Richmond Football Club

Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, competes in the Australian Football League. Still considered one of the "big four" Melbourne clubs, Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990, when a large debt almost forced them to fold. In the last 15 years, Richmond has worked itself back into a strong financial position without enjoying any sustained finals success. But the Tigers boast a mighty history (ten premierships) and a host of star players and personalities who have contributed to the formation of the unique Richmond football identity.

Since its inception in the mid-1880s, the club has been based at the Richmond Cricket Ground (better known as the Punt Road Oval), just a few hundred metres to the east of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where the Tigers have played their home games since 1965. A late bloomer, Richmond struggled until the start of the twentieth century, so it was not offered an invitation to join the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1908. After World War I, Richmond matured quickly, enjoyed more success than many of the more established clubs. The Tigers created great rivalries with both Carlton and Collingwood. At this time, the city of Richmond was an industrial, blue-collar area nicknamed "Struggletown". The working-class supporters identified strongly with the club and the Tigers developed a massive following during the golden period of the 1930s.

Extraordinary high points interspersed among long periods of mediocrity has been the pattern of the club's form in the years since World War II. Regardless, Richmond's team has to only show a hint of success and a game against one of the other "big four" will pack them in at the MCG. In 1972, the Tigers were the first sporting team in Australia to attract one million paying spectators in a season, an extraordinary achievement.

Currently, the team is led by coach Terry Wallace in his forth year, who implemented a strong youth policy after a poor 2007 season, winning only 3 games and finishing with the wooden spoon.

The 2008 season has been an improvement on the last, with the side lifting into 9th spot on the end of season ladder - just missing out on a finals berth. Wallace enters the last year of his contract in 2009, and is facing pressure by local media and supporters to make the finals or lose his job. There is also debate over his relationship with the board and President Gary March.

History

The Earliest Days (1860-1900)

Royal Hotel c1874. The RFC was formed at a meeting at this Richmond pub in 1885.

A team of footballers playing as Richmond is mentioned by the newspapers in the first years of Australian football, circa 1860.^[1] HCA Harrison, the so-called "father of the game", captained Richmond briefly at this time before moving to Geelong.^[2] This loosely organised group has no continuity to the present club. A number of teams formed in the Richmond area during the game's rapid expansion of the 1870s and early 1880s.^[3] However, all played at a junior level and it was considered an anomaly that Richmond, one of Melbourne's biggest locales, didn't boast a senior team. The wait ended when the Richmond Football Club was officially formed at the Royal Hotel in Richmond on February 201885.^[4] A successful application for immediate admission to the Victorian Football Association followed - the VFA was the premier Australian football competition at this time. The club shared the Punt Road Oval with the Richmond Cricket Club, one of the strongest cricket clubs in Australia which had been playing on the ground since 1856.^[5]

At first the team wore a blue uniform. One of the most important features of a nineteenth century footballer's uniform was his headgear, and Richmond opted for yellow and black striped caps, the same as the cricket club. After a couple of years, yellow and black stripes replaced blue as the colours of the team's guernseys. The team was variously called the "Richmondites", the "Wasps" or, most commonly, the "Tigers".

During the late 1880s, the VFA was expanding rapidly. A booming economy and large numbers of immigrants made Melbourne the largest city in the Australian colonies. The city was besotted with football and many clubs clamoured for admission to the VFA. Richmond struggled to make an impression and after a promising season in 1888 (when they finished fifth with eleven wins), the club slipped backwards. In a theoretically amateur sport, the strongest teams were luring the best talent with undisclosed payments to players and were not keen to schedule matches against teams with poor followings (such as Richmond) that couldn't generate much gate money. [[Image:CBackhouse.elite group, who usually voted together as a block at VFA meetings. A lack of commitment and focussed effort was holding the Tigers back. In 1896, Richmond simply forfeited a match with South Melbourne at half time when they were a long way behind on a very wet day. Later in the season, the Tigers had their points wiped against Essendon when it was discovered that they had too many men on the ground. In the closing three weeks of the season, Richmond's gate takings amounted to just 5 pounds.

