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Essendon Football Club

The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their Ascot Vale home "Alisa", and while the exact date is unknown, it is generally accepted to have been in 1872. The club’s first recorded game took place on 7 June 1873 against a Carlton Second 20. From 1878 until 1896, the club played in the Victorian Football Association then joined seven other clubs in October 1896 to form the breakaway Victorian Football League (later changed to AFL in 1990). Headquartered at the Essendon Recreation Ground, known as Windy Hill, from 1922 to 2013, the club moved to The Hangar in near Tullamarine in late 2013 on land owned the Melbourne Airport. The club currently plays its home games at either Docklands Stadium or the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Dyson Heppell is the current club captain.

Essendon Football Club
Names
Full nameEssendon Football Club[1]
Nickname(s)Bombers, Dons, Same Olds
MottoSuaviter in Modo, Fortiter in Re
"Gently in manner, resolutely in execution"
2022 season
Home-and-away season15th
Leading goalkickerPeter Wright (53 goals)
Club details
Founded1872; 151 years ago (1872)
Colours  Red   Black
CompetitionAFL: Senior men
AFLW: Senior women
VFL: Reserves men
VFLW: Reserves women
VWFL: Wheelchair
PresidentDavid Barham
ChairmanVacant
CEOCraig Vozzo
CoachAFL: Brad Scott
AFLW: Natalie Wood
VFL: Leigh Tudor
VFLW: Travis Cloke
Captain(s)AFL: Dyson Heppell
AFLW: Stephanie Cain/Bonnie Toogood
VFL: Daniel Younan
VFLW: Mia-Rae Clifford/Georgia Nanscawen
VWFL: Louis Rowe
PremiershipsVFL/AFL (16)VFA (4)Reserves/VFL (8)VFLW (1)Championship of Australia (1)
Ground(s)AFL: Docklands Stadium (56,347), Melbourne Cricket Ground (100,024)
AFLW: North Port Oval (10,000)
VFL/VFLW: Windy Hill (10,000), The Hangar
VWFL: Boroondara Sports Complex
Former ground(s)East Melbourne Cricket Ground (1897–1921)
 Windy Hill (1922–91)
Training ground(s)The Hangar (2013–)
Uniforms
Home
Away
Clash
Other information
Official websiteessendonfc.com.au

Essendon is one of Australia's best-known and most successful football clubs.[2] It has won 16 VFL/AFL premierships, which, along with Carlton, is the most of any club in the competition. The club won four consecutive VFA premierships between 1891 and 1894, a feat unmatched in that competition's history. However, Essendon has struggled to remain competitive in the 21st century, having won its last premiership in 2000 and not winning a final since 2004.

During the early-to-mid 2010s, the team were the focus of an investigation by the AFL and independent regulatory bodies into their alleged use of illegal substances during the 2012 season, which led to 34 two-year suspensions, a $2 million fine, and disqualification from the 2013 finals series (among other penalties).

Three Essendon players—John Coleman, Bill Hutchison, and Dick Reynolds—and one coach, Kevin Sheedy, are classified as "Legends" in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

Essendon also fields reserves men's and women's teams in the Victoria Football League and VFL Women's, respectively. Since 2022, it has a team competing in the national AFL Women's competition.[3][4]

History

Formation and VFA years (1871–1896)

 
Essendon players and officials c.1878
 
Scenes from the 1891 VFA Premiership Match in which Essendon defeated Carlton

The club was founded by members of the Royal Agricultural Society, the Melbourne Hunt Club and the Victorian Woolbrokers.[5] The Essendon Football Club is thought to have formed in 1872 at a meeting it the home of a well-known brewery family, the McCrackens, whose Ascot Vale property hosted a team of local junior players.[6]

Robert McCracken (1813–1885),[7][8] the owner of several city hotels, was the founder and first president of the Essendon Football club, and his son, Alex McCracken, its first secretary. Alex later became president of the newly formed VFL. Alex's cousin Collier McCracken, who had already played with Melbourne, was the team's first captain.[9]

The club played its first recorded match against the Carlton Second Twenty (the reserves) on 7 June 1873,[10] with Essendon winning by one goal. Essendon played 13 matches in its first season, winning seven, with four draws and losing two.[11] The club was one of the inaugural junior members of the Victorian Football Association (VFA) in 1877,[12] and it began competing as a senior club from the 1878 season.[13] During its early years in the Association, Essendon played its home matches at Flemington Hill, but it moved to the East Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1881.

In 1878, at Flemington Hill, Essendon played its first match on what would be considered by modern standards to be a full-sized field. In 1879, Essendon played Melbourne in one of the earliest night matches recorded when the ball was painted white. In 1883, the team played four matches in eight days in Adelaide:[14] losing to Norwood (on 23 June)[15] and defeating Port Adelaide (on 16 June),[16] a combined South Australian team (on 18 June),[17] and South Adelaide (on 20 June).[18]

In 1891, Essendon won their first VFA premiership, which they repeated in 1892, 1893 and 1894. One of the club's greatest players, Albert Thurgood, played for the club during this period, making his debut in 1892.[19] Essendon (18 wins, 2 draws) was undefeated in the 1893 season.[19][20]

Founding of the VFL to World War I (1897–1915)

 
The Essendon side that won the 1897 VFL premiership

At the end of the 1896 season, Essendon, along with seven other clubs, formed the Victorian Football League. Essendon's first VFL game was in 1897 against Geelong at Corio Oval in Geelong. Essendon won its first VFL premiership by winning the 1897 VFL finals series in a round-robin event. Essendon again won the premiership in 1901, defeating Collingwood in the Grand Final. The club won successive premierships in 1911 and 1912 over Collingwood and South Melbourne, respectively.[21][22]

"Same Olds"

 
Dave Smith captained Essendon to premiership success in 1911.

The club is recorded as having played at McCracken's Paddock, Glass's Paddock, and Flemington Hill. It is likely that these are three different names for the one ground, given that McCracken's Paddock was a parcel of land that sat within the larger Glass's Paddock, which in turn was situated in an area widely known at the time as Flemington Hill. In 1882, the club moved home games to the East Melbourne Cricket Ground (since demolished) after an application to play on the Essendon Cricket Ground (later known as Windy Hill) was voted down by Lord Mayor of the City of Essendon, James Taylor, on the basis that the considered the Essendon Cricket Ground "to be suitable only for the gentleman's game of cricket".[23]

The club became known by the nickname "the Same Old Essendon", from the title and hook of the principal song performed by a band of supporters which regularly occupied a section of the grandstand at the club's games.[24] The nickname first appeared in print in the local North Melbourne Advertiser in 1889,[25] and ended up gaining wide use, often as the diminutive "Same Olds".[26]

This move away from Essendon, at a time when fans would walk to their local ground, didn't go down too well with many Essendon people; and, as a consequence, a new team and club was formed in 1900, unconnected with the first (although it played in the same colours), that was based at the Essendon Cricket Ground, and playing in the Victorian Football Association. It was known firstly as Essendon Town and, after 1905, as Essendon (although it was often called Essendon A, with the A standing for association).[27]

Return to suburban Essendon (1921–1932)

 
Fred Baring during the 1920s

After the 1921 season, the East Melbourne Cricket Ground was closed and demolished to expand the Flinders Street Railyard. Having played at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground from 1882 to 1921, and having won four VFA premierships (1891–1894) and four VFL premierships (1897, 1901, 1911 and 1912) whilst there,[28] Essendon was looking for a new home. It was offered grounds at the current Royal Melbourne Showgrounds, Ascot Vale; at Victoria Park, Melbourne; at Arden St, North Melbourne; and the Essendon Cricket Ground. The Essendon City Council offered the (VFL) team the Essendon Cricket Ground, announcing that it would be prepared to spend over £12,000 ($1,009,066 in 2021 terms, according to the Retail Price Index[29]) on improvements, including a new grandstand, scoreboard and re-fencing of the oval.

The club's first preference was to move to North Melbourne[30]—a move which the North Melbourne Football Club (then in the VFA) saw as an opportunity to get into the VFL. Most of Essendon's members and players were from the North Melbourne area, and sportswriters believed that Essendon would have been taken over by or rebranded as North Melbourne within only a few years of the move.[31][32] However, the VFA, desperate for its own strategic reasons not to lose its use of the North Melbourne Cricket Ground, successfully appealed to the State Government to block Essendon's move to North Melbourne.[33] With its preferred option off the table, the club returned to Essendon, and the Essendon VFA club disbanded, with most of its players moving to North Melbourne.[34]

The old "Same Olds" nickname fell into disuse, and by 1922 the other nicknames "Sash Wearers" and "Essendonians" that had been variously used from time to time were also abandoned. The team became universally known as "the Dons" (from EssenDON); it was not until much later, during the War years of the early 1940s, that they became known as "The Bombers" due to Windy Hill's proximity to the Essendon Aerodrome.[35]

In the 1922 season, playing in Essendon for the first time in decades, Essendon reached the final four for the first time since 1912, finishing in third place. In the 1923 season, the club topped the ladder with 13 wins from 16 games. After a 17-point Second Semi-Final loss to South Melbourne, Essendon defeated Fitzroy (who had beaten South Melbourne) in the 1923 Grand Final (then known as a "Challenge Final" due to its different finals format): Essendon 8.15 (63) to Fitzroy 6.10 (46). Amongst Essendon's best players were half-forward flanker George "Tich" Shorten, centre half-forward Justin McCarthy, centre half-back Tom Fitzmaurice, rover Frank Maher, and wingman Jack Garden. This was one of Essendon's most famous sides, dubbed the "Mosquito Fleet" due to the number of small, very fast players in the side. Six players were 5'6" (167 cm) or smaller.

In the 1924 season, for the first time since their inaugural premiership in 1897, there was no ultimate match to decide the league's champion team – either "Challenge Final" or "Grand Final" – to determine the premiers; instead, the top four clubs after the home-and-away season played a round-robin to determine the premiers. Essendon, having previously defeated both Fitzroy (by 40 points) and South Melbourne (by 33 points), clinched the premiership by means of a 20-point loss to Richmond. With the Tigers having already lost a match to Fitzroy by a substantial margin, the Dons were declared premiers by virtue of their superior percentage, meaning that Essendon again managed to win successive premierships. But the low gates for the finals meant this was never attempted again, resulting in Essendon having the unique record of winning the only two premierships without a grand final.[36][37]

Prominent contributors to Essendon's 1924 Premiership success included back pocket Clyde Donaldson, follower Norm Beckton, half-back flanker Roy Laing, follower Charlie May, and rover Charlie Hardy.[37] The 1924 season was not without controversy, however, with rumours of numerous players accepting bribes. Regardless of the accuracy of these allegations, the club's image was tarnished, and the side experienced its lowest period during the decade that followed, with poor results on the field and decreased support off it.[citation needed]

There was worse to follow, with various Essendon players publicly blaming each other for a poor performance against Richmond, and then, with dissension still rife in the ranks, the side plummeted to an unexpected and humiliating 28-point loss to VFA premiers Footscray in a special charity match played a week later in front of 46,100 people, in aid of Dame Nellie Melba's Limbless Soldiers' Appeal Fund, purportedly (but not officially) for the championship of Victoria.[38]

The club's fortunes dipped alarmingly—and persistently. Indeed, after finishing third in the 1926 season, it was to be 14 years later—in 1940—before Essendon would even contest a finals series.[39]

Dick Reynolds years (1933–1960)

 
Dick Reynolds is regarded as one of Essendon's greatest players.

After the malaise of the late 1920s and early 1930, the 1933 season proved a turning point in morale despite no finals entries for the entire 1930s. Essendon saw the debut of the player regarded as one of the game's greatest-ever players, Dick Reynolds. His impact was immediate. He won his first Brownlow Medal aged 19. His record of three Brownlow victories (1934, 1937, 1938), equalled Fitzroy's Haydn Bunton, Sr (1931, 1932, 1935), and later equalled by Bob Skilton (1959, 1963, 1968), and Ian Stewart (1965, 1966, 1971).

Reynolds went on to arguably even greater achievements as a coach, a position to which he was first appointed, jointly with Harry Hunter, in 1939 (this was while Reynolds was still a player). A year later he took the reins on a solo basis and was rewarded with immediate success (at least in terms of expectations at the time which, after so long in the wilderness, were somewhat modest). He was regarded as having a sound tactical knowledge of the game and being an inspirational leader, as he led the side into the finals in 1940 for the first time since 1926, when the side finished 3rd. Melbourne, which defeated Essendon by just 5 points in the preliminary final, later went on to trounce Richmond by 39 points in the grand final.

The Essendon Football Club adopted the nickname The Bombers in April 1940.[40]

1941 brought Essendon's first grand final appearance since 1923, but the side again lowered its colours to Melbourne. A year later war broke out and the competition was considerably weakened, with Geelong being forced to pull out of the competition due to travel restrictions as a result of petrol rationing. Attendances at games also declined dramatically, whilst some clubs had to move from their normal grounds due to them being used for military purposes. Many players were lost to football due to their military service. Nevertheless, Essendon went on to win the 1942 Premiership with Western Australian Wally Buttsworth in irrepressible form at centre half-back. Finally, the long-awaited premiership was Essendon's after comprehensively outclassing Richmond in the grand final, 19.18 (132) to 11.13 (79). The match was played at Carlton in front of 49,000 spectators.

In any case, there could be no such reservations about Essendon's next premiership, which came just four years later. Prior to that Essendon lost a hard-fought grand final to Richmond in 1943 by 5 points, finished 3rd in 1944, and dropped to 8th in 1945.

After World War II, Essendon enjoyed great success. In the five years immediately after the war, Essendon won 3 premierships (1946, 1949, 1950) and were runners up twice (1947, 1948). In 1946, Essendon were clearly the VFL's supreme force, topping the ladder after the home-and-away games and surviving a drawn second semi-final against Collingwood to make it through to the grand final a week later with a score of 10.16 (76) to 8.9 (57). Then, in the grand final against Melbourne, Essendon set a grand final record score of 22.18 (150) to Melbourne 13.9 (87), featuring a 7-goal performance by centre half-forward Gordon Lane. Rover Bill Hutchinson, and defenders Wally Buttsworth, Cec Ruddell and Harold Lambert were among the best players.

The 1947 Grand Final has to go down in the ledger as 'one of the ones that got away',[citation needed] with Essendon losing to Carlton by a single point despite managing 30 scoring shots to 21. As if to prove that lightning does occasionally strike twice, the second of the 'ones that got away' came just a year later, the Dons finishing with a lamentable 7.27, to tie with Melbourne (who managed 10.9) in the 1948 grand final. A week later Essendon waved the premiership good-bye, as Melbourne raced to a 13.11 (89) to 7.8 (50) triumph. The club's Annual Report made an assessment that was at once restrained and, as was soon to emerge, tacitly and uncannily prophetic: "It is very apparent that no team is complete without a spearhead and your committee has high hopes of rectifying that fault this coming season."

The 1949 season heralded the arrival on the VFL scene of John Coleman, arguably the greatest player in Essendon's history, and, in the view of some, the finest player the game has known. In his first ever appearance for the Dons, against Hawthorn in Round 1 1949, he booted 12 of his side's 18 goals to create an opening round record which was to endure for forty five years. More importantly, however, he went on to maintain the same high level of performance throughout the season, kicking precisely 100 goals for the year to become the first player to kick 100 goals in a season since Richmond's Jack Titus in 1940.[citation needed]

The Coleman factor was just what Essendon needed to enable them to take that vital final step to premiership glory, but even so it was not until the business end of the season that this became clear. Essendon struggled to make the finals in 4th place, but once there they suddenly ignited to put in one of the most consistently devastating September performances in VFL history.

 
John Coleman kicked 537 goals in 98 matches.

Collingwood succumbed first as the Dons powered their way to an 82-point first semi-final victory, and a fortnight later it was the turn of the North Melbourne Football Club as Essendon won the preliminary final a good deal more comfortably than the ultimate margin of 17 points suggested. In the grand final, Essendon were pitted against Carlton and in a match that was a total travesty as a contest they overwhelmed the Blues to the tune of 73 points, 18.17 (125) to 6.16 (52). Best for the Dons included pacy aboriginal half-back flanker Norm McDonald, ruckman Bob McLure, and rovers Bill Hutchinson and Ron McEwin. John Coleman also did well, registering 6 majors.

A year later, in 1950, Essendon were—if anything—even more dominant, defeating the North Melbourne Football Club in both the Second Semi-Final and the Grand Final to secure consecutive VFL premierships for the third time. Best afield in the 1950 Grand Final, in what was officially his swan song as a player, was captain-coach Dick Reynolds, who received sterling support from the likes of Norm McDonald, ruckman/back pocket Wally May, back pocket Les Gardiner, and ruckman Bob McLure.

