THERE is something of the book (and spin-off movie) High Fidelity when it comes to football clubs and their lists and teams of the century/decade/week. The greatest moment, the differentiation between the legend, the immortal, the forgettable and the lamentable are all demanding of a gala diner and indulgent night of self-congratulation.

On the one hand it's a cynical marketing exercise, on the other a fair recognition of the duffle-coat wearer in all of us. Football following is nothing if not an earnest pub argument challenging which era was better, which player superior.

Thus, Richmond's 100th birthday has generated a variation on the top-10 list that launched Jack Black as an actor as much as it entrenched music and Arsenal tragic Nick Hornby as a man of his generation.

The Tigers, like all clubs, have done the team-of-the-century thing, so the 100-year birthday has generated a more lateral notion — the Top 10 Treasures.

The concept, simply put, is about nominating the greatest moments in 10 categories over 100 years of history. The categories included best mark, goal, biggest controversy, bravest act, most defining moment, best servant, best individual performance, premiership, classiest player, strongest and boldest.

Exercises such as these usually favour the freshest memories. In Richmond's case, however, the recent history has been so poor that no such bigotry can be entertained — even when the matter was subject to a popular vote of members — so the winning moments and footballers were typically from the Tigers' golden era of the '70s and '80s.

More than 1000 guests at a black-tie function at Crown last night learnt that Michael Roach's mark against Hawthorn in 1979 nudged out Royce Hart's grab in the 1967 grand final. For many, the notion that the balletic Royce could be beaten is heretical but the Roach chest mark lurching over the pack became the trademark of a generation.

The goal of the century was the seven-bounce dash from the back line by Michael Mitchell in 1990.

For the controversy of the century there could be little doubt: while Neville Crowe being suspended from the grand final for a phantom strike on John Nicholls took some beating — as it typified the hatred between Richmond and Carlton — the Windy Hill brawl of 1974 was a moment of madness that engulfed both clubs and saw players and officials suspended. The heaviest fine was for Graeme Richmond, who was rubbed out until December 31 and fined $2000.

Not uncoincidentally, Richmond was the man dubbed servant of the century for more than 30 years of service. Richmond's back-room work was as instrumental in the Tigers' era of greatness as Crowe was in the defining moment of the century — the Save Our Skins campaign of 1990, which saved the club from extinction.

In several categories, it was a matter of finding the category to recognise the individual as much as finding the player to fit the category. As such, Francis Bourke was rewarded for the bravest act of the century. For Bourke, the difficulty was in isolating just one incident — in this case the collision with teammate Greg Strachan in a 1980 match at Arden Street.

Kevin Bartlett's 21 goals in the 1980 finals series was deemed the best individual performance of the century, while Hart was the class player of 100 years. The unusual category of "Strong and Bold" was formed for Jack Dyer. It defied true definition, but so did Dyer.

The most agonising category was this: Which of their 10 premierships was best? They opted for 1967, the flag that broke 24 years of waiting. Which suggests that after a drought now spanning 27 years, the next flag will be even better.