Manager, a role which sees him working closely with coaches, players, and staff in all departments.
In his 25 years at Carlton, O’Sullivan has worked closely as trusted adviser to no fewer than seven Senior Coaches - Alex Jesaulenko, Peter Jones, David Parkin, Wayne Brittain, Dennis Pagan, Brett Ratten and Michael Malthouse.
Shane O'Sullivan has worked with Mick Malthouse at the Bulldogs and Carlton. (Photo: AFL Photos)
Similarly, he has also built strong relationships with the players, and played a significant part in their development both on and off the field.
The Carlton Football Club, through its CEO Steven Trigg, formally nominated O’Sullivan for the award last November, with Testimonials from former Carlton Senior Coach David Parkin, current Senior Coach Mick Malthouse and current player Chris Judd.
“Over the past 35 years, Shane has given outstanding service to the game of Australian Rules Football through his extraordinary contribution to a number of AFL Football Clubs,” Trigg said.
“The commitment, innovation and initiative Shane has consistently demonstrated in carrying out his duties in the various positions he has held, makes him a highly credentialed nomination for the Jack Titus Award.”
The following Testimonials, submitted to the AFL by Carlton at the time of O’Sullivan’s nomination for the Jack Titus Award, best reflect the depth and breadth of the man’s contribution to Australian Rules, commencing in 1979 and spanning some five decades.
No doubt he’s a survivor, particularly so in the wake of the salary cap fall-out when he had to summon all his survival instincts.
“Without being over the top about it, Carlton means everything to me. Carlton was where I started, the club was good enough to again put me on when I came back and I suppose that when the Elliott era ended I was lucky to survive because people were put off and I’m indebted to those who kept me here,” he said.
And he continues to adapt, for it’s adapt or die - and here’s his trade secret.
“It’s just the love of the game and always being prepared to pitch in and do anything that you can,” O’Sullivan said.
“I’d like to think I keep moving with the times. Each year I try to reinvent myself a little bit to keep moving so that you’re not considered an old timer – and when you’re in a footy club all the young people keep you young.”
David Parkin
“My association with Shane O’Sullivan extends over a period of more than thirty years. For five decades I’ve had the privilege of working in Australian Football with a number of exceptional administrators, but none more competent and committed than Shane.
Without ever getting frustrated (in what is a consistently pressured environment) he has always carried out his management tasks, with a set of very professional and personal attributes, second to none. This man, across three AFL Clubs, in a variety of administrative roles, has serviced the needs of players, coaches, support staff and Boards, in a very special, caring and effective way.
Shane’s outstanding service to the game makes him a worthy recipient of the Jack Titus Award.”
Mick Malthouse
“There’s no one in my mind more worthy of winning an award for services to football than Shane O’Sullivan.
My history with Shane goes back a long way, so this is a very brief account of a long association.
I first met Shane in the late 1970s. He was a young man coming down from Bunyip in the bush, trying to make his way into VFL football. In reality, who can make it when you’re a left footer, slow, short and a little bit tubby? But he was desperate and no one would try harder than Shane would. As it turned out, Shane didn’t make it on the field, but it was no surprise to see him later become involved in the game in an administration capacity at Carlton.
My next association with Shane was when he appointed me as coach of the Footscray Football Club in 1984. He made myself, my wife and my kids feel very welcome at the club and he set standards for me there, in regard to family relationships, that I would take on to West Coast and Collingwood. Shane is the kind of person who builds relationships with people based on mutual trust, loyalty, and pride in getting things done.
From Footscray Shane went to Brisbane where he did the hard yards, before arriving back at Carlton. Of course, we reintroduced ourselves at Carlton two years ago, but in between although he was part of the opposition, he never treated it as such. No matter where we both worked, Shane always treated me as a great friend and a football person.
Shane O’Sullivan has given so much of his life to football and he’s still passionately in love with it. He loves nothing better than to see young men succeed – and he helps them do that by letting them worry about football and he will worry about everything else for them. He is the most giving person I have ever struck in football, because for Shane it’s all about making sure that things happen for people and he will take care of the rest.
If you delved further into Shane’s work in the AFL, you would find that it spans in so many directions in regards to knowledge of the game, helping people, promoting the game and a hunger to succeed. To sum it up: for a person to have a heart attack on the bench and apologise for that because he missed the last half of the game ... well, it says so much about Shane O’Sullivan.”
Chris Judd
“Shane O’Sullivan has been a wonderful servant to the Carlton Football Club and in many ways is the type of employee that has almost become extinct in modern day football. As AFL footy has become a bigger and bigger business, many employees in administrative positions hold climbing up the corporate ladder and furthering their own careers as a more important pursuit than seeing the football club they work for achieve success and in turn bring happiness to the hundreds of thousands of supporters that follow it.
In the current era, Shane’s passion for the success of the Carlton Football Club stands out. There’s no job too small, no ego and no nonsense. If he was involved at a local footy club, he’d be the guy chopping up the oranges and making sure the drinks were filled, while also chasing down sponsors as well to keep the club a float. Whilst at Carlton he isn’t called on for as wide an array of tasks as this, he’s the sort of guy who you could never imagine saying ‘I’m not doing that, because that’s not my job’. I’ve known Shane since I was sixteen and travelled to Ireland and he’s someone who treated me just as well when I was a sixteen year-old hoping to break into the AFL as he did when I was Captain of the club, and I’ve always enjoyed having him at Carlton.”