With 'King Richard' still holding court as coach in 1951, albeit now in a non-playing capacity, Essendon seemed on course for a third consecutive flag but a controversial four-week suspension dished out to John Coleman on the eve of the finals effectively put paid to their chances. Coleman was reported for retaliation after twice being struck by his Carlton opponent, Harry Caspar, and without him the Dons were rated a 4 goals poorer team. Nevertheless, they still managed to battle their way to a 6th successive grand final with wins over Footscray by 8 points in the first semi final and Collingwood by 2 points in the preliminary final.

The Dons sustained numerous injuries in the preliminary final, and the selectors sprang a surprise on Grand Final day by naming the officially retired Dick Reynolds as 20th man. 'King Richard' was powerless to prevent the inevitable; although leading at half-time, Geelong kicked five goals to Essendon's two points in the third quarter to set up victory by 11 points.

Essendon slumped to 8th in 1952, but Coleman was in blistering form, managing 103 goals for the year. Hugh Buggy noted in The Argus: "It was the wettest season for twenty-two years and Coleman showed that since the war he was without peer in the art of goal kicking."

Two seasons later, Coleman's career was ended after he dislocated a knee during the Round 8 clash with the North Melbourne Football Club at Essendon. Aged just 25, he had kicked 537 goals in only 98 VFL games in what was generally a fairly low-scoring period for the game. His meteoric rise and fall were clearly the stuff of legend, and few (if any) players, either before or since, have had such an immense impact over so brief a period.

According to Alf Brown, football writer for The Herald:

(Coleman) had all football's gifts. He was courageous, a long, straight kick, he had a shrewd football brain and, above all, he was a spectacular, thrilling mark.

Somewhat more colourful, R.S. Whittington suggested,

"Had he been a trapeze artist in a strolling circus, Coleman could have dispensed with the trapeze."

Without Coleman, Essendon's fortunes plummeted, and there were to be no further premierships in the 1950s. The nearest miss came in 1957 when the Bombers (as they were popularly known by this time) earned premiership favouritism after a superb 16-point Second Semi-Final defeat of Melbourne—only to lose by over 10 goals against the same side a fortnight later.

1959 saw another grand final loss to Melbourne, this time by 37 points, but the fact that the average age of the Essendon side was only 22 was seen as providing considerable cause for optimism. However, it was to take another three years, and a change of coach, before the team's obvious potential was translated into tangible success.[citation needed]

Post-Reynolds era and the "Slugging Seventies" (1961–1980)

John Coleman started his coaching career at Essendon in 1961, thus ending the Dick Reynolds era at the club. In the same year, Essendon finished the season mid-table, and supporters were not expecting too much for the following season. However, the club blitzed the opposition in 1962, losing only two matches and finishing top of the table. Both losses were to the previous year's grand finalists. The finals posed no problems for the resurgent Dons, easily accounting for Carlton in the season's climax, winning the 1962 Premiership by 32 points. This was a remarkable result for Coleman, who, in just his second season of coaching, claimed the ultimate prize in Australian football. As so often is the case after a flag, the following two years were below standard. A further premiership in 1965 (won from 4th position on the ladder) was also unexpected due to periods of poor form during the 1965 season. The Bombers were a different club when the finals came around, but some of the credit for the improvement was given to the influence of Brian Sampson and Ted Fordham during the finals. Coleman's time as coach turned out to be much like his playing career: highly successful but cut short when he had to stand down due to health problems in 1967. Only six years later, on the eve of the 1973 season, he died of a heart attack at just 44 years of age.

Following Coleman's retirement, the club experienced tough times on and off the field. Finals appearances were rare for the side, which was often in contention for the wooden spoon. Essendon did manage to make the 1968 VFL Grand Final, but it lost to Carlton by just three points and did not make it back to the big stage for a 15 years.

During the period from 1968 until 1980, five different coaches were tried, with none lasting longer than four years. Off the field, the club went through troubled times as well. In 1970, five players went on strike before the season even began, demanding higher payments. Essendon did make the finals in 1972 and 1973 under the autocratic direction of Des Tuddenham (Collingwood), but they were beaten badly in successive elimination finals by St. Kilda and did not taste finals action again until the very end of the decade. The 1970s' Essendon sides were involved in many rough and tough encounters under Tuddenham, who himself came to loggerheads with Ron Barassi at a quarter-time huddle where both coaches exchanged heated words. Essendon had tough but talented players with the likes of "Rotten Ronnie" Ron Andrews and experienced players such as Barry Davis, Ken Fletcher, Geoff Blethyn, Neville Fields and West Australian import Graham Moss. In May 1974, a controversial half-time all-in-brawl with Richmond at Windy Hill and a 1975 encounter with Carlton were testimony of the era. Following the Carlton match, the Herald described Windy Hill as "Boot Hill" because of the extent of the fights and the high number of reported players (eight in all—four from Carlton and four from Essendon). The peak of these incidents occurred in 1980 with new recruit Phil Carman making headlines for head-butting an umpire. The tribunal suspended him for sixteen weeks, and although most people thought this was a fair (or even lenient) sentence, he took his case to the supreme court, gathering even more unwanted publicity for the club. Despite this, the club had recruited many talented young players in the late 1970s who emerged as club greats. Three of those young players were Simon Madden, Tim Watson and Paul Van Der Haar. Terry Daniher and his brother Neale came via a trade with South Melbourne, and Roger Merrett joined soon afterwards to form the nucleus of what would become the formidable Essendon sides of the 1980s. This raw but talented group of youngsters took Essendon to an elimination final in 1979 under Barry Davis but were again thrashed in an Elimination Final, this time at the hands of Fitzroy. Davis resigned at the end of the 1980 season after missing out on a finals appearance.

One of the few highlights for Essendon supporters during this time was when Graham Moss won the 1976 Brownlow Medal; he was the only Bomber to do so in a 40-year span from 1953 to 1993. Even that was bittersweet, as he quit VFL football to move back to his native Western Australia, where Moss finished out his career as a player and coach at Claremont Football Club. In many ways, Moss's career reflects Essendon's mixed fortunes during the decade.

Kevin Sheedy era (1981–2007)

 
Essendon 1980s shield logo

Former Richmond player Kevin Sheedy started as head coach in 1981.[41]

Essendon reached the Grand Final in 1983, the first time since 1968. Hawthorn won by a then record 83 points.[42]

In 1984, Essendon won the pre-season competition and completed the regular season on top of the ladder. The club played, and beat, Hawthorn in the 1984 VFL Grand Final to win their 13th premiership—their first since 1965. The teams met again in the 1985 Grand Final, which Essendon also won. At the start of 1986, Essendon were considered unbackable for three successive flags, but a succession of injuries to key players Paul Van der Haar (only fifteen games from 1986 to 1988), Tim Watson, Darren Williams, Roger Merrett and Simon Madden led the club to win only eight of its last eighteen games in 1986 and only nine games (plus a draw with Geelong) in 1987.[43] In July 1987, the Bombers suffered a humiliation at the hands of Sydney, who fell two points short of scoring the then highest score in VFL history.[44]

In 1988, Essendon made a rebound to sixth place with twelve wins, including a 140-point thrashing of Brisbane where they had a record sixteen individual goalkickers.[45] In 1989, they rebounded further to second on the ladder with only five losses and thrashed Geelong in the Qualifying Final. However, after a fiery encounter with Hawthorn ended in a convincing defeat, the Bombers were no match for Geelong next week.

In 1990, Essendon were pace-setters almost from the start, but a disruption from the Qualifying Final draw between Collingwood and West Coast was a blow from which they never recovered. The Magpies comprehensively thrashed them in both the second semi final and the grand final.

Following the 1991 season, Essendon moved its home games from its traditional home ground at Windy Hill to the larger and newly renovated MCG. This move generated large increases in game attendance, membership and revenue for the club. The club's training and administrative base remained at Windy Hill until 2013.

Following the retirement of Tim Watson and Simon Madden in the early 1990s, the team was built on new players such as Gavin Wanganeen, Joe Misiti, Mark Mercuri, Michael Long, Dustin Fletcher (son of Ken) and James Hird, who was taken at No. 79 in the 1990 draft. This side became known as the "Baby Bombers", as the core of the side was made up of young players early in their careers.

The team won the 1993 Grand Final against Carlton and that same year, Gavin Wanganeen won the Brownlow Medal, the first awarded to an Essendon player since 1976. Three years later, James Hird was jointly awarded the medal with Michael Voss of Brisbane.

In 2000, the club shifted the majority of its home games to the newly opened Docklands Stadium, signing a 25-year deal to play seven home matches per year at the venue, with the other four remaining at the MCG.[46] The season was one of the most successful by any team in VFL/AFL history, and the club opened with 20 consecutive wins before they lost to the Western Bulldogs in round 21. The team went on to win their 16th premiership, defeating Melbourne, thereby completing the most dominant single season in AFL/VFL history. The defeat to the Bulldogs was the only defeat for Essendon throughout the entire calendar year (Essendon also won the 2000 pre-season competition).[47]

Essendon was less successful after 2001. Lucrative contracts to a number of premiership players had caused serious pressure on the club's salary cap, forcing the club to trade several key players.[citation needed] Blake Caracella, Chris Heffernan, Justin Blumfield, Gary Moorcroft and Damien Hardwick had all departed by the end of 2002; in 2004, Mark Mercuri, Sean Wellman and Joe Misiti retired. The club remained competitive; however, they could progress no further than the second week of the finals each year for the years of 2002, 2003, and 2004. Sheedy signed a new three-year contract at the end of 2004.

 
Kevin Sheedy and James Hird farewell banner ahead of their final game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground

In 2005, Essendon missed the finals for the first time since 1997; and in 2006, the club suffered its worst season under Sheedy, and its worst for more than 70 years, finishing second-last with only three wins (one of which was against defending premiers Sydney, in which newly appointed captain Matthew Lloyd kicked eight goals)[48] and one draw from twenty-two games. Lloyd had replaced James Hird as captain at the start of the season, but after suffering a season-ending hamstring injury two weeks after his phenomenal performance against Leo Barry,[49][50][51] David Hille was appointed captain for the remainder of the season. The club improved its on-field position in 2007 but again missed the finals.

On field and relocation to Melbourne Airport (2008–2012)

Sheedy's contract was not renewed after 2007, ending his 27-year tenure as Essendon coach. Matthew Knights replaced Sheedy as coach, and coached the club for three seasons, reaching the finals once—an eighth-place finish in 2009 at the expense of reigning premiers Hawthorn.[52] On 29 August 2010, shortly after the end of the 2010 home-and-away season, Knights was dismissed as coach.

 
Essendon players prepare to take the field before a match against Greater Western Sydney in 2013.

On 28 September 2010, former captain James Hird was named as Essendon's new coach from 2011 on a four-year deal. Former Geelong dual premiership winning coach and Essendon triple-premiership winning player Mark Thompson later joined Hird on the coaching panel. In his first season, Essendon finished eighth. The club started strongly in 2012, sitting fourth with a 10–3 record at the halfway mark of the season; but the club won only one more match for the season, finishing eleventh to miss the finals.

In 2013 the club moved its training and administrative base to The Hangar, a new facility in the suburb of Melbourne Airport which it had developed in conjunction with the Australian Paralympic Committee. Essendon holds a 37-year lease at the facility,[53] and maintains a lease at Windy Hill to use the venue for home matches for its reserves team in the Victorian Football League, and for a social club and merchandise store on the site.[54]

ASADA/WADA investigation (2013–2016)

During 2013, the club was investigated by the AFL and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) over its 2012 player supplements and sports science program, most specifically over allegations into illegal use of peptide supplements. An internal review found it to have "established a supplements program that was experimental, inappropriate and inadequately vetted and controlled", and on 27 August 2013, the club was found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute for this reason. Among its penalties, the club was fined A$2 million, stripped of early draft picks in the following two drafts, and forfeited its place in the 2013 finals series (having originally finished seventh on the ladder); Hird was suspended from coaching for twelve months.[55] Several office-bearers also resigned their posts during the controversy, including chairman David Evans[56] and CEO Ian Robson.[57]

In the midst of the supplements saga, assistant coach Mark Thompson took over as coach for the 2014 season during Hird's suspension.[58] He led the club back to the finals for a seventh-place finish but in a tense second elimination final against archrivals North Melbourne, the Bombers led by as much as 27 points at half time before a resurgent Kangaroos side came back and won the game by 12 points. After the 2014 season, Mark Thompson left the club to make way for Hird's return to the senior coaching role.

In June 2014, thirty-four players were issued show-cause notices alleging the use of banned peptide Thymosin beta-4 during the program.[59] The players faced the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal over the 2014/15 offseason, and on 31 March 2015 the tribunal returned a not guilty verdict, determining that it was "not comfortably satisfied" that the players had been administered the peptide.[60]

Hird returned as senior coach for the 2015 season,[61] and after a strong start, the club's form severely declined after the announcement that WADA would appeal the decision of the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal. The effect of the appeal on the team's morale was devastating and they went on to win only six games for the year. Under extreme pressure, Hird resigned on 18 August 2015 following a disastrous 112-point loss to Adelaide.[62] Former West Coast Eagles premiership coach John Worsfold was appointed as the new senior coach on a three-year contract.

On 12 January 2016 the Court of Arbitration for Sport overruled the AFL anti-doping tribunal's decision, deeming that 34 past and present players of the Essendon Football Club, took the banned substance Thymosin Beta-4. As a result, all 34 players, 12 of which were still at the club, were given two-year suspensions. However, all suspensions were effectively less due to players having previously taken part in provisional suspensions undertaken during the 2014/2015 off-season.[63][64] As a result, Essendon contested the 2016 season with twelve[65] of its regular senior players under suspension. In order for the club to remain competitive, the AFL granted Essendon the ability to upgrade all five of their rookie listed players and to sign an additional ten players to cover the loss of the suspended players for the season.

Due to this unprecedented situation, many in the football community predicted the club would go through the 2016 AFL season without a win; however, they were able to win three matches: against Melbourne, Gold Coast and Carlton in rounds 2, 21 and 23 respectively. The absence of its most experienced players also allowed the development of its young players, with Zach Merrett and Orazio Fantasia having breakout years, while Darcy Parish and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, impressing in their debut seasons. Merrett acted as captain in the side's round 21 win over the Suns.[66] The club eventually finished on the bottom of the ladder and thus claimed its first wooden spoon since 1933.

Post-investigation (2017–present)

Essendon made their final financial settlement related to the supplements saga in September 2017, just before finals started.[67] They also improved vastly on their 2016 performance, finishing 7th in the home and away season and becoming the first team since West Coast in 2011 to go from wooden spooner to a finals appearance, but they ultimately lost their only final to Sydney.[68]

The 2017 season was also capped off by the retirement of much-loved club legend and ex-captain Jobe Watson, midfielder Brent Stanton, and ex-Geelong star James Kelly, who later took up a development coach role at the club. Midfielder Heath Hocking, who played 126 games for the club, was delisted.

Expectations were high for the 2018 season, with the club having an outstanding offseason. The recruitment of Jake Stringer, Adam Saad and Devon Smith from the Western Bulldogs, Gold Coast Suns and Greater Western Sydney Giants respectively was expected to throw Essendon firmly into premiership contention.

After beating the previous year's runner up Adelaide (which went on to beat reigning premiers Richmond the following round)[69] in round one,[70] Essendon's form slumped severely, only winning one game out of the next seven rounds and losing to the then-winless Carlton in round eight.[71] Senior assistant coach Mark Neeld was sacked by the club the following Monday.[72]

The team's form improved sharply after this, recording wins against top eight sides Geelong, GWS, eventual premiers West Coast and Sydney, and winning ten out of the last 13 games of the season. However, the mid-season revival was short-lived, with a loss to reigning premiers Richmond by eight points in round 22 ending any hopes they had of reaching the finals.

The 2018 season was capped off by the club not offering veteran Brendon Goddard a new contract for 2019.

Essendon acquired Dylan Shiel from Greater Western Sydney in one of the most high-profile trades of the 2018 AFL Trade Period.[73] The Bombers had inconsistent form throughout the 2019 season but qualified for the finals for the second time in three seasons,[74] finishing eighth on the ladder with 12 wins and 10 losses. The Bombers, however, were no match for the West Coast Eagles in the first elimination final and lost by 55 points to end their season.[75] The defeat extended their 15-year finals winning drought, having not won a final since 2004.[76]

Following the end of the 2019 season, assistant coach Ben Rutten was announced as John Worsfold's successor as senior coach, effective at the end of the 2020 AFL season. Rutten effectively shared co-coaching duties with Worsfold during the 2020 season.

2020 was a particularly disappointing year for the club. The Bombers failed to make the finals, finishing thirteenth on the AFL ladder with just six wins and a draw from 17 games. Conor McKenna became the first AFL player to test positive to COVID-19 during the pandemic.

