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 Swans' doppelganger is better read than Ted 

Swans' doppelganger is better read than Ted

24 Mar, 2011 11:10 PM

It's hard to believe they are the same Ted Richards. The words of one are pure entertainment; humorous, insightful and captivating. The other Ted, by his own admission, comes complete with ''the standard boring answers''.

But there is only one Ted Richards, Swans defender. He's the author of The Richards Report, a regular column that has cult status on the club's website, and also the Swans player who sometimes turns up for media interviews.

''I guess sometimes when I'm speaking to the media I probably play with a bit of a straight bat and give the standard, boring answers,'' Richards explains. ''It's just because I'm worried about if I was to really open up, I might say something that could be turned into something that I didn't intend.

''I've heard stories in the past of what a player may have said being turned into something completely different, and it does make you a little tentative when you're getting interviewed, so we [the players] just sometimes probably play a straight bat. But in it [the column] I have a bit more fun.

''When I write these articles, I don't have that worry that whatever I write is going to be turned into something that it's not, and often I end up going off into tangents about something that's got nothing to do with football - and I enjoy it.

''Most of the boys enjoy it but every now and then I'll pick on a couple of guys and just have a bit of fun about something they have done. Unfortunately, it was my turn to cop it recently, and I had to own up to a few things and a stupid incident I had to do.''

Richards was the victim of a recent practical joke. He won't reveal what it was, just to say ''it was equally embarrassing as the punishment''.

The punishment for falling for the prank, voted on by his teammates, was to wear his Swans outfit to the nearby markets at the Moore Park Entertainment Quarter, and walk up to random people, offering his autograph. He describes it as ''incredibly embarrassing half hour''.

That wasn't the first time Richards has offered his signature - this time on his own football card - to someone. Last year, he sent off a letter and his card to Manchester United's Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic, whom he says is his doppelganger.

He explained who he was, what he did and how his teammates called him Vidic, and asked if the Serbian's teammates called him Ted, Teddy, Richards or Richo.

''I haven't heard back, and I'm fully intending on writing back to him. I'm thinking about sending him a [Ted Richards] badge this time,'' Richards says. ''And someone said the reason he hasn't replied is probably because I didn't write to him in Serbian. I will get it translated this time.''

The Vidic nickname arrived after Richards and Jarrad McVeigh were walking down the street and ''bumped into some drunken Irish backpackers'', who remarked on the distinct resemblance. McVeigh took the news back to the club, and the nickname stuck.

It seems an age ago Richards was drafted by Essendon back in 2000. He spent the next four years at the club, playing 33 games before he realised that, having to compete for a start with stars like James Hird, Scott Lucas and Matthew Lloyd, his best option was to leave the club. He sought a trade, and Sydney was his first preference.

He was overseas on holidays during trade week, and had many middle-of-the-night phone calls with his manager. Finally, his manager called to say he was headed to Sydney. A minute later, Paul Roos rang and welcomed him.

Since his arrival, Richards has played in a grand final - a losing one in 2006 - established himself as a legitimate senior footballer and added exactly 100 games to his tally. Last year, he capped his season by winning the Swans' Best Clubman award.

''That was a real surprise, and I was rapt to get it,'' he said. ''I came to the Swans with a lot of uncertainties about [whether] I would enjoy my football up here and how would everything go, and the longer I have been here, the more I have enjoyed the football.''

Richards has not only been playing football and writing columns, he's been working at Citibank in the equities area for six months after studying for the past five years. And last night he graduated with a bachelor of commerce from the Australian School of Business.

With such credentials, surely Vidic can't ignore him any longer.

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