Former Geelong president Frank Costa has died after a battle with cancer, aged 83.<\/p>\n
Costa took over as Cats president in 1999 and stepped down at the end of 2010. Alongside CEO Brian Cook, he led Geelong out of a poor financial state and transformed it into a highly-regarded club.<\/p>\n
Two AFL premierships (2007 and 2009) were won during his tenure, plus another in 2011. The 2007 flag broke a premiership drought of 44 years.<\/p>\n
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"It's hard to remember how badly off that club was when he first took hold of it," leading footy reporter Damian Barrett said on The Sunday Footy Show<\/em>.<\/p>\n "Getting Brian Cook in was as crucial as anything he did.<\/p>\n "He brought the whole town together in a way that had not been done.<\/p>\n "It is a sad time. He had been sick for a number of months now and it's a very sad day."<\/p>\n Costa was regarded as a selfless, down to earth character at Geelong but was also revered. He could mix as easily with the fans as with AFL powerbrokers.<\/p>\n Costa made his fortune in the fruit and vegetable industry, a tough business long rife with organised crime influences. His Costa Group was credited with cleaning up the industry.<\/p>\n Costa stepped down from the board of Costa Group in 2019. The publicly-listed company has annual revenue of more than $1 billion.<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"