With Rutten solely at the helm in 2021, Essendon improved significantly from the previous year and returned to the finals, finishing eighth on the ladder with 11 wins and 11 losses, and despite having beaten the Western Bulldogs towards the end of the regular season, the Bombers would lose to the same team by 49 points in the first elimination final.

2022 was the clubs 150th year anniversary, and hopes were high, with some even predicting Essendon to break their 21 year premiership drought.[77] However, these predictions proved drastically wrong as the Bombers went on to finish 15th, winning only 7 games with a percentage of 83.2%.[78] This poor performance placed Rutten's position under scrutiny, and after a late attempt to lure former Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson failed,[79] Rutten was unceremoniously sacked.[80] He was replaced by former AFL General Manager of Football and North Melbourne coach Brad Scott.[81] As a result of the 2022 season's turmoil, board members such as former CEO Xavier Campbell, former president Paul Brasher, former player Simon Madden, and Peter Allen left their roles. [82] Campbell was replaced by Andrew Thorburn, who was resigned after only one day in the role due to his involvement with the conservative City on the Hill Church Movement.[83]

Club symbols

Guernsey

 
Essendon players traditionally run through a banner which is created by its supporters before their matches.

Essendon's first recorded jumpers were navy blue (The Footballers, edited by Thomas Power, 1875) although the club wore 'red and black caps and hose'. In 1877 The Footballers records the addition of 'a red sash over left shoulder'. This is the first time a red sash as part of the club jumper and by 1878 there are newspaper reports referring to Essendon players as 'the men in the sash'.

Given that blue and navy blue were the most popular colours at the time it is thought that Essendon adopted a red sash in 1877 to distinguish its players from others in similar coloured jumpers.

Clash jumpers

In 2007, the AFL Commission laid down the requirement that all clubs must produce an alternative jumper for use in matches where jumpers are considered to clash. From 2007 to 2011, the Essendon clash guernsey was the same design as its home guernsey, but with a substantially wider sash such that the guernsey was predominantly red rather than predominantly black. This was changed after 2011 when the AFL deemed that the wider sash did not provide sufficient contrast.[84]

From 2012 to 2016, Essendon's clash guernsey was predominantly grey, with a red sash fimbriated in black; the grey field contained, in small print, the names of all Essendon premiership players.[84]

Before the 2016 season, Essendon's changed their clash guernsey to a predominantly red one, featuring a red sash in black. Similar to the grey jumper, the names of Essendon premiership players were also printed outside the sash.[85]

Yellow armbands

Following Adam Ramanauskas' personal battle with cancer, a "Clash for Cancer" match against Melbourne was launched in 2006. This was a joint venture between Essendon and the Cancer Council of Victoria to raise funds for the organisation.[86] Despite a formal request to the AFL being denied, players wore yellow armbands for the match which resulted in the club being fined $20,000.[87] In 2007, the AFL agreed to allow yellow armbands to be incorporated into the left sleeve of the jumper.[88] The 'Clash for Cancer' match against Melbourne has become an annual event, repeated in subsequent seasons, though in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016, Hawthorn (twice), the Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions were the opponents in those respective seasons instead of Melbourne.[89][90][91] In 2009, the jumpers were auctioned along with yellow boots worn by some players during the match.[92]

Club song

The club's theme song, "See the Bombers Fly Up", is thought to have been written c. 1959 by Kevin Andrews in the home of player Jeff Gamble at which time Kevin Andrews was living. The song is based on the tune of Johnnie Hamp's 1929 song "(Keep Your) Sunny Side Up" at an increased tempo. Jeff Gamble came up with the line 'See the bombers fly up, up' while Kevin Andrews contributed all or most of the rest. At the time, "(Keep Your) Sunny Side Up" was the theme song for the popular Melbourne-based TV show on Channel 7 Sunnyside Up.[93] The official version of the song was recorded in 1972 by the Fable Singers and is still used today.[94]

The song, as with all other AFL clubs, is played prior to every match and at the conclusion of matches when the team is victorious.

See the Bombers fly up, up!
To win the premiership flag.
Our boys who play this grand old game,
Are always striving for glory and fame!
See the Bombers fly up, up,
The other teams they don't fear;
They all try their best,
But they can't get near,
As the Bombers fly up!

Songwriter Mike Brady, of "Up There Cazaly" fame, penned an updated version of the song in 1999 complete with a new verse arrangement, but it was not well received. However, this version is occasionally played at club functions. In 2018, Andrews revealed that there was an error in the lyrics, in which in the line "The other teams they don't fear", the word "they" was supposed to be "we".[95]

Logo and mascot

The club's current logo was introduced in 1998,[96] making it the second oldest AFL logo currently in use, behind St. Kilda's logo, which was introduced in 1995.

Their mascot is known as "Skeeta Reynolds", and was named after Dick Reynolds. He is a mosquito and was created in honour of the team's back-to-back premiership sides in the 1920s known as the "Mosquito Fleet". He was first named through a competition run in the Bomber magazine with "Skeeta" being the winning entry. This was later changed to "Skeeta Reynolds". He appears as a red mosquito in an Essendon jumper and wears a red and black scarf.

Headquarters, training and administration base

The Essendon Football Club primary training and administration base has been at The Hangar since 2013.[97] prior to this, the primary training and administration base of Essendon Football Club was based at Windy Hill Oval from 1922 until 2013.[98] prior to this, the home ground of Essendon Football Club was at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground from 1882 until 1921.

Membership

Year Total Members[99]
1984 10,231
1985 11,376
1986 12,607
1987 8,129
1988 8,432
1989 7,958
1990 11,046
1991 11,593
1992 10,034
1993 11,546
1994 19,720
1995 23,833
1996 24,324
1997 28,063
1998 27,099
1999 29,858
2000 34,278
2001 36,227
2002 35,219
2003 31,970
2004 33,469
2005 32,734
2006 32,511
2007 32,759
2008 41,947
2009 40,412
2010 40,589
2011 50,275
2012 47,708
2013 56,172
2014 60,714
2015 61,317
2016 57,494
2017 67,768
2018 79,319
2019 84,237
2020 66,686
2021 81,662

Rivalries

Essendon's biggest rivals are Carlton, Richmond, and Collingwood, as these teams and Essendon are the four biggest and most supported clubs in Victoria. Matches between the clubs are often close regardless of form and ladder positions. If out of the race themselves, all four have the desire to deny the others a finals spot or a premiership. Essendon also has a fierce rivalry with Hawthorn, stemming from excessive on-field violence in the 1980s, perhaps reaching its zenith with the infamous Line in the Sand Match in 2004. Additionally, Essendon has a three-decade rivalry with the West Coast Eagles.

  • CarltonThe rivalry between Essendon and Carlton is considered one of the strongest in the league. With the teams sharing the record of 16 premierships, both sides are keen to become outright leader, or if out of the finals race, at least ensure the other doesn't. In recent years, the rivalry has thickened, with Carlton beating the 1999 Minor Premiers and premiership favourites by 1 point in the Preliminary Final. Other notable meetings between the two clubs include the 1908, 1947, 1949, 1962 and 1968 VFL Grand Finals and 1993 AFL Grand Final, with some decided by small margins.
  • Collingwood – In the early days of the VFL, this rivalry grew out of several Grand Final meetings: 1901, 1902 and 1911. The teams didn't meet again in a Grand Final until 1990 when Collingwood won to draw level with the Bombers on 14 premierships and deny the Bombers a chance to join Carlton with 15 flags. Since 1995, the rivalry has been even more fierce, with the clubs facing off against each other annually in the Anzac Day clash, a match which is described as the second biggest of the season (behind only the Grand Final). Being possibly the two biggest football clubs in Victoria, regardless of their position on the ladder, this game always attracts a huge crowd, and it is a match both teams have a great desire to win regardless of either team's season prospects.
  • Richmond – This rivalry stems out of the 1942 Grand Final which Essendon won. In 1974, a half-time brawl took place involving trainers, officials and players at Windy Hill and has become infamous as one of the biggest ever. The teams didn't meet in the finals between 1944 and 1995, but there have been many close margins in home and away season matches as a result of each team's "never say die" attitude and ability to come back from significant margins in the dying stages of matches. Having met in the AFL's Rivalry Round in (2006 and 2009) and meeting in the Dreamtime at the 'G match since 2005, the rivalry and passion between the clubs and supporters has re-ignited. In recent years the rivalry has been promoted as the "Clash of the Sash".[100]
  • Hawthorn – The two sides had a number of physical encounters in the mid-1980s when they were the top two sides of the competition. The rivalry was exacerbated when Dermott Brereton ran through Essendon's three-quarter time huddle during a match in 1988 and again by an all in brawl during a match in 2004 allegedly instigated by Brereton (now known as the Line in the Sand Match after the direction allegedly given by Brereton for the Hawthorn players to make a physical stand). This was reminiscent of the 1980s when battles with Hawthorn were often hard and uncompromising affairs. During Round 22 of the 2009 season, Essendon and Hawthorn played for the last finals spot up for grabs. The teams played out an extremely physical game and despite being 22 points down at half time Essendon went on to win by 17 points. The game included a brawl shortly after half time sparked by Essendon's captain Matthew Lloyd knocking out Hawthorn midfielder Brad Sewell, which led Hawthorn's Campbell Brown to label Lloyd a 'sniper', and promised revenge if Lloyd played on in 2010.
  • North Melbourne – One of the fiercest rivalries in the AFL can be traced back to 1896, when several clubs, including Essendon, broke away from the Victorian Football Association to form the Victorian Football League. North sought to join the breakaway competition, but some argue this desire was not realised due to Essendon feeling threatened by North's proximity and the fact their inclusion could drain Essendon of vital talent. More than 100 years later, some North supporters have not forgiven Essendon for the decision and have blamed the Bombers for their small supporter base and gate revenue. North were finally admitted into the VFL in 1925 alongside Footscray and Hawthorn. In 1950, the two sides met in their first and only grand final meeting to date, which Essendon won by 38 points. The rivalry would flare up again in the 1980s. In 1982, the Krakouer brothers, Jim and Phil, led the Roos to an Elimination Final win. Essendon had their revenge a year later, winning a Preliminary Final by 86 points. The rivalry was re-ignited in the late 1990s and early 2000s due to the on-field success of the two sides. In preparation for the 1998 finals series, and despite losing six of their last eight to the Roos, legendary Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy publicly labelled North executives Greg Miller and Mark Dawson soft in response to comments from commentators that his Essendon team was soft. The Kangaroos beat Essendon in the much-hyped encounter that followed (a Qualifying Final), and North fans pelted Sheedy with marshmallows as he left the ground, although Sheedy was seemingly unfazed by the incident, encouraging a "Marshmallow Game" the next year and relishing in the fact that Sheedy's ulterior motive was to build up the game and draw a large crowd, which proved to be correct, drawing in 71,154 people to attend the game.[101][102] In 2000, the Bombers thrashed North by 125 points. The biggest VFL/AFL comeback of all time occurred between the two teams when Essendon managed to come back from a 69-point deficit to win by 12 points in 2001. A meeting of the two rivals at the MCG in the 2014 AFL finals series in the 2nd Elimination Final resulted in North winning by 12 points.
  • West Coast – A three-decade rivalry between the Essendon Bombers and the West Coast Eagles kicked off when Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy tied the windsock down on the School End outer terrace so the opposition would not know which way the wind was blowing. Sheedy later said of the incident three decades later, in jest, that it was because the brand sponsor had neglected to pay their account. When West Coast won the toss and kicked against the breeze, it looked as if Sheedy's plan had worked. Nevertheless, West Coast would go on to win by 7 points.[103] In his excitement at winning a close match in Round 16, 1993, with ruckman and forward Paul Salmon kicking a goal 30 seconds before the final siren against the West Coast Eagles (the reigning premiers), Sheedy waved his jacket in the air as he came rushing from the coaches' box. To this day, the supporters of the winning club wave their jackets in the air after the game when the two teams play.[104] The moment is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting the Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport, with Sheedy shown waving a red, black and yellow jacket rather than a red and black jacket, to reflect Sheedy's support of indigenous footballers.[105] The Bombers would go on to defeat West Coast again later that year in their Semi-Final clash and take home the 1993 premiership cup a couple of weeks later. Despite Sheedy's typically measured disposition, Sheedy did lose his cool on one occasion in 2000. In yet another game against the Eagles, Sheedy was fined $7,500 by the tribunal after making a cut-throat gesture to then-Eagle Mitchell White during the half-time break of the Essendon–West Coast clash in Round 15, 2000, also apparently mouthing the words "You... are... fucked!" to White.[106][107][108] In a famous game in 2004, with 35 seconds remaining and the scores deadlocked at 131 points apiece, Essendon legend James Hird swooped on a loose ball in the right forward pocket and snapped a match-winning goal with his 15th possession for the quarter, famously hugging an Essendon supporter in the crowd in a moment of jubilation after being fined $20,000 earlier in the week for criticising umpire Scott McLaren.[109][110][111] Full-forward Matthew Lloyd also kicked eight goals during the game to net three Brownlow votes.[112] Despite Hird's incredible individual effort, and to the consternation of fans and the audience of the 2004 Brownlow medal count, he did not receive any Brownlow Medal votes from the umpires for his 34 disposals and clutch goals, which some have speculated was in retribution for his tirade against umpire McLaren.[113]

Organisation and finance

Board

For the full list, see List of VFL/AFL presidents

David Barham has served as chairman of the board since August 2022.

Essendon's board members are David Barham, Andrew Welsh, Melissa Verner Green, Dorothy Hisgrove, Andrew Muir, Kate O'Sullivan, and Kevin Sheedy AO.

Sponsorship

The club's apparel is currently produced by Under Armour. The club's apparel has also been produced by Reebok, Fila, Puma, Adidas and ISC.[114]

Year Kit Manufacturer Major Sponsor Shorts Sponsor Bottom Back Sponsor Top Back Sponsor
1977–83 Don Smallgoods -
1984–92 Nubrik
1993 Don Smallgoods
1994–95 Speed Kills TAC Delta Speed Kills TAC
1996–97 Reebok
1998 Reebok Rebel
1999 Musashi
2000 Fila
2001–02 Orange Orange
2003–04 Puma 3 Mobile IMB 3 Mobile
2005
2006–07 Abey
2008 Samsung
2009–10 Adidas Samsung Antler Samsung
2011 Samsung (Home) True Value Solar (Away) Toll True Value Solar (Home) Samsung (Away)
2012 True Value Solar (Home) Kia Motors (Away) Kia Motors (Home) True Value Solar (Away)
2013 Kia Motors (Home) True Value Solar (Away) True Value Solar (Home) Kia Motors (Away)
2014 Fujitsu (Home) Kia Motors (Away) Kia Motors (Home) Fujitsu (Away)
2015 Kia Motors (Home) Fujitsu (Away) Fujitsu (Home) Kia Motors (Away)
2016 Fujitsu (Home) Kia Motors (Away) Kia Motors (Home) Fujitsu (Away)
2017 ISC Kia Motors (Home) Fujitsu (Away) Border Express Fujitsu (Home) Kia Motors (Away)
2018 Fujitsu (Home) Kia Motors (Away) Kia Motors (Home) Fujitsu (Away)
2019 Amart Furniture (Home) Fujitsu (Away) Fujitsu (Home) Amart Furniture (Away)
2020 Under Armour Coles Insurance Fujitsu (Home) Amart Furniture (Away)
2021 Fujitsu (Home) Amart Furniture (Away) Amart Furniture (Home) Fujitsu (Away) Liberty Financial
2022 Tradie

Honours

See Essendon Football Club honours.

