Richmond Football Club has appointed Indian-born, Australian-raised sports marketing veteran Ravi Krishnan to lead a new strategic initiative aimed at building a stronger connection between the AFL club and Indian communities in Australia and India.
The Richmond Football Club, also known as the Tigers or the Tiges, competes in the Australian Football League (AFL).
The initiative will focus on understanding how Australian Indians engage with sport, how sporting loyalties are formed across generations, and what can help Richmond build meaningful and long-term relationships with the Indian community.
Working closely with the Club, Krishnan will lead a discovery programme involving students, young professionals, families, community organisations and grassroots sporting participants. The programme will examine the cultural and behavioural factors that influence fandom and identify opportunities across memberships, match-day experiences, community engagement, partnerships and commercial growth.
The initiative will also involve collaboration between Australia and India, with Krishnan’s Mumbai office, led on the ground by Shiv Srivastava, working alongside the Australian team.
Speaking about the project, Simon Matthews, Chief Operating Officer, Richmond Football Club said, “Indians represent Australia’s fastest-growing community. We believe there is a significant opportunity for Richmond to build genuine, long-term relationships that extends well beyond football. This is about the future of our Club. We took a decisive step in choosing to work with Ravi, because we want Richmond to become the club Indians genuinely feel connected to — and that means taking the time to listen, understand and build trust before making decisions. There is no one better credentialed in this market to guide that journey: Ravi has lived and worked on the ground in India at the highest levels of sport and entertainment, grew up in Australia understanding the power of football firsthand.”
Ravi Krishnan said, “I became a Richmond fan at five years old. Football helped me assimilate into Australia at a time when this country looked very different and Indian faces were few and far between. That experience taught me something I’ve carried ever since: the power of football to build community and belonging. Living and working across Australia and India and global sport has reinforced one simple truth: fans follow teams, not leagues. Fans don’t support the AFL, the IPL, the NFL or any competition in the abstract — they support their team and their heroes. Whilst the AFL is doing important work at a macro level, but it’s what individual clubs do that will decide where fans place their feet, their hearts, their minds and ultimately their wallets. And when it comes to engaging Indians in India specifically, my experience is that you have to approach them with both head and heart.”
Krishnan grew up in Melbourne and began his career as a lawyer before leading IMG’s expansion across India and South Asia. Over a career spanning more than 30 years across Australia, India, the UK and other global markets, he has worked across cricket, tennis, golf, football, fashion and lifestyle.
He was also Vice Chairman of the Rajasthan Royals and was involved in establishing the franchise during the inaugural Indian Premier League season alongside Shane Warne.
More recently, Krishnan has advised sporting organisations on fan engagement, audience growth, monetisation and long-term commercial strategy.
Through the initiative, Richmond aims to develop a deeper understanding of the Indian community and use those insights to shape its future approach to fan engagement, community participation and commercial opportunities.
