Sport
Shaw's out the door
Laura Jolly
15Jun08
BUNDOORA Football Club was rocked last week by the sudden departure of coach Ray Shaw less than eight months after his appointment.
He has been replaced by acting coach Paul King, who was at the helm when Bundoora defeated Lalor by 34 points in Division 1 of the Northern Football League on Saturday.
Shaw cited dissatisfaction with the club both on and off the field as his reason for leaving.
"It's been brewing for a few weeks now.
"I wasn't enjoying myself there. A few things on and off the field were not to my approval.
"Over the long weekend I had a good think about it and decided there's no use going to work and not being happy about it.
"I told the players where things stood on Tuesday, they were disappointed."
Shaw said while he was reluctant to go into details about the reasons for his departure, he admitted he was unhappy with the culture of the club.
"Bundoora will be a good side for a long time but it needs to get a few things in focus about how it wants to proceed in the future on and off the field.
"The whole culture of the place needs reviewing and that is a long-term thing and I was never going to be there in the long term.
"Hopefully another coach will come in who understands the culture and over three to five years be able to change things in the club that need to be changed."
Bundoora president Brian Oakley said Shaw's departure had shocked the board.
"We certainly didn't want to see him leave and we are disappointed he felt he did not fit in with the club's culture.
"Ray is a perfectionist and extremely committed, he was always at training at 4.30pm mapping out plays and he likes people to follow suit.
"I've known him for a long time. He is very precise, so I think he was naturally disappointed when everyone didn't follow his line."
Mr Oakley said the club now hoped to regroup.