Club achievements

Premierships
Competition Level Wins Years Won
Australian Football League Seniors 16 1897, 1901, 1911, 1912, 1923, 1924, 1942, 1946, 1949, 1950, 1962, 1965, 1984, 1985, 1993, 2000
Reserves (1919–1999) 8 1921, 1941, 1950, 1952, 1968, 1983, 1992, 1999
Under 19s (1946–1991) 5 1950, 1952, 1959, 1961, 1966
VFL Women's Reserves 1 2022
Victorian Football Association Seniors (1877–1896) 4 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894
Other titles and honours
AFL pre-season competition Seniors 4 1990, 1993, 1994, 2000
McClelland Trophy Seniors 9 1951, 1953, 1957, 1968, 1989, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2001
Championship of Australia Seniors 1 1893
AFC Night Series Seniors 2 1981, 1984
Lightning Premiership Seniors 3 1896, 1943, 1996
Finishing positions
Australian Football League Minor premiership 17 1898, 1911, 1923, 1924, 1942, 1946, 1948, 1950, 1962, 1968, 1984, 1985, 1990, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2001
Grand Finalist 14 1898, 1902, 1908, 1941, 1943, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1957, 1959, 1968, 1983, 1990, 2001
Wooden spoons 5 1907, 1918, 1921, 1933, 2016
VFL Women's Minor premiership 1 2022
Wooden spoons 1 2018

Team of the Century

To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the club, as well as 100 years of the VFL/AFL, Essendon announced its "Team of the Century" in 1997.[115]

Essendon Team of the Century
B: Gavin Wanganeen

1991–96, 181 cm, 83 kg,
127 games, 64 goals

Fred Baring

1910–15/1918–24, 185 cm, 90 kg,
154 games, 92 goals

Tom Fitzmaurice

1918–20/1922–24, 192 cm, 96 kg,
85 games, 30 goals

HB: Barry Davis

1961–72, 185 cm, 87 kg,
218 games, 65 goals

Wally Buttsworth

1939–49, 185 cm, 91 kg,
188 games, 2 goals

Harold Lambert

1940–41/1946–51, 175 cm, 76 kg,
99 games, 2 goals

C: Reg Burgess

1954–60, 175 cm, 72 kg,
124 games, 9 goals

Jack Clarke

1951–67, 175 cm, 78 kg,
263 games, 180 goals

Michael Long

1989–2001, 178 cm, 80 kg,
190 games, 143 goals

HF: James Hird

1992–2007, 188 cm, 89 kg,
253 games, 343 goals

Ken Fraser

1958–68, 187 cm, 80 kg,
198 games, 157 goals

Terry Daniher

1978–92, 188 cm, 89 kg,
294 games, 447 goals

F: Bill Hutchison

1942–57, 174 cm, 70 kg,
290 games, 496 goals

John Coleman

1949–54, 185 cm, 80 kg,
98 games, 537 goals

Albert Thurgood

1899–1902/1906, 183 cm, 76 kg,
46 games, 89 goals

Foll: Simon Madden

1974–92, 198 cm, 99 kg,
378 games, 575 goals

Tim Watson

1977–91/1993–94, 185 cm, 96 kg,
307 games, 335 goals

Dick Reynolds (c)

1933–51, 179 cm, 82 kg,
320 games, 442 goals

Int: Mark Thompson

1983–96, 177 cm, 87 kg,
202 games, 50 goals

Keith Forbes

1928–37, 171 cm, 72 kg,
152 games, 415 goals

Frank Maher

1921–28, 170 cm, 70 kg,
137 games, 124 goals

William Griffith

1899–1913, 175 cm, 76 kg,
187 games, 13 goals

Coach: Kevin Sheedy

1981–2007; Coached 634, Won 386, Lost 242, Drew 6

Champions of Essendon

In 2002, a club panel chose and ranked the 25 greatest players to have played for Essendon.[116]

Current squad

Senior list Rookie list Coaching staff

Head coach

Assistant coaches


Legend:
  • (c) Captain(s)
  • (vc) Vice captain(s)
  • (B) Category B rookie

Updated: 19 December 2022
Source(s): Playing list, Coaching staff

Covid top-up list

For the 2022 season, in the event an AFL club has less than 28 players available due to COVID-19, each club can select from a list of 20 state league players who can be called up to AFL level.[117]

2022 Essendon Covid Top-up list
Player State League club
Dylan Landt Essendon VFL
Joe Atley Essendon VFL
James Harrold Essendon VFL
Ben Archard Essendon VFL
Will Golds Essendon VFL
James Peters Essendon VFL
Shaun McKernan Essendon VFL
Sam Conforti Essendon VFL
Patrick Bannister Essendon VFL
Billy Cootee Essendon VFL
Max Simpson Essendon VFL
Cam McLeod Essendon VFL
Austin Harris Essendon VFL
Joel Fitzgerald Essendon VFL
Cooper Anderson Essendon VFL
Ronald Fejo Jr. Essendon VFL
John Adajian Essendon VFL

Match records

Reserves team

The Essendon reserves team first competed in the Victorian Football League's reserves competition when the competition was established in 1919. The team enjoyed success in the form of eight premierships between 1919 and 1999, including the last Victorian State Football League year in 1999. From 2000 until 2002, the club's reserves team competed in the new Victorian Football League competition.

At the end of 2002, the club dissolved its reserves team and established a reserves affiliation with the Bendigo Football Club in the VFL. The affiliation ran for ten years from 2003 until 2012, allowing reserves players from the Essendon list to play with Bendigo.

The club re-established its reserves team in 2013, seeking greater developmental autonomy. The reserves team has since competed in the VFL. The team plays its home games at Windy Hill.[118] The team is made up of senior-listed AFL players and VFL-contracted players.

From the 2022 VFL season, the side will be coached by former Essendon AFL player Brent Stanton.[119]

Premierships (8)
Year Competition Opponent Score Venue
1921 VFL Reserves Collingwood 10.9 (69) – 8.13 (61) MCG
1941 VFL Reserves Fitzroy 12.16 (88) – 9.17 (71) MCG
1950 VFL Reserves North Melbourne 12.8 (80) – 8.7 (55) MCG
1952 VFL Reserves Collingwood 7.14 (56) – 4.5 (29) MCG
1968 VFL Reserves Richmond 15.7 (97) – 13.14 (92) MCG
1983 VFL Reserves Collingwood 19.14 (128) – 15.9 (99) MCG
1992 VSFL Melbourne 18.19 (127) – 14.10 (94) MCG
1999 AFL Reserves (VSFL) St Kilda 20.13 (133) – 11.10 (76) MCG
Runners-up (10)
Year Competition Opponent Score Venue
1922 VFL Reserves Collingwood 1.9 (15) – 8.10 (58) MCG
1924 VFL Reserves Geelong Did Not Play[a] Kardinia Park
1932 VFL Reserves Melbourne 4.10 (34) – 8.12 (60) MCG
1949 VFL Reserves Melbourne 9.14 (68) – 17.10 (112) MCG
1951 VFL Reserves Carlton 7.9 (51) – 8.15 (63) MCG
1953 VFL Reserves Carlton 11.7 (73) – 15.7 (97) MCG
1971 VFL Reserves Richmond 8.18 (66) – 14.14 (98) MCG
1981 VFL Reserves Geelong 18.6 (114) – 21.14 (140) MCG
1996 AFL Reserves (VSFL) North Melbourne 7.10 (52) – 23.18 (156) MCG
1998 AFL Reserves (VSFL) Footscray 12.8 (80) – 20.16 (136) MCG

a Essendon refused to play the Grand Final in Geelong, so the premiership was awarded to Geelong.

Women's teams

AFL Women's team

Essendon fielded a team in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition from its seventh season.[120] In March 2022, former North Melbourne AFLW player and Essendon VFLW captain Georgia Nanscawen was announced as the club's first AFLW player signing,[121] and Western Bulldogs AFLW assistant coach Natalie Wood was announced as the club's first AFLW coach a week later.[122] The club's AFLW coaching panel was finalised in late June.[123]

AFL Women's squad

Senior list Coaching staff

Head coach

Assistant coaches


Legend:
  • (c) Captain(s)
  • (vc) Vice captain(s)
  • italics – Inactive player list
  •   Long-term injury

Updated: 19 December 2022
Source(s): Playing list

VFL Women's team

Essendon has fielded a team in the VFL Women's (VFLW) competition since the 2018 season. The league is the highest-grade competition for female footballers in Victoria and one of three second-tier female competitions underneath the national AFL Women's.

VFL Women's season summaries

Essendon VFLW honour roll
Season Final position Coach Captain Best and fairest Leading goalkicker
2018 13th Brendan Major Lisa Williams Hayley Bullas Alexandra Quigley (7)
2019 9th Brendan Major Courtney Ugle Georgia Nanscawen Alexandra Quigley (10)
2020 Season cancelled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 3rd Brendan Major Georgia Nanscawen Eloise Ashley-Cooper Mia-Rae Clifford (16)
2022 Premiers Brendan Major Georgia Nanscawen Georgia Nanscawen Federica Frew (35)

Sources: Club historical data and VFLW stats

Other ventures

In December 2017, Essendon entered e-sports by acquiring Australian League of Legends team Abyss ESports.[124] This made them the second AFL team to acquire an e-sports division after Adelaide acquired Legacy ESports in May.

On 2 December 2019, it was announced that the Bombers' OPL slot had been sold to Perth-based internet provider Pentanet, marking Essendon's exit from the e-sports arena.[125][126]

In 2018, the Essendon Football Club, along with four other AFL clubs, entered the Victorian Wheelchair Football League.

See also

Notes

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  5. ^ "The Fall". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 March 2014.
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  15. ^ "Football: Essendon v. Norwood, The South Australian Register, (Monday, 25 June 1883), p.7".
  16. ^ Essendon v. Port Adelaide, The Argus, (Monday, 18 June 1883), p.3; Football: Ports v. Essendon, The Port Adelaide News, (Tuesday, 19 June 1883), p.4.
  17. ^ "Football: Essendon (Victoria) v. Adelaide and Suburban Association Twenty-Three, The (Adelaide) Evening Journal, (Tuesday, 19 June 1883), p.3".
  18. ^ "Intercolonial Football Match, The (Adelaide) Express and Telegraph, (Thursday, 21 June 1883), p.3".
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  22. ^ "30 Sep 1912 - NEWS IN BRIEF. - Trove".
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  81. ^ "Great Scott: Dons poach AFL's footy GM as new coach".
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  120. ^ Black, Sarah (12 August 2021). "'Changing for the better': Final four clubs complete AFLW". womens.afl. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
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  122. ^ "'The standout candidate': Bombers reveal inaugural coach". womens.afl. 18 March 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  123. ^ Black, Sarah (23 June 2022). "Bombers poach another Bulldog for AFLW coaching panel". womens.afl. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  124. ^ Essendon enters Esports EssendonFC.com.au
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  126. ^ "Pentanet.GG joins Oceanic Pro League for 2020 esports season". pentanet.com.au. Pentanet. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.

References

  • The Illustrated History of the Essendon Football Club. Melbourne, Victoria: Geoff Slattery Publishing. 2007. ISBN 978-0-9758362-8-6.

