HSA April_May 2018_WEB

Mark Ricciuto
FORMER CROWS PREMIERSHIP PLAYER
AND BROWNLOW MEDALLIST
Football opens doors to all sorts of people and the best one it
opened for me was Peter Hurley’s.
I didn’t know a lot about pubs when I met Pete but I was
quickly learning how to drink in them. It was 1993 and I
was a skinny 17-year-old playing for the Crows. Pete loved
the footy and I had always loved making a dollar. We hit it
off from day one!
Over the next few years we became closer and when the
Crows won back to back flags and the state couldn’t get
enough of its players, my mind started to tick. It was time to
have a crack.
I hit Pete up about buying a pub. I thought I could bring
a few people through the doors and I knew Pete could run
them as good as anyone in the state. He must have agreed
and it was then he became more than a mate but a mentor,
business partner and a father figure.
“It was 1993 and was a skinny
17-year-old playing for the
Crows. Pete loved the footy and I
had always loved making a dollar.
We hit it off from day one!“
We looked at a lot of pubs and ended up buying The Alma
in 2000. It’s been an awesome ride since.
Pete didn’t get to where he is today by luck, we all know
that. The same as you don’t just win a premiership. Hard
work, courage, sacrifice, discipline, attention to detail,
structure, honesty and a ruthless streak are necessary traits.
Pete has them all in bucket loads.
So too does his wife, Jen. What a duo! What they also
have is a love for friends and family and helping out the
community and they do that at every chance. Pete has
helped thousands of people in the hospitality game and I’m
proud to say that I’m one of those lucky ones. Thank you
very much Pete!
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