External links

  • Official website  
  • "Around the Grounds" – Web Documentary – Windy Hill

essendon, football, club, defunct, club, that, played, from, 1900, 1921, essendon, association, football, club, nicknamed, bombers, professional, australian, rules, football, club, club, plays, australian, football, league, game, premier, competition, club, fo. For the defunct club that played in the VFA from 1900 to 1921 see Essendon Association Football Club The Essendon Football Club nicknamed the Bombers is a professional Australian rules football club The club plays in the Australian Football League AFL the game s premier competition The club was formed by the McCracken family in their Ascot Vale home Alisa and while the exact date is unknown it is generally accepted to have been in 1872 The club s first recorded game took place on 7 June 1873 against a Carlton Second 20 From 1878 until 1896 the club played in the Victorian Football Association then joined seven other clubs in October 1896 to form the breakaway Victorian Football League later changed to AFL in 1990 Headquartered at the Essendon Recreation Ground known as Windy Hill from 1922 to 2013 the club moved to The Hangar in near Tullamarine in late 2013 on land owned the Melbourne Airport The club currently plays its home games at either Docklands Stadium or the Melbourne Cricket Ground Dyson Heppell is the current club captain Essendon Football ClubNamesFull nameEssendon Football Club 1 Nickname s Bombers Dons Same OldsMottoSuaviter in Modo Fortiter in Re Gently in manner resolutely in execution 2022 seasonHome and away season15thLeading goalkickerPeter Wright 53 goals Club detailsFounded1872 151 years ago 1872 Colours Red BlackCompetitionAFL Senior menAFLW Senior womenVFL Reserves menVFLW Reserves womenVWFL WheelchairPresidentDavid BarhamChairmanVacantCEOCraig VozzoCoachAFL Brad ScottAFLW Natalie WoodVFL Leigh Tudor VFLW Travis ClokeCaptain s AFL Dyson HeppellAFLW Stephanie Cain Bonnie ToogoodVFL Daniel YounanVFLW Mia Rae Clifford Georgia NanscawenVWFL Louis RowePremiershipsVFL AFL 16 1897 1901 1911 1912 1923 1924 1942 1946 1949 1950 1962 1965 1984 1985 1993 2000VFA 4 1891 1892 1893 1894Reserves VFL 8 1921 1941 1950 1952 1968 1983 1992 1999VFLW 1 2022Championship of Australia 1 1893Ground s AFL Docklands Stadium 56 347 Melbourne Cricket Ground 100 024 AFLW North Port Oval 10 000 VFL VFLW Windy Hill 10 000 The HangarVWFL Boroondara Sports ComplexFormer ground s East Melbourne Cricket Ground 1897 1921 Windy Hill 1922 91 Training ground s The Hangar 2013 UniformsHomeAwayClashOther informationOfficial websiteessendonfc com auThis article s tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia See Wikipedia s guide to writing better articles for suggestions December 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Essendon is one of Australia s best known and most successful football clubs 2 It has won 16 VFL AFL premierships which along with Carlton is the most of any club in the competition The club won four consecutive VFA premierships between 1891 and 1894 a feat unmatched in that competition s history However Essendon has struggled to remain competitive in the 21st century having won its last premiership in 2000 and not winning a final since 2004 During the early to mid 2010s the team were the focus of an investigation by the AFL and independent regulatory bodies into their alleged use of illegal substances during the 2012 season which led to 34 two year suspensions a 2 million fine and disqualification from the 2013 finals series among other penalties Three Essendon players John Coleman Bill Hutchison and Dick Reynolds and one coach Kevin Sheedy are classified as Legends in the Australian Football Hall of Fame Essendon also fields reserves men s and women s teams in the Victoria Football League and VFL Women s respectively Since 2022 it has a team competing in the national AFL Women s competition 3 4 Contents 1 History 1 1 Formation and VFA years 1871 1896 1 2 Founding of the VFL to World War I 1897 1915 1 3 Same Olds 1 4 Return to suburban Essendon 1921 1932 1 5 Dick Reynolds years 1933 1960 1 6 Post Reynolds era and the Slugging Seventies 1961 1980 1 7 Kevin Sheedy era 1981 2007 1 8 On field and relocation to Melbourne Airport 2008 2012 1 9 ASADA WADA investigation 2013 2016 1 10 Post investigation 2017 present 2 Club symbols 2 1 Guernsey 2 1 1 Clash jumpers 2 1 2 Yellow armbands 2 2 Club song 2 3 Logo and mascot 2 4 Headquarters training and administration base 3 Membership 4 Rivalries 5 Organisation and finance 5 1 Board 5 2 Sponsorship 6 Honours 6 1 Club achievements 6 2 Team of the Century 6 3 Champions of Essendon 7 Current squad 7 1 Covid top up list 8 Match records 9 Reserves team 10 Women s teams 10 1 AFL Women s team 10 1 1 AFL Women s squad 10 2 VFL Women s team 10 2 1 VFL Women s season summaries 11 Other ventures 12 See also 13 Notes 14 References 15 External linksHistory EditFormation and VFA years 1871 1896 Edit Essendon players and officials c 1878 Scenes from the 1891 VFA Premiership Match in which Essendon defeated Carlton The club was founded by members of the Royal Agricultural Society the Melbourne Hunt Club and the Victorian Woolbrokers 5 The Essendon Football Club is thought to have formed in 1872 at a meeting it the home of a well known brewery family the McCrackens whose Ascot Vale property hosted a team of local junior players 6 Robert McCracken 1813 1885 7 8 the owner of several city hotels was the founder and first president of the Essendon Football club and his son Alex McCracken its first secretary Alex later became president of the newly formed VFL Alex s cousin Collier McCracken who had already played with Melbourne was the team s first captain 9 The club played its first recorded match against the Carlton Second Twenty the reserves on 7 June 1873 10 with Essendon winning by one goal Essendon played 13 matches in its first season winning seven with four draws and losing two 11 The club was one of the inaugural junior members of the Victorian Football Association VFA in 1877 12 and it began competing as a senior club from the 1878 season 13 During its early years in the Association Essendon played its home matches at Flemington Hill but it moved to the East Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1881 In 1878 at Flemington Hill Essendon played its first match on what would be considered by modern standards to be a full sized field In 1879 Essendon played Melbourne in one of the earliest night matches recorded when the ball was painted white In 1883 the team played four matches in eight days in Adelaide 14 losing to Norwood on 23 June 15 and defeating Port Adelaide on 16 June 16 a combined South Australian team on 18 June 17 and South Adelaide on 20 June 18 In 1891 Essendon won their first VFA premiership which they repeated in 1892 1893 and 1894 One of the club s greatest players Albert Thurgood played for the club during this period making his debut in 1892 19 Essendon 18 wins 2 draws was undefeated in the 1893 season 19 20 Founding of the VFL to World War I 1897 1915 Edit The Essendon side that won the 1897 VFL premiership At the end of the 1896 season Essendon along with seven other clubs formed the Victorian Football League Essendon s first VFL game was in 1897 against Geelong at Corio Oval in Geelong Essendon won its first VFL premiership by winning the 1897 VFL finals series in a round robin event Essendon again won the premiership in 1901 defeating Collingwood in the Grand Final The club won successive premierships in 1911 and 1912 over Collingwood and South Melbourne respectively 21 22 Same Olds Edit Dave Smith captained Essendon to premiership success in 1911 The club is recorded as having played at McCracken s Paddock Glass s Paddock and Flemington Hill It is likely that these are three different names for the one ground given that McCracken s Paddock was a parcel of land that sat within the larger Glass s Paddock which in turn was situated in an area widely known at the time as Flemington Hill In 1882 the club moved home games to the East Melbourne Cricket Ground since demolished after an application to play on the Essendon Cricket Ground later known as Windy Hill was voted down by Lord Mayor of the City of Essendon James Taylor on the basis that the considered the Essendon Cricket Ground to be suitable only for the gentleman s game of cricket 23 The club became known by the nickname the Same Old Essendon from the title and hook of the principal song performed by a band of supporters which regularly occupied a section of the grandstand at the club s games 24 The nickname first appeared in print in the local North Melbourne Advertiser in 1889 25 and ended up gaining wide use often as the diminutive Same Olds 26 This move away from Essendon at a time when fans would walk to their local ground didn t go down too well with many Essendon people and as a consequence a new team and club was formed in 1900 unconnected with the first although it played in the same colours that was based at the Essendon Cricket Ground and playing in the Victorian Football Association It was known firstly as Essendon Town and after 1905 as Essendon although it was often called Essendon A with the A standing for association 27 Return to suburban Essendon 1921 1932 Edit Fred Baring during the 1920s After the 1921 season the East Melbourne Cricket Ground was closed and demolished to expand the Flinders Street Railyard Having played at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground from 1882 to 1921 and having won four VFA premierships 1891 1894 and four VFL premierships 1897 1901 1911 and 1912 whilst there 28 Essendon was looking for a new home It was offered grounds at the current Royal Melbourne Showgrounds Ascot Vale at Victoria Park Melbourne at Arden St North Melbourne and the Essendon Cricket Ground The Essendon City Council offered the VFL team the Essendon Cricket Ground announcing that it would be prepared to spend over 12 000 1 009 066 in 2021 terms according to the Retail Price Index 29 on improvements including a new grandstand scoreboard and re fencing of the oval The club s first preference was to move to North Melbourne 30 a move which the North Melbourne Football Club then in the VFA saw as an opportunity to get into the VFL Most of Essendon s members and players were from the North Melbourne area and sportswriters believed that Essendon would have been taken over by or rebranded as North Melbourne within only a few years of the move 31 32 However the VFA desperate for its own strategic reasons not to lose its use of the North Melbourne Cricket Ground successfully appealed to the State Government to block Essendon s move to North Melbourne 33 With its preferred option off the table the club returned to Essendon and the Essendon VFA club disbanded with most of its players moving to North Melbourne 34 The old Same Olds nickname fell into disuse and by 1922 the other nicknames Sash Wearers and Essendonians that had been variously used from time to time were also abandoned The team became universally known as the Dons from EssenDON it was not until much later during the War years of the early 1940s that they became known as The Bombers due to Windy Hill s proximity to the Essendon Aerodrome 35 In the 1922 season playing in Essendon for the first time in decades Essendon reached the final four for the first time since 1912 finishing in third place In the 1923 season the club topped the ladder with 13 wins from 16 games After a 17 point Second Semi Final loss to South Melbourne Essendon defeated Fitzroy who had beaten South Melbourne in the 1923 Grand Final then known as a Challenge Final due to its different finals format Essendon 8 15 63 to Fitzroy 6 10 46 Amongst Essendon s best players were half forward flanker George Tich Shorten centre half forward Justin McCarthy centre half back Tom Fitzmaurice rover Frank Maher and wingman Jack Garden This was one of Essendon s most famous sides dubbed the Mosquito Fleet due to the number of small very fast players in the side Six players were 5 6 167 cm or smaller In the 1924 season for the first time since their inaugural premiership in 1897 there was no ultimate match to decide the league s champion team either Challenge Final or Grand Final to determine the premiers instead the top four clubs after the home and away season played a round robin to determine the premiers Essendon having previously defeated both Fitzroy by 40 points and South Melbourne by 33 points clinched the premiership by means of a 20 point loss to Richmond With the Tigers having already lost a match to Fitzroy by a substantial margin the Dons were declared premiers by virtue of their superior percentage meaning that Essendon again managed to win successive premierships But the low gates for the finals meant this was never attempted again resulting in Essendon having the unique record of winning the only two premierships without a grand final 36 37 Prominent contributors to Essendon s 1924 Premiership success included back pocket Clyde Donaldson follower Norm Beckton half back flanker Roy Laing follower Charlie May and rover Charlie Hardy 37 The 1924 season was not without controversy however with rumours of numerous players accepting bribes Regardless of the accuracy of these allegations the club s image was tarnished and the side experienced its lowest period during the decade that followed with poor results on the field and decreased support off it citation needed There was worse to follow with various Essendon players publicly blaming each other for a poor performance against Richmond and then with dissension still rife in the ranks the side plummeted to an unexpected and humiliating 28 point loss to VFA premiers Footscray in a special charity match played a week later in front of 46 100 people in aid of Dame Nellie Melba s Limbless Soldiers Appeal Fund purportedly but not officially for the championship of Victoria 38 The club s fortunes dipped alarmingly and persistently Indeed after finishing third in the 1926 season it was to be 14 years later in 1940 before Essendon would even contest a finals series 39 Dick Reynolds years 1933 1960 Edit Dick Reynolds is regarded as one of Essendon s greatest players After the malaise of the late 1920s and early 1930 the 1933 season proved a turning point in morale despite no finals entries for the entire 1930s Essendon saw the debut of the player regarded as one of the game s greatest ever players Dick Reynolds His impact was immediate He won his first Brownlow Medal aged 19 His record of three Brownlow victories 1934 1937 1938 equalled Fitzroy s Haydn Bunton Sr 1931 1932 1935 and later equalled by Bob Skilton 1959 1963 1968 and Ian Stewart 1965 1966 1971 Reynolds went on to arguably even greater achievements as a coach a position to which he was first appointed jointly with Harry Hunter in 1939 this was while Reynolds was still a player A year later he took the reins on a solo basis and was rewarded with immediate success at least in terms of expectations at the time which after so long in the wilderness were somewhat modest He was regarded as having a sound tactical knowledge of the game and being an inspirational leader as he led the side into the finals in 1940 for the first time since 1926 when the side finished 3rd Melbourne which defeated Essendon by just 5 points in the preliminary final later went on to trounce Richmond by 39 points in the grand final The Essendon Football Club adopted the nickname The Bombers in April 1940 40 1941 brought Essendon s first grand final appearance since 1923 but the side again lowered its colours to Melbourne A year later war broke out and the competition was considerably weakened with Geelong being forced to pull out of the competition due to travel restrictions as a result of petrol rationing Attendances at games also declined dramatically whilst some clubs had to move from their normal grounds due to them being used for military purposes Many players were lost to football due to their military service Nevertheless Essendon went on to win the 1942 Premiership with Western Australian Wally Buttsworth in irrepressible form at centre half back Finally the long awaited premiership was Essendon s after comprehensively outclassing Richmond in the grand final 19 18 132 to 11 13 79 The match was played at Carlton in front of 49 000 spectators In any case there could be no such reservations about Essendon s next premiership which came just four years later Prior to that Essendon lost a hard fought grand final to Richmond in 1943 by 5 points finished 3rd in 1944 and dropped to 8th in 1945 After World War II Essendon enjoyed great success In the five years immediately after the war Essendon won 3 premierships 1946 1949 1950 and were runners up twice 1947 1948 In 1946 Essendon were clearly the VFL s supreme force topping the ladder after the home and away games and surviving a drawn second semi final against Collingwood to make it through to the grand final a week later with a score of 10 16 76 to 8 9 57 Then in the grand final against Melbourne Essendon set a grand final record score of 22 18 150 to Melbourne 13 9 87 featuring a 7 goal performance by centre half forward Gordon Lane Rover Bill Hutchinson and defenders Wally Buttsworth Cec Ruddell and Harold Lambert were among the best players The 1947 Grand Final has to go down in the ledger as one of the ones that got away citation needed with Essendon losing to Carlton by a single point despite managing 30 scoring shots to 21 As if to prove that lightning does occasionally strike twice the second of the ones that got away came just a year later the Dons finishing with a lamentable 7 27 to tie with Melbourne who managed 10 9 in the 1948 grand final A week later Essendon waved the premiership good bye as Melbourne raced to a 13 11 89 to 7 8 50 triumph The club s Annual Report made an assessment that was at once restrained and as was soon to emerge tacitly and uncannily prophetic It is very apparent that no team is complete without a spearhead and your committee has high hopes of rectifying that fault this coming season The 1949 season heralded the arrival on the VFL scene of John Coleman arguably the greatest player in Essendon s history and in the view of some the finest player the game has known In his first ever appearance for the Dons against Hawthorn in Round 1 1949 he booted 12 of his side s 18 goals to create an opening round record which was to endure for forty five years More importantly however he went on to maintain the same high level of performance throughout the season kicking precisely 100 goals for the year to become the first player to kick 100 goals in a season since Richmond s Jack Titus in 1940 citation needed The Coleman factor was just what Essendon needed to enable them to take that vital final step to premiership glory but even so it was not until the business end of the season that this became clear Essendon struggled to make the finals in 4th place but once there they suddenly ignited to put in one of the most consistently devastating September performances in VFL history John Coleman kicked 537 goals in 98 matches Collingwood succumbed first as the Dons powered their way to an 82 point first semi final victory and a fortnight later it was the turn of the North Melbourne Football Club as Essendon won the preliminary final a good deal more comfortably than the ultimate margin of 17 points suggested In the grand final Essendon were pitted against Carlton and in a match that was a total travesty as a contest they overwhelmed the Blues to the tune of 73 points 18 17 125 to 6 16 52 Best for the Dons included pacy aboriginal half back flanker Norm McDonald ruckman Bob McLure and rovers Bill Hutchinson and Ron McEwin John Coleman also did well registering 6 majors A year later in 1950 Essendon were if anything even more dominant defeating the North Melbourne Football Club in both the Second Semi Final and the Grand Final to secure consecutive VFL premierships for the third time Best afield in the 1950 Grand Final in what was officially his swan song as a player was captain coach Dick Reynolds who received sterling support from the likes of Norm McDonald ruckman back pocket Wally May back pocket Les Gardiner and ruckman Bob McLure With King Richard still holding court as coach in 1951 albeit now in a non playing capacity Essendon seemed on course for a third consecutive flag but a controversial four week suspension dished out to John Coleman on the eve of the finals effectively put paid to their chances Coleman was reported for retaliation after twice being struck by his Carlton opponent Harry Caspar and without him the Dons were rated a 4 goals poorer team Nevertheless they still managed to battle their way to a 6th successive grand final with wins over Footscray by 8 points in the first semi final and Collingwood by 2 points in the preliminary final The Dons sustained numerous injuries in the preliminary final and the selectors sprang a surprise on Grand Final day by naming the officially retired Dick Reynolds as 20th man King Richard was powerless to prevent the inevitable although leading at half time Geelong kicked five goals to Essendon s two points in the third quarter to set up victory by 11 points Essendon slumped to 8th in 1952 but Coleman was in blistering form managing 103 goals for the year Hugh Buggy noted in The Argus It was the wettest season for twenty two years and Coleman showed that since the war he was without peer in the art of goal kicking Two seasons later Coleman s career was ended after he dislocated a knee during the Round 8 clash with the North Melbourne Football Club at Essendon Aged just 25 he had kicked 537 goals in only 98 VFL games in what was generally a fairly low scoring period for the game His meteoric rise and fall were clearly the stuff of legend and few if any players either before or since have had such an immense impact over so brief a period According to Alf Brown football writer for The Herald Coleman had all football s gifts He was courageous a long straight kick he had a shrewd football brain and above all he was a spectacular thrilling mark dd Somewhat more colourful R S Whittington suggested Had he been a trapeze artist in a strolling circus Coleman could have dispensed with the trapeze dd Without Coleman Essendon s fortunes plummeted and there were to be no further premierships in the 1950s The nearest miss came in 1957 when the Bombers as they were popularly known by this time earned premiership favouritism after a superb 16 point Second Semi Final defeat of Melbourne only to lose by over 10 goals against the same side a fortnight later 1959 saw another grand final loss to Melbourne this time by 37 points but the fact that the average age of the Essendon side was only 22 was seen as providing considerable cause for optimism However it was to take another three years and a change of coach before the team s obvious potential was translated into tangible success citation needed Post Reynolds era and the Slugging Seventies 1961 1980 Edit John Coleman started his coaching career at Essendon in 1961 thus ending the Dick Reynolds era at the club In the same year Essendon finished the season mid table and supporters were not expecting too much for the following season However the club blitzed the opposition in 1962 losing only two matches and finishing top of the table Both losses were to the previous year s grand finalists The finals posed no problems for the resurgent Dons easily accounting for Carlton in the season s climax winning the 1962 Premiership by 32 points This was a remarkable result for Coleman who in just his second season of coaching claimed the ultimate prize in Australian football As so often is the case after a flag the following two years were below standard A further premiership in 1965 won from 4th position on the ladder was also unexpected due to periods of poor form during the 1965 season The Bombers were a different club when the finals came around but some of the credit for the improvement was given to the influence of Brian Sampson and Ted Fordham during the finals Coleman s time as coach turned out to be much like his playing career highly successful but cut short when he had to stand down due to health problems in 1967 Only six years later on the eve of the 1973 season he died of a heart attack at just 44 years of age Following Coleman s retirement the club experienced tough times on and off the field Finals appearances were rare for the side which was often in contention for the wooden spoon Essendon did manage to make the 1968 VFL Grand Final but it lost to Carlton by just three points and did not make it back to the big stage for a 15 years During the period from 1968 until 1980 five different coaches were tried with none lasting longer than four years Off the field the club went through troubled times as well In 1970 five players went on strike before the season even began demanding higher payments Essendon did make the finals in 1972 and 1973 under the autocratic direction of Des Tuddenham Collingwood but they were beaten badly in successive elimination finals by St Kilda and did not taste finals action again until the very end of the decade The 1970s Essendon sides were involved in many rough and tough encounters under Tuddenham who himself came to loggerheads with Ron Barassi at a quarter time huddle where both coaches exchanged heated words Essendon had tough but talented players with the likes of Rotten Ronnie Ron Andrews and experienced players such as Barry Davis Ken Fletcher Geoff Blethyn Neville Fields and West Australian import Graham Moss In May 1974 a controversial half time all in brawl with Richmond at Windy Hill and a 1975 encounter with Carlton were testimony of the era Following the Carlton match the Herald described Windy Hill as Boot Hill because of the extent of the fights and the high number of reported players eight in all four from Carlton and four from Essendon The peak of these incidents occurred in 1980 with new recruit Phil Carman making headlines for head butting an umpire The tribunal suspended him for sixteen weeks and although most people thought this was a fair or even lenient sentence he took his case to the supreme court gathering even more unwanted publicity for the club Despite this the club had recruited many talented young players in the late 1970s who emerged as club greats Three of those young players were Simon Madden Tim Watson and Paul Van Der Haar Terry Daniher and his brother Neale came via a trade with South Melbourne and Roger Merrett joined soon afterwards to form the nucleus of what would become the formidable Essendon sides of the 1980s This raw but talented group of youngsters took Essendon to an elimination final in 1979 under Barry Davis but were again thrashed in an Elimination Final this time at the hands of Fitzroy Davis resigned at the end of the 1980 season after missing out on a finals appearance One of the few highlights for Essendon supporters during this time was when Graham Moss won the 1976 Brownlow Medal he was the only Bomber to do so in a 40 year span from 1953 to 1993 Even that was bittersweet as he quit VFL football to move back to his native Western Australia where Moss finished out his career as a player and coach at Claremont Football Club In many ways Moss s career reflects Essendon s mixed fortunes during the decade Kevin Sheedy era 1981 2007 Edit Essendon 1980s shield logo Former Richmond player Kevin Sheedy started as head coach in 1981 41 Essendon reached the Grand Final in 1983 the first time since 1968 Hawthorn won by a then record 83 points 42 In 1984 Essendon won the pre season competition and completed the regular season on top of the ladder The club played and beat Hawthorn in the 1984 VFL Grand Final to win their 13th premiership their first since 1965 The teams met again in the 1985 Grand Final which Essendon also won At the start of 1986 Essendon were considered unbackable for three successive flags but a succession of injuries to key players Paul Van der Haar only fifteen games from 1986 to 1988 Tim Watson Darren Williams Roger Merrett and Simon Madden led the club to win only eight of its last eighteen games in 1986 and only nine games plus a draw with Geelong in 1987 43 In July 1987 the Bombers suffered a humiliation at the hands of Sydney who fell two points short of scoring the then highest score in VFL history 44 In 1988 Essendon made a rebound to sixth place with twelve wins including a 140 point thrashing of Brisbane where they had a record sixteen individual goalkickers 45 In 1989 they rebounded further to second on the ladder with only five losses and thrashed Geelong in the Qualifying Final However after a fiery encounter with Hawthorn ended in a convincing defeat the Bombers were no match for Geelong next week In 1990 Essendon were pace setters almost from the start but a disruption from the Qualifying Final draw between Collingwood and West Coast was a blow from which they never recovered The Magpies comprehensively thrashed them in both the second semi final and the grand final Following the 1991 season Essendon moved its home games from its traditional home ground at Windy Hill to the larger and newly renovated MCG This move generated large increases in game attendance membership and revenue for the club The club s training and administrative base remained at Windy Hill until 2013 Following the retirement of Tim Watson and Simon Madden in the early 1990s the team was built on new players such as Gavin Wanganeen Joe Misiti Mark Mercuri Michael Long Dustin Fletcher son of Ken and James Hird who was taken at No 79 in the 1990 draft This side became known as the Baby Bombers as the core of the side was made up of young players early in their careers The team won the 1993 Grand Final against Carlton and that same year Gavin Wanganeen won the Brownlow Medal the first awarded to an Essendon player since 1976 Three years later James Hird was jointly awarded the medal with Michael Voss of Brisbane In 2000 the club shifted the majority of its home games to the newly opened Docklands Stadium signing a 25 year deal to play seven home matches per year at the venue with the other four remaining at the MCG 46 The season was one of the most successful by any team in VFL AFL history and the club opened with 20 consecutive wins before they lost to the Western Bulldogs in round 21 The team went on to win their 16th premiership defeating Melbourne thereby completing the most dominant single season in AFL VFL history The defeat to the Bulldogs was the only defeat for Essendon throughout the entire calendar year Essendon also won the 2000 pre season competition 47 Essendon was less successful after 2001 Lucrative contracts to a number of premiership players had caused serious pressure on the club s salary cap forcing the club to trade several key players citation needed Blake Caracella Chris Heffernan Justin Blumfield Gary Moorcroft and Damien Hardwick had all departed by the end of 2002 in 2004 Mark Mercuri Sean Wellman and Joe Misiti retired The club remained competitive however they could progress no further than the second week of the finals each year for the years of 2002 2003 and 2004 Sheedy signed a new three year contract at the end of 2004 Kevin Sheedy and James Hird farewell banner ahead of their final game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground In 2005 Essendon missed the finals for the first time since 1997 and in 2006 the club suffered its worst season under Sheedy and its worst for more than 70 years finishing second last with only three wins one of which was against defending premiers Sydney in which newly appointed captain Matthew Lloyd kicked eight goals 48 and one draw from twenty two games Lloyd had replaced James Hird as captain at the start of the season but after suffering a season ending hamstring injury two weeks after his phenomenal performance against Leo Barry 49 50 51 David Hille was appointed captain for the remainder of the season The club improved its on field position in 2007 but again missed the finals On field and relocation to Melbourne Airport 2008 2012 Edit Sheedy s contract was not renewed after 2007 ending his 27 year tenure as Essendon coach Matthew Knights replaced Sheedy as coach and coached the club for three seasons reaching the finals once an eighth place finish in 2009 at the expense of reigning premiers Hawthorn 52 On 29 August 2010 shortly after the end of the 2010 home and away season Knights was dismissed as coach Essendon players prepare to take the field before a match against Greater Western Sydney in 2013 On 28 September 2010 former captain James Hird was named as Essendon s new coach from 2011 on a four year deal Former Geelong dual premiership winning coach and Essendon triple premiership winning player Mark Thompson later joined Hird on the coaching panel In his first season Essendon finished eighth The club started strongly in 2012 sitting fourth with a 10 3 record at the halfway mark of the season but the club won only one more match for the season finishing eleventh to miss the finals In 2013 the club moved its training and administrative base to The Hangar a new facility in the suburb of Melbourne Airport which it had developed in conjunction with the Australian Paralympic Committee Essendon holds a 37 year lease at the facility 53 and maintains a lease at Windy Hill to use the venue for home matches for its reserves team in the Victorian Football League and for a social club and merchandise store on the site 54 ASADA WADA investigation 2013 2016 Edit See also 2013 Essendon Football Club season 2014 Essendon Football Club season and Essendon Football Club supplements saga During 2013 the club was investigated by the AFL and the Australian Sports Anti Doping Authority ASADA over its 2012 player supplements and sports science program most specifically over allegations into illegal use of peptide supplements An internal review found it to have established a supplements program that was experimental inappropriate and inadequately vetted and controlled and on 27 August 2013 the club was found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute for this reason Among its penalties the club was fined A 2 million stripped of early draft picks in the following two drafts and forfeited its place in the 2013 finals series having originally finished seventh on the ladder Hird was suspended from coaching for twelve months 55 Several office bearers also resigned their posts during the controversy including chairman David Evans 56 and CEO Ian Robson 57 In the midst of the supplements saga assistant coach Mark Thompson took over as coach for the 2014 season during Hird s suspension 58 He led the club back to the finals for a seventh place finish but in a tense second elimination final against archrivals North Melbourne the Bombers led by as much as 27 points at half time before a resurgent Kangaroos side came back and won the game by 12 points After the 2014 season Mark Thompson left the club to make way for Hird s return to the senior coaching role In June 2014 thirty four players were issued show cause notices alleging the use of banned peptide Thymosin beta 4 during the program 59 The players faced the AFL Anti Doping Tribunal over the 2014 15 offseason and on 31 March 2015 the tribunal returned a not guilty verdict determining that it was not comfortably satisfied that the players had been administered the peptide 60 Hird returned as senior coach for the 2015 season 61 and after a strong start the club s form severely declined after the announcement that WADA would appeal the decision of the AFL Anti Doping Tribunal The effect of the appeal on the team s morale was devastating and they went on to win only six games for the year Under extreme pressure Hird resigned on 18 August 2015 following a disastrous 112 point loss to Adelaide 62 Former West Coast Eagles premiership coach John Worsfold was appointed as the new senior coach on a three year contract On 12 January 2016 the Court of Arbitration for Sport overruled the AFL anti doping tribunal s decision deeming that 34 past and present players of the Essendon Football Club took the banned substance Thymosin Beta 4 As a result all 34 players 12 of which were still at the club were given two year suspensions However all suspensions were effectively less due to players having previously taken part in provisional suspensions undertaken during the 2014 2015 off season 63 64 As a result Essendon contested the 2016 season with twelve 65 of its regular senior players under suspension In order for the club to remain competitive the AFL granted Essendon the ability to upgrade all five of their rookie listed players and to sign an additional ten players to cover the loss of the suspended players for the season Due to this unprecedented situation many in the football community predicted the club would go through the 2016 AFL season without a win however they were able to win three matches against Melbourne Gold Coast and Carlton in rounds 2 21 and 23 respectively The absence of its most experienced players also allowed the development of its young players with Zach Merrett and Orazio Fantasia having breakout years while Darcy Parish and Anthony McDonald Tipungwuti impressing in their debut seasons Merrett acted as captain in the side s round 21 win over the Suns 66 The club eventually finished on the bottom of the ladder and thus claimed its first wooden spoon since 1933 Post investigation 2017 present Edit Essendon made their final financial settlement related to the supplements saga in September 2017 just before finals started 67 They also improved vastly on their 2016 performance finishing 7th in the home and away season and becoming the first team since West Coast in 2011 to go from wooden spooner to a finals appearance but they ultimately lost their only final to Sydney 68 The 2017 season was also capped off by the retirement of much loved club legend and ex captain Jobe Watson midfielder Brent Stanton and ex Geelong star James Kelly who later took up a development coach role at the club Midfielder Heath Hocking who played 126 games for the club was delisted Expectations were high for the 2018 season with the club having an outstanding offseason The recruitment of Jake Stringer Adam Saad and Devon Smith from the Western Bulldogs Gold Coast Suns and Greater Western Sydney Giants respectively was expected to throw Essendon firmly into premiership contention After beating the previous year s runner up Adelaide which went on to beat reigning premiers Richmond the following round 69 in round one 70 Essendon s form slumped severely only winning one game out of the next seven rounds and losing to the then winless Carlton in round eight 71 Senior assistant coach Mark Neeld was sacked by the club the following Monday 72 The team s form improved sharply after this recording wins against top eight sides Geelong GWS eventual premiers West Coast and Sydney and winning ten out of the last 13 games of the season However the mid season revival was short lived with a loss to reigning premiers Richmond by eight points in round 22 ending any hopes they had of reaching the finals The 2018 season was capped off by the club not offering veteran Brendon Goddard a new contract for 2019 Essendon acquired Dylan Shiel from Greater Western Sydney in one of the most high profile trades of the 2018 AFL Trade Period 73 The Bombers had inconsistent form throughout the 2019 season but qualified for the finals for the second time in three seasons 74 finishing eighth on the ladder with 12 wins and 10 losses The Bombers however were no match for the West Coast Eagles in the first elimination final and lost by 55 points to end their season 75 The defeat extended their 15 year finals winning drought having not won a final since 2004 76 Following the end of the 2019 season assistant coach Ben Rutten was announced as John Worsfold s successor as senior coach effective at the end of the 2020 AFL season Rutten effectively shared co coaching duties with Worsfold during the 2020 season 2020 was a particularly disappointing year for the club The Bombers failed to make the finals finishing thirteenth on the AFL ladder with just six wins and a draw from 17 games Conor McKenna became the first AFL player to test positive to COVID 19 during the pandemic With Rutten solely at the helm in 2021 Essendon improved significantly from the previous year and returned to the finals finishing eighth on the ladder with 11 wins and 11 losses and despite having beaten the Western Bulldogs towards the end of the regular season the Bombers would lose to the same team by 49 points in the first elimination final 2022 was the clubs 150th year anniversary and hopes were high with some even predicting Essendon to break their 21 year premiership drought 77 However these predictions proved drastically wrong as the Bombers went on to finish 15th winning only 7 games with a percentage of 83 2 78 This poor performance placed Rutten s position under scrutiny and after a late attempt to lure former Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson failed 79 Rutten was unceremoniously sacked 80 He was replaced by former AFL General Manager of Football and North Melbourne coach Brad Scott 81 As a result of the 2022 season s turmoil board members such as former CEO Xavier Campbell former president Paul Brasher former player Simon Madden and Peter Allen left their roles 82 Campbell was replaced by Andrew Thorburn who was resigned after only one day in the role due to his involvement with the conservative City on the Hill Church Movement 83 Club symbols EditGuernsey Edit Essendon players traditionally run through a banner which is created by its supporters before their matches Essendon s first recorded jumpers were navy blue The Footballers edited by Thomas Power 1875 although the club wore red and black caps and hose In 1877 The Footballers records the addition of a red sash over left shoulder This is the first time a red sash as part of the club jumper and by 1878 there are newspaper reports referring to Essendon players as the men in the sash Given that blue and navy blue were the most popular colours at the time it is thought that Essendon adopted a red sash in 1877 to distinguish its players from others in similar coloured jumpers Clash jumpers Edit In 2007 the AFL Commission laid down the requirement that all clubs must produce an alternative jumper for use in matches where jumpers are considered to clash From 2007 to 2011 the Essendon clash guernsey was the same design as its home guernsey but with a substantially wider sash such that the guernsey was predominantly red rather than predominantly black This was changed after 2011 when the AFL deemed that the wider sash did not provide sufficient contrast 84 From 2012 to 2016 Essendon s clash guernsey was predominantly grey with a red sash fimbriated in black the grey field contained in small print the names of all Essendon premiership players 84 Before the 2016 season Essendon s changed their clash guernsey to a predominantly red one featuring a red sash in black Similar to the grey jumper the names of Essendon premiership players were also printed outside the sash 85 Yellow armbands Edit Following Adam Ramanauskas personal battle with cancer a Clash for Cancer match against Melbourne was launched in 2006 This was a joint venture between Essendon and the Cancer Council of Victoria to raise funds for the organisation 86 Despite a formal request to the AFL being denied players wore yellow armbands for the match which resulted in the club being fined 20 000 87 In 2007 the AFL agreed to allow yellow armbands to be incorporated into the left sleeve of the jumper 88 The Clash for Cancer match against Melbourne has become an annual event repeated in subsequent seasons though in 2012 2013 2014 and 2016 Hawthorn twice the Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions were the opponents in those respective seasons instead of Melbourne 89 90 91 In 2009 the jumpers were auctioned along with yellow boots worn by some players during the match 92 Club song Edit The club s theme song See the Bombers Fly Up is thought to have been written c 1959 by Kevin Andrews in the home of player Jeff Gamble at which time Kevin Andrews was living The song is based on the tune of Johnnie Hamp s 1929 song Keep Your Sunny Side Up at an increased tempo Jeff Gamble came up with the line See the bombers fly up up while Kevin Andrews contributed all or most of the rest At the time Keep Your Sunny Side Up was the theme song for the popular Melbourne based TV show on Channel 7 Sunnyside Up 93 The official version of the song was recorded in 1972 by the Fable Singers and is still used today 94 The song as with all other AFL clubs is played prior to every match and at the conclusion of matches when the team is victorious See the Bombers fly up up To win the premiership flag Our boys who play this grand old game Are always striving for glory and fame See the Bombers fly up up The other teams they don t fear They all try their best But they can t get near As the Bombers fly up Songwriter Mike Brady of Up There Cazaly fame penned an updated version of the song in 1999 complete with a new verse arrangement but it was not well received However this version is occasionally played at club functions In 2018 Andrews revealed that there was an error in the lyrics in which in the line The other teams they don t fear the word they was supposed to be we 95 Logo and mascot Edit The club s current logo was introduced in 1998 96 making it the second oldest AFL logo currently in use behind St Kilda s logo which was introduced in 1995 Their mascot is known as Skeeta Reynolds and was named after Dick Reynolds He is a mosquito and was created in honour of the team s back to back premiership sides in the 1920s known as the Mosquito Fleet He was first named through a competition run in the Bomber magazine with Skeeta being the winning entry This was later changed to Skeeta Reynolds He appears as a red mosquito in an Essendon jumper and wears a red and black scarf Headquarters training and administration base Edit The Essendon Football Club primary training and administration base has been at The Hangar since 2013 97 prior to this the primary training and administration base of Essendon Football Club was based at Windy Hill Oval from 1922 until 2013 98 prior to this the home ground of Essendon Football Club was at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground from 1882 until 1921 Membership EditYear Total Members 99 1984 10 2311985 11 3761986 12 6071987 8 1291988 8 4321989 7 9581990 11 0461991 11 5931992 10 0341993 11 5461994 19 7201995 23 8331996 24 3241997 28 0631998 27 0991999 29 8582000 34 2782001 36 2272002 35 2192003 31 9702004 33 4692005 32 7342006 32 5112007 32 7592008 41 9472009 40 4122010 40 5892011 50 2752012 47 7082013 56 1722014 60 7142015 61 3172016 57 4942017 67 7682018 79 3192019 84 2372020 66 6862021 81 662Rivalries EditEssendon s biggest rivals are Carlton Richmond and Collingwood as these teams and Essendon are the four biggest and most supported clubs in Victoria Matches between the clubs are often close regardless of form and ladder positions If out of the race themselves all four have the desire to deny the others a finals spot or a premiership Essendon also has a fierce rivalry with Hawthorn stemming from excessive on field violence in the 1980s perhaps reaching its zenith with the infamous Line in the Sand Match in 2004 Additionally Essendon has a three decade rivalry with the West Coast Eagles Carlton The rivalry between Essendon and Carlton is considered one of the strongest in the league With the teams sharing the record of 16 premierships both sides are keen to become outright leader or if out of the finals race at least ensure the other doesn t In recent years the rivalry has thickened with Carlton beating the 1999 Minor Premiers and premiership favourites by 1 point in the Preliminary Final Other notable meetings between the two clubs include the 1908 1947 1949 1962 and 1968 VFL Grand Finals and 1993 AFL Grand Final with some decided by small margins Collingwood In the early days of the VFL this rivalry grew out of several Grand Final meetings 1901 1902 and 1911 The teams didn t meet again in a Grand Final until 1990 when Collingwood won to draw level with the Bombers on 14 premierships and deny the Bombers a chance to join Carlton with 15 flags Since 1995 the rivalry has been even more fierce with the clubs facing off against each other annually in the Anzac Day clash a match which is described as the second biggest of the season behind only the Grand Final Being possibly the two biggest football clubs in Victoria regardless of their position on the ladder this game always attracts a huge crowd and it is a match both teams have a great desire to win regardless of either team s season prospects Richmond This rivalry stems out of the 1942 Grand Final which Essendon won In 1974 a half time brawl took place involving trainers officials and players at Windy Hill and has become infamous as one of the biggest ever The teams didn t meet in the finals between 1944 and 1995 but there have been many close margins in home and away season matches as a result of each team s never say die attitude and ability to come back from significant margins in the dying stages of matches Having met in the AFL s Rivalry Round in 2006 and 2009 and meeting in the Dreamtime at the G match since 2005 the rivalry and passion between the clubs and supporters has re ignited In recent years the rivalry has been promoted as the Clash of the Sash 100 Hawthorn The two sides had a number of physical encounters in the mid 1980s when they were the top two sides of the competition The rivalry was exacerbated when Dermott Brereton ran through Essendon s three quarter time huddle during a match in 1988 and again by an all in brawl during a match in 2004 allegedly instigated by Brereton now known as the Line in the Sand Match after the direction allegedly given by Brereton for the Hawthorn players to make a physical stand This was reminiscent of the 1980s when battles with Hawthorn were often hard and uncompromising affairs During Round 22 of the 2009 season Essendon and Hawthorn played for the last finals spot up for grabs The teams played out an extremely physical game and despite being 22 points down at half time Essendon went on to win by 17 points The game included a brawl shortly after half time sparked by Essendon s captain Matthew Lloyd knocking out Hawthorn midfielder Brad Sewell which led Hawthorn s Campbell Brown to label Lloyd a sniper and promised revenge if Lloyd played on in 2010 North Melbourne One of the fiercest rivalries in the AFL can be traced back to 1896 when several clubs including Essendon broke away from the Victorian Football Association to form the Victorian Football League North sought to join the breakaway competition but some argue this desire was not realised due to Essendon feeling threatened by North s proximity and the fact their inclusion could drain Essendon of vital talent More than 100 years later some North supporters have not forgiven Essendon for the decision and have blamed the Bombers for their small supporter base and gate revenue North were finally admitted into the VFL in 1925 alongside Footscray and Hawthorn In 1950 the two sides met in their first and only grand final meeting to date which Essendon won by 38 points The rivalry would flare up again in the 1980s In 1982 the Krakouer brothers Jim and Phil led the Roos to an Elimination Final win Essendon had their revenge a year later winning a Preliminary Final by 86 points The rivalry was re ignited in the late 1990s and early 2000s due to the on field success of the two sides In preparation for the 1998 finals series and despite losing six of their last eight to the Roos legendary Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy publicly labelled North executives Greg Miller and Mark Dawson soft in response to comments from commentators that his Essendon team was soft The Kangaroos beat Essendon in the much hyped encounter that followed a Qualifying Final and North fans pelted Sheedy with marshmallows as he left the ground although Sheedy was seemingly unfazed by the incident encouraging a Marshmallow Game the next year and relishing in the fact that Sheedy s ulterior motive was to build up the game and draw a large crowd which proved to be correct drawing in 71 154 people to attend the game 101 102 In 2000 the Bombers thrashed North by 125 points The biggest VFL AFL comeback of all time occurred between the two teams when Essendon managed to come back from a 69 point deficit to win by 12 points in 2001 A meeting of the two rivals at the MCG in the 2014 AFL finals series in the 2nd Elimination Final resulted in North winning by 12 points West Coast A three decade rivalry between the Essendon Bombers and the West Coast Eagles kicked off when Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy tied the windsock down on the School End outer terrace so the opposition would not know which way the wind was blowing Sheedy later said of the incident three decades later in jest that it was because the brand sponsor had neglected to pay their account When West Coast won the toss and kicked against the breeze it looked as if Sheedy s plan had worked Nevertheless West Coast would go on to win by 7 points 103 In his excitement at winning a close match in Round 16 1993 with ruckman and forward Paul Salmon kicking a goal 30 seconds before the final siren against the West Coast Eagles the reigning premiers Sheedy waved his jacket in the air as he came rushing from the coaches box To this day the supporters of the winning club wave their jackets in the air after the game when the two teams play 104 The moment is captured in Jamie Cooper s painting the Game That Made Australia commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport with Sheedy shown waving a red black and yellow jacket rather than a red and black jacket to reflect Sheedy s support of indigenous footballers 105 The Bombers would go on to defeat West Coast again later that year in their Semi Final clash and take home the 1993 premiership cup a couple of weeks later Despite Sheedy s typically measured disposition Sheedy did lose his cool on one occasion in 2000 In yet another game against the Eagles Sheedy was fined 7 500 by the tribunal after making a cut throat gesture to then Eagle Mitchell White during the half time break of the Essendon West Coast clash in Round 15 2000 also apparently mouthing the words You are fucked to White 106 107 108 In a famous game in 2004 with 35 seconds remaining and the scores deadlocked at 131 points apiece Essendon legend James Hird swooped on a loose ball in the right forward pocket and snapped a match winning goal with his 15th possession for the quarter famously hugging an Essendon supporter in the crowd in a moment of jubilation after being fined 20 000 earlier in the week for criticising umpire Scott McLaren 109 110 111 Full forward Matthew Lloyd also kicked eight goals during the game to net three Brownlow votes 112 Despite Hird s incredible individual effort and to the consternation of fans and the audience of the 2004 Brownlow medal count he did not receive any Brownlow Medal votes from the umpires for his 34 disposals and clutch goals which some have speculated was in retribution for his tirade against umpire McLaren 113 Organisation and finance EditBoard Edit For the full list see List of VFL AFL presidentsDavid Barham has served as chairman of the board since August 2022 Essendon s board members are David Barham Andrew Welsh Melissa Verner Green Dorothy Hisgrove Andrew Muir Kate O Sullivan and Kevin Sheedy AO Sponsorship Edit The club s apparel is currently produced by Under Armour The club s apparel has also been produced by Reebok Fila Puma Adidas and ISC 114 Year Kit Manufacturer Major Sponsor Shorts Sponsor Bottom Back Sponsor Top Back Sponsor1977 83 Don Smallgoods 1984 92 Nubrik1993 Don Smallgoods1994 95 Speed Kills TAC Delta Speed Kills TAC1996 97 Reebok1998 Reebok Rebel1999 Musashi2000 Fila2001 02 Orange Orange2003 04 Puma 3 Mobile IMB 3 Mobile2005 2006 07 Abey2008 Samsung2009 10 Adidas Samsung Antler Samsung2011 Samsung Home True Value Solar Away Toll True Value Solar Home Samsung Away 2012 True Value Solar Home Kia Motors Away Kia Motors Home True Value Solar Away 2013 Kia Motors Home True Value Solar Away True Value Solar Home Kia Motors Away 2014 Fujitsu Home Kia Motors Away Kia Motors Home Fujitsu Away 2015 Kia Motors Home Fujitsu Away Fujitsu Home Kia Motors Away 2016 Fujitsu Home Kia Motors Away Kia Motors Home Fujitsu Away 2017 ISC Kia Motors Home Fujitsu Away Border Express Fujitsu Home Kia Motors Away 2018 Fujitsu Home Kia Motors Away Kia Motors Home Fujitsu Away 2019 Amart Furniture Home Fujitsu Away Fujitsu Home Amart Furniture Away 2020 Under Armour Coles Insurance Fujitsu Home Amart Furniture Away 2021 Fujitsu Home Amart Furniture Away Amart Furniture Home Fujitsu Away Liberty Financial2022 TradieHonours EditSee Essendon Football Club honours Club achievements Edit PremiershipsCompetition Level Wins Years WonAustralian Football League Seniors 16 1897 1901 1911 1912 1923 1924 1942 1946 1949 1950 1962 1965 1984 1985 1993 2000Reserves 1919 1999 8 1921 1941 1950 1952 1968 1983 1992 1999Under 19s 1946 1991 5 1950 1952 1959 1961 1966VFL Women s Reserves 1 2022Victorian Football Association Seniors 1877 1896 4 1891 1892 1893 1894Other titles and honoursAFL pre season competition Seniors 4 1990 1993 1994 2000McClelland Trophy Seniors 9 1951 1953 1957 1968 1989 1993 1999 2000 2001Championship of Australia Seniors 1 1893AFC Night Series Seniors 2 1981 1984Lightning Premiership Seniors 3 1896 1943 1996Finishing positionsAustralian Football League Minor premiership 17 1898 1911 1923 1924 1942 1946 1948 1950 1962 1968 1984 1985 1990 1993 1999 2000 2001Grand Finalist 14 1898 1902 1908 1941 1943 1947 1948 1951 1957 1959 1968 1983 1990 2001Wooden spoons 5 1907 1918 1921 1933 2016VFL Women s Minor premiership 1 2022Wooden spoons 1 2018Team of the Century Edit To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the club as well as 100 years of the VFL AFL Essendon announced its Team of the Century in 1997 115 Essendon Team of the Century B Gavin Wanganeen 1991 96 181 cm 83 kg 127 games 64 goals Fred Baring 1910 15 1918 24 185 cm 90 kg 154 games 92 goals Tom Fitzmaurice 1918 20 1922 24 192 cm 96 kg 85 games 30 goalsHB Barry Davis 1961 72 185 cm 87 kg 218 games 65 goals Wally Buttsworth 1939 49 185 cm 91 kg 188 games 2 goals Harold Lambert 1940 41 1946 51 175 cm 76 kg 99 games 2 goalsC Reg Burgess 1954 60 175 cm 72 kg 124 games 9 goals Jack Clarke 1951 67 175 cm 78 kg 263 games 180 goals Michael Long 1989 2001 178 cm 80 kg 190 games 143 goalsHF James Hird 1992 2007 188 cm 89 kg 253 games 343 goals Ken Fraser 1958 68 187 cm 80 kg 198 games 157 goals Terry Daniher 1978 92 188 cm 89 kg 294 games 447 goalsF Bill Hutchison 1942 57 174 cm 70 kg 290 games 496 goals John Coleman 1949 54 185 cm 80 kg 98 games 537 goals Albert Thurgood 1899 1902 1906 183 cm 76 kg 46 games 89 goalsFoll Simon Madden 1974 92 198 cm 99 kg 378 games 575 goals Tim Watson 1977 91 1993 94 185 cm 96 kg 307 games 335 goals Dick Reynolds c 1933 51 179 cm 82 kg 320 games 442 goalsInt Mark Thompson 1983 96 177 cm 87 kg 202 games 50 goals Keith Forbes 1928 37 171 cm 72 kg 152 games 415 goals Frank Maher 1921 28 170 cm 70 kg 137 games 124 goalsWilliam Griffith 1899 1913 175 cm 76 kg 187 games 13 goalsCoach Kevin Sheedy 1981 2007 Coached 634 Won 386 Lost 242 Drew 6Champions of Essendon Edit In 2002 a club panel chose and ranked the 25 greatest players to have played for Essendon 116 Dick Reynolds John Coleman James Hird Bill Hutchison Simon Madden Tim Watson Ken Fraser Jack Clarke Albert Thurgood Tom Fitzmaurice Terry Daniher Wally Buttsworth Reg Burgess Bill Busbridge Barry Davis Keith Forbes Graham Moss Mark Harvey Gavin Wanganeen Mark Thompson John Birt Matthew Lloyd Michael Long Fred Baring Harold LambertCurrent squad EditEssendon Football Clubviewtalkedit Senior list Rookie list Coaching staff 1 Andrew McGrath vc 2 Sam Draper 3 Darcy Parish 4 Kyle Langford 5 Elijah Tsatas 6 Jye Caldwell 7 Zach Merrett vc 8 Ben Hobbs 9 Dylan Shiel 10 Sam Weideman 11 Will Snelling 12 Will Setterfield 13 Nik Cox 14 Jordan Ridley 15 Jayden Laverde 16 Archie Perkins 17 James Stewart 18 Lewis Hayes 19 Nick Hind 20 Peter Wright 21 Dyson Heppell c 22 Sam Durham 23 Harrison Jones 24 Nick Bryan 25 Jake Stringer 27 Mason Redman 28 Alastair Lord 29 Jake Kelly 30 Brandon Zerk Thatcher 31 Zach Reid 33 Alwyn Davey Jr 34 Andrew Phillips 35 Matt Guelfi 36 Jayden Davey 37 Nic Martin 43 Anthony McDonald Tipungwuti 26 Kaine Baldwin 38 Rhett Montgomerie 39 Patrick Voss 40 Tex Wanganeen 41 Cian McBride B 42 Massimo D Ambrosio 45 Anthony Munkara B 47 Jye Menzie Head coach Brad ScottAssistant coaches Blake Caracella midfield and attack Daniel Giansiracusa back line Dale Tapping forward line Leigh Tudor development Cam Roberts development Brent Stanton VFL head coach Legend c Captain s vc Vice captain s B Category B rookieUpdated 19 December 2022Source s Playing list Coaching staffCovid top up list Edit For the 2022 season in the event an AFL club has less than 28 players available due to COVID 19 each club can select from a list of 20 state league players who can be called up to AFL level 117 2022 Essendon Covid Top up listPlayer State League clubDylan Landt Essendon VFLJoe Atley Essendon VFLJames Harrold Essendon VFLBen Archard Essendon VFLWill Golds Essendon VFLJames Peters Essendon VFLShaun McKernan Essendon VFLSam Conforti Essendon VFLPatrick Bannister Essendon VFLBilly Cootee Essendon VFLMax Simpson Essendon VFLCam McLeod Essendon VFLAustin Harris Essendon VFLJoel Fitzgerald Essendon VFLCooper Anderson Essendon VFLRonald Fejo Jr Essendon VFLJohn Adajian Essendon VFLMatch records EditHighest score 32 16 208 v Footscray 9 8 62 Round 22 1982 at Western Oval Lowest score 0 9 9 v Fitzroy 6 11 47 Round 1 1899 at Brunswick Street Oval Lowest score since 1919 1 12 18 v St Kilda 5 5 35 Round 10 1923 at Junction Oval Highest losing score Essendon 21 13 139 v Collingwood 23 6 144 Round 22 1987 M C G Lowest winning score Essendon 1 8 14 v Melbourne 0 8 8 Finals Week 3 1897 Lake Oval League record Lowest winning score since 1919 Essendon 3 10 28 v Footscray 3 5 23 Round 13 1989 Windy Hill Greatest winning margin 165 points Essendon 28 16 184 v South Melbourne 2 7 19 Round 18 1964 Windy Hill Greatest losing margin 163 points Essendon 11 7 73 v Sydney Swans 36 20 236 Round 17 1987 S C G Record attendance home and away game 94 825 25 April 1995 at MCG v Collingwood inaugural Anzac Day match Record attendance finals match 116 828 1968 VFL Grand Final v CarltonReserves team EditThe Essendon reserves team first competed in the Victorian Football League s reserves competition when the competition was established in 1919 The team enjoyed success in the form of eight premierships between 1919 and 1999 including the last Victorian State Football League year in 1999 From 2000 until 2002 the club s reserves team competed in the new Victorian Football League competition At the end of 2002 the club dissolved its reserves team and established a reserves affiliation with the Bendigo Football Club in the VFL The affiliation ran for ten years from 2003 until 2012 allowing reserves players from the Essendon list to play with Bendigo The club re established its reserves team in 2013 seeking greater developmental autonomy The reserves team has since competed in the VFL The team plays its home games at Windy Hill 118 The team is made up of senior listed AFL players and VFL contracted players From the 2022 VFL season the side will be coached by former Essendon AFL player Brent Stanton 119 Premierships 8 Year Competition Opponent Score Venue1921 VFL Reserves Collingwood 10 9 69 8 13 61 MCG1941 VFL Reserves Fitzroy 12 16 88 9 17 71 MCG1950 VFL Reserves North Melbourne 12 8 80 8 7 55 MCG1952 VFL Reserves Collingwood 7 14 56 4 5 29 MCG1968 VFL Reserves Richmond 15 7 97 13 14 92 MCG1983 VFL Reserves Collingwood 19 14 128 15 9 99 MCG1992 VSFL Melbourne 18 19 127 14 10 94 MCG1999 AFL Reserves VSFL St Kilda 20 13 133 11 10 76 MCGRunners up 10 Year Competition Opponent Score Venue1922 VFL Reserves Collingwood 1 9 15 8 10 58 MCG1924 VFL Reserves Geelong Did Not Play a Kardinia Park1932 VFL Reserves Melbourne 4 10 34 8 12 60 MCG1949 VFL Reserves Melbourne 9 14 68 17 10 112 MCG1951 VFL Reserves Carlton 7 9 51 8 15 63 MCG1953 VFL Reserves Carlton 11 7 73 15 7 97 MCG1971 VFL Reserves Richmond 8 18 66 14 14 98 MCG1981 VFL Reserves Geelong 18 6 114 21 14 140 MCG1996 AFL Reserves VSFL North Melbourne 7 10 52 23 18 156 MCG1998 AFL Reserves VSFL Footscray 12 8 80 20 16 136 MCGa Essendon refused to play the Grand Final in Geelong so the premiership was awarded to Geelong Women s teams EditAFL Women s team Edit Essendon fielded a team in the AFL Women s AFLW competition from its seventh season 120 In March 2022 former North Melbourne AFLW player and Essendon VFLW captain Georgia Nanscawen was announced as the club s first AFLW player signing 121 and Western Bulldogs AFLW assistant coach Natalie Wood was announced as the club s first AFLW coach a week later 122 The club s AFLW coaching panel was finalised in late June 123 AFL Women s squad Edit Essendon Football Club AFL Women s viewtalkedit Senior list Coaching staff 1 Caitlin Sargent 2 Georgia Gee 3 Daria Bannister 4 Madison Prespakis 5 Georgia Nanscawen 6 Danielle Marshall 8 Bonnie Toogood c 9 Jorja Borg 10 Jacqui Vogt 11 Alana Barba 12 Joanne Doonan 13 Lily Rose Williamson 14 Ellyse Gamble 16 Eloise Ashley Cooper 17 Federica Frew 19 Mia Van Dyke 20 Stephanie Cain c 21 Jess Wuetschner 22 Amelia Radford 23 Renee Tierney 24 Sophie Alexander 25 Alex Morcom 26 Ashleigh Van Loon 27 Sophie Van De Heuvel 28 Mia Busch 30 Steph Wales 31 Megan Ryan 32 Paige Scott 33 Amber Clarke 35 Cat Phillips Head coach Natalie WoodAssistant coaches Natasha Hardy back line Brett Gourley midfield Kirby Bentley forward line Jacara Egan development Gavin Urquhart development Legend c Captain s vc Vice captain s italics Inactive player list Long term injuryUpdated 19 December 2022Source s Playing listVFL Women s team Edit Essendon has fielded a team in the VFL Women s VFLW competition since the 2018 season The league is the highest grade competition for female footballers in Victoria and one of three second tier female competitions underneath the national AFL Women s VFL Women s season summaries Edit Essendon VFLW honour rollSeason Final position Coach Captain Best and fairest Leading goalkicker2018 13th Brendan Major Lisa Williams Hayley Bullas Alexandra Quigley 7 2019 9th Brendan Major Courtney Ugle Georgia Nanscawen Alexandra Quigley 10 2020 Season cancelled due to the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic2021 3rd Brendan Major Georgia Nanscawen Eloise Ashley Cooper Mia Rae Clifford 16 2022 Premiers Brendan Major Georgia Nanscawen Georgia Nanscawen Federica Frew 35 Sources Club historical data and VFLW statsOther ventures EditIn December 2017 Essendon entered e sports by acquiring Australian League of Legends team Abyss ESports 124 This made them the second AFL team to acquire an e sports division after Adelaide acquired Legacy ESports in May On 2 December 2019 it was announced that the Bombers OPL slot had been sold to Perth based internet provider Pentanet marking Essendon s exit from the e sports arena 125 126 In 2018 the Essendon Football Club along with four other AFL clubs entered the Victorian Wheelchair Football League See also Edit Sports portal Australia portalDreamtime at the G Sport in Australia Sport in VictoriaNotes Edit Current details for ABN 22 004 286 373 ABN Lookup Australian Business Register Retrieved 4 August 2020 Record doping penalty for Australia s Essendon football club BBC News 28 August 2013 Dons defining day AFLW licence granted Essendon Football Club 12 August 2021 Retrieved 19 March 2022 Essendon hires Natalie Wood as inaugural head coach of AFLW team ABC News Australian Broadcasting Corporation 18 March 2022 Retrieved 19 March 2022 The Fall The Sydney Morning Herald 1 March 2014 Essendon Football Club Club History Archived from the original on 11 June 2012 Retrieved 10 June 2012 Deaths M Cracken The Age Wednesday 18 February 1885 p 1 McCracken Robert 1813 1885 Australian Dictionary of Biography McCracken Robert 1813 1885 National Centre of Biography Australian National University The Clubs The Complete History of Every Club in the VFL AFL editors G Hutchinson and J Ross ISBN 1 86458 189 1 Football The Argus 9 June 1873 p 7 Mapleston 1996 p 19 Peter Pindar 21 July 1877 Football Gossip The Australasian Vol XXIII no 590 Melbourne p 76 Annual Meetings of football clubs The Australasian Vol XXIV no 628 Melbourne 13 April 1878 p 461 Mapleston 1996 p 29 Football Essendon v Norwood The South Australian Register Monday 25 June 1883 p 7 Essendon v Port Adelaide The Argus Monday 18 June 1883 p 3 Football Ports v Essendon The Port Adelaide News Tuesday 19 June 1883 p 4 Football Essendon Victoria v Adelaide and Suburban Association Twenty Three The Adelaide Evening Journal Tuesday 19 June 1883 p 3 Intercolonial Football Match The Adelaide Express and Telegraph Thursday 21 June 1883 p 3 a b Club History essendonfc com au Retrieved 22 January 2019 Mapleston 1996 p 438 30 Sep 1911 FOOTBALL Trove 30 Sep 1912 NEWS IN BRIEF Trove History of Windy Hill Essendon Recreation Reserve Shawfactor com Retrieved 17 October 2012 Football Essendon v North Melbourne North Melbourne Advertiser North Melbourne 3 August 1889 p 3 Football Essendon v Carlton North Melbourne Advertiser North Melbourne 31 August 1889 p 3 Devaney John 2008 The Full Points Footy Encyclopedia of Australian Football Clubs Lulu com p 174 ISBN 978 0 9556897 0 3 Maplestone M Flying Higher History of the Essendon Football Club 1872 1996 Essendon Football Club Melbourne 1996 ISBN 0 9591740 2 8 Mapleston 1996 p 56 Posting calculations www thomblake com au Retrieved 19 December 2022 Old Boy 1 July 1921 Football the passing of Essendon The Argus Melbourne p 4 Old Boy 8 July 1921 Football North Melbourne ground The Argus Melbourne p 4 J W 8 July 1921 Football notes and comments The Australasian Vol CXI no 2884 Melbourne p 69 North Melbourne ground The Argus Melbourne 12 August 1921 p 6 J W 22 October 1921 Football notes amp comments The Australasian Vol CXI no 2899 Melbourne Hutchinson 1996 p 159 1924 Premiership essendonfc com au Retrieved 29 May 2020 a b Murray John 2009 Glory amp Fame The Rise and Rise of the Essendon Football Club Australia Slattery Media Group ISBN 978 0 9805162 9 6 Frost Lionel 25 September 2006 Did the 1924 Bombers throw their last game AFL Official Website Archived from the original on 8 March 2008 AFL Tables 1940 Season Scores afltables com Retrieved 25 September 2021 Bombing to Victory The Argus Wednesday 10 April 1940 p 17 Sheedy still promoting Indigenous football talent abc net au 12 February 2007 Club History Archived from the original on 12 February 2014 Retrieved 14 April 2014 Rogers Stephen Every Game Ever Played VFL AFL Results 1897 1995 pp 687 689 ISBN 0 670 90794 4 Cockerill Michael 27 July 1987 A record win puts Swans on target for flag Sydney Morning Herald p 50 Rogers Every game Ever Played p 711 2000 Review Footy Stats Archived from the original on 3 March 2016 Retrieved 29 March 2020 Essendon Is on Brink of Sporting History Bombers Bid to Exorcise The Melbourne Demons The New York Times 1 September 2000 Cassidy Katie 1 April 2006 Bombers upset Swans ABC News Retrieved 29 April 2019 Seven controversial moments of Essendon champ and Hall of Fame inductee Matthew Lloyd Herald Sun 5 June 2013 Lloyd shattered by hamstring injury ABC News Australian Broadcasting Corporation 23 April 2006 Retrieved 5 March 2019 Robinson Mark 18 November 2006 Lloyd wants to rip season apart PerthNow Retrieved 8 March 2019 Angry Hawks clash with Matthew Lloyd Herald Sun 29 August 2009 Bombers take flight to Airport site Racing and Sports 16 December 2010 Retrieved 30 March 2014 Rohan Connolly 28 October 2013 Lifetimes of memories and legends depart Windy Hill The Age Retrieved 30 March 2014 Dons D Day your five minute guide afl com au Retrieved 29 April 2019 Essendon chairman David Evans quits The Australian 27 July 2013 Retrieved 16 August 2013 Will Brodie Jake Niall 23 May 2013 Robson quits Essendon The Age Retrieved 16 August 2013 Thompson to coach Bombers in Hird s absence ABC News 10 October 2013 Retrieved 29 April 2019 ASADA boss Ben McDevitt to front media in wake of AFL verdict clearing 34 past and present Essendon players Australian Broadcasting Corporation 1 April 2015 Retrieved 3 April 2015 Roar The AFL Tribunal finds Essendon players not guilty The Roar Retrieved 31 March 2015 Cherny Daniel 24 August 2014 James Hird returns to Essendon after suspension The Age Retrieved 29 April 2019 End of the road for Hird Dons coach resigns afl com au Retrieved 29 April 2019 Guilty Court bans the Essendon 34 for 2016 afl com au Retrieved 29 April 2019 Niall Jake 12 January 2016 Essendon CAS verdict Bombers players to miss season 2016 The Age Retrieved 29 April 2019 The Essendon 34 Where are they now afl com au Retrieved 29 April 2019 Conway Simon 14 August 2016 Merrett seeks out Selwood EssendonFC com au Retrieved 14 August 2016 AFL Daily Live rolling footy news from around Australia for September 8 2017 Herald Sun 8 September 2017 Retrieved 12 September 2017 Twomey Callum 12 September 2017 Season review Essendon AFL com au Australian Football League Retrieved 12 September 2017 Gaskin Lee 29 March 2018 Match report Strong Crows win soured by injury AFL com au Archived from the original on 4 November 2017 Retrieved 28 September 2018 McGowan Marc 23 March 2018 Match report Dons steal a stunner off Crows AFL com au Archived from the original on 4 November 2017 Retrieved 28 September 2018 Phelan Jennifer 12 May 2018 Match report Carlton breaks its drought AFL com au Archived from the original on 10 April 2018 Retrieved 28 September 2018 Morris Tom 14 May 2018 Mark Neeld sacked from coaching role at Essendon Fox Sports Australia Retrieved 28 September 2018 Twomey Callum Beveridge Riley Bombers pay up to get Shiel at the death AFL com au Retrieved 8 September 2019 King Travis See you in September Dons down Dockers to book finals spot AFL com au Archived from the original on 17 August 2019 Retrieved 8 September 2019 Chadwick Justin West Coast Eagles defeat Essendon in First Elimination Final Premiers advance after thumping Bombers FOX Sports Australia Retrieved 8 September 2019 AFL West Coast extend Essendon s 5479 day wait for finals win 7NEWS com au Retrieved 8 September 2019 Why Mick Malthouse thinks Essendon can win the premiership Official AFL Website of the Essendon Football Club Clarko s strong interest in Bombers revealed as Giants pull OUT of race for master coach 16 August 2022 Sacked Bombers oust Rutten after week of turmoil Great Scott Dons poach AFL s footy GM as new coach Four more key Bombers quit as cleanout continues following botched Clarko bid 24 August 2022 New Bombers CEO resigns after one day in the role a b Landsberger Sam Wilson Rebecca 2 July 2012 Essendon to unveil new clash strip against St Kilda Courier Mail Retrieved 5 July 2012 Heritage Guernsey Launch essendonfc com au Retrieved 29 April 2019 Bombers prepare for Clash for Cancer Melbourne Essendon Football Club 14 June 2006 Archived from the original on 16 August 2007 Retrieved 12 June 2013 Bombers shocked by AFL sanction Melbourne Essendon Football Club 19 June 2006 Archived from the original on 16 August 2007 Retrieved 12 June 2013 Yellow armband to be incorporated into Essendon guernsey Melbourne Essendon Football Club 31 May 2007 Archived from the original on 18 September 2007 Retrieved 12 June 2013 Marriott Tom 16 May 2014 Match Day Information Round 9 EssendonFC com au Retrieved 1 September 2015 Clash for Cancer EssendonFC com au 22 July 2013 Retrieved 3 December 2015 Clash for Cancer enters seventh season EssendonFC com au 23 July 2012 Retrieved 3 December 2015 Secure a unique piece of memorabilia Melbourne Essendon Football Club 23 June 2009 Archived from the original on 18 September 2009 Official AFL website of the Essendon Football Club BTV The history of our song Video interview with Kevin Andrews 12 March 2014 Retrieved 14 January 2015 AFL Tunes to Remember The Melbourne Age 23 July 2010 Essendon Bombers theme song writer reveals incorrect lyrics www sen com au Retrieved 22 June 2022 Bombers move that has baffled fans The Herald Sun 27 February 2020 subscription required Bombers settle into new hangar 18 November 2013 Retrieved 7 April 2022 Lifetimes of memories and legends depart Windy Hill 28 October 2013 Retrieved 7 April 2022 Lovett 2013harvnb error no target CITEREFLovett2013 help Clash of the Sash essendonfc com au Retrieved 29 April 2019 Kevin Sheedy recalls the marshmallow game archived from the original on 11 December 2021 retrieved 25 September 2021 BTV The soft war Sheedy vs Pagan May 14 2015 archived from the original on 11 December 2021 retrieved 25 September 2021 The Windy Hill windsock essendonfc com au Retrieved 23 September 2021 Round 16 1993 Essendon vs West Coast Highlights archived from the original on 11 December 2021 retrieved 23 September 2021 Australian Football League The Game That Made Australia Archived 19 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 19 September 2010 Bombers chief furious at AFL The Age 4 August 2002 Retrieved 23 September 2021 Top moments Sheedy threatens to kill PerthNow 2 May 2011 Retrieved 23 September 2021 Round 15 2000 Essendon vs West Coast Highlights archived from the original on 11 December 2021 retrieved 23 September 2021 Hird the fairytale is complete Bombers v Eagles 2004 AAMI Classic Last Two Mins AFL retrieved 23 September 2021 20 years of Docklands 20 best moments essendonfc com au Retrieved 23 September 2021 Fox Footy s Chooseday Night football airs Essendon v West Coast from 2004 Fox Sports 27 April 2015 Retrieved 23 September 2021 Top 10 individual Round 3 performances of the last 20 years www sen com au Retrieved 23 September 2021 Judd claims West Coast s first Brownlow The Sydney Morning Herald 21 September 2004 Retrieved 16 March 2009 Season by Season Jumpers footyjumpers com Retrieved 6 May 2017 All Star Teams A M Full Points Footy 8 July 2007 Archived from the original on 28 April 2009 Retrieved 14 August 2009 Champions of Essendon Essendon Football Club 30 August 2002 REVEALED Every top up player on your club s list AFL com au 17 March 2021 Retrieved 19 March 2022 Landsberger Sam 9 January 2013 Josh Toy and Matthew Bate set to play on with Essendon Herald Sun Stanton set to lead Bombers VFL side Essendon Football Club 12 October 2021 Retrieved 12 October 2021 Black Sarah 12 August 2021 Changing for the better Final four clubs complete AFLW womens afl Retrieved 13 April 2022 History made Former Roo to become Bombers first AFLW player womens afl 11 March 2022 Retrieved 13 April 2022 The standout candidate Bombers reveal inaugural coach womens afl 18 March 2022 Retrieved 13 April 2022 Black Sarah 23 June 2022 Bombers poach another Bulldog for AFLW coaching panel womens afl Retrieved 23 June 2022 Essendon enters Esports EssendonFC com au Statement Bombers esports Essendon Football Club 2 December 2019 Retrieved 3 December 2019 Pentanet GG joins Oceanic Pro League for 2020 esports season pentanet com au Pentanet 2 December 2019 Retrieved 3 December 2019 References EditThe Illustrated History of the Essendon Football Club Melbourne Victoria Geoff Slattery Publishing 2007 ISBN 978 0 9758362 8 6 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Essendon Football Club Official website Around the Grounds Web Documentary Windy Hill Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Essendon Football Club amp oldid 1128271227, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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