Richmond finished the season last of the thirteen clubs, and picked a bad time to perform so poorly. In October 1896, the cabal of six strong clubs broke with the association to form the VFL and invited two other clubs to join them: Carlton and St Kilda. Obviously, Richmond's struggles during the season had not helped when the invitations to the new competition were being considered. Richmond's performances didn't immediately improve in the emaciated VFA until the turn of the century. During this period, the team was held together by the stalwarts Charlie Backhouse and Alex Edmonds while the administration benefited from the guidance of George Bennett,the closing weeks of the season neck and neck with Port Melbourne at the head of the ladder. Just when a play-off between the clubs to decide the premiership looked certain, Port faltered against Williamstown to hand Richmond its first flag.

Charlie Ricketts, the star player in the Tigers' 1905 premiership. He then transferred to South Melbourne, and later returned to Punt Road to coach the club between 1914-16.

Having missed a potential bonanza from a premiership play-off, the VFA decided to emulate the VFL and introduce a finals series in [[VFA to a far greater extent than the rival VFL. Richmond cultivated links with some League clubs by playing practice matches against them. The Tigers knew that they were a major asset to the Association. They had built up a large following and played on one of the best grounds in the competition, where they remained unbeaten for five consecutive seasons. In 1905, Richmond confirmed their status with a second premiership, this time overcoming bitter rivals North Melbourne, a club perceived as the antithesis of Richmond. In sensational circumstances the year before, (1904) Richmond announced that it would not meet North Melbourne in the Grand Final if Umpire Allen was appointed, due to Richmond officials and players severe criticism in Allen's previous performance against North Melbourne at Arden Street in July. When the VFA appointed Allen for the Grand Final, Richmond advised it was forfeiting and North Melbourne therefore became the 1904 Premiers.'Mallee' Johnson had moved to Carlton, but youngster Charlie Ricketts dominated the season and won plaudits among the pressmen, who voted him the best player in the VFA.

However, Ricketts was also lost to the VFL and injury hit the club hard. In 1906-07, the Tigers played finals without looking likely to win the flag. The club earned a rebuke from the VFA for scheduling a practice match against Geelong before the 1907 season, but Richmond went ahead with the commitment and earned further censure. Later in the year it became clear that qualification was automatic.

Vic Thorp, Richmond's great full back, was voted champion of the season in 1916 and 1919.

Finally, in 1919, the Tigers made their first Grand Final appearance, losing to Collingwood. Richmond stoked a rivalry with the Magpies by recruiting their former skipper Dan Minogue as playing coach and the Tigers gained vengeance by beating Collingwood in the 1920 Grand Final to secure a first flag in the big league. This was followed by an even better performance the next year. The only club that continued to beat Richmond on a regular basis was Carlton. Finishing minor premier with only one loss for the season in 1921, the Blues were the hottest premiership favourite, yet Richmond managed to beat them in two classic finals matches played over successive weeks to go back-to-back. Almost overnight, the Tigers had overtaken foundation clubs such as Geelong and Melbourne on the premierships-won table.

The rest of the decade saw four more Grand Final appearances, all of which would end in frustration. From 1927 to 1929 Richmond became the first club in the VFL to lose three consecutive Grand Finals, all of which were to ]] returned to training on the eve of the season. The problems appeared to have been solved when the Tigers won the semi final against Melbourne to go straight into the Grand Final. However, the Demons reversed this result with a crushing win to pinch the premiership. The Tigers had been out-thought by their old mentor Checker Hughes, who had assigned a tagger to negate Dyer. Dyer was furious that Bentley had done nothing to prevent his opponent taking him out of the game. The Richmond committee agreed with this assessment, so when Bentley (after retiring as a player) attempted to negotiate a higher fee to continue his coaching tenure, he was rebuffed. Incensed, Bentley quit Punt Road and moved to Carlton as coach, adding further spice to an already fierce rivalry between the two clubs.

Dick Harris booted 7 goals in the Tigers' 1943 premiership win.

Despite the tribulations created by the Second World War, the Tigers were able to maintain a commendable level of consistency on the field. The club had quite a lot of players in reserved occupations who remained at home, while the administration became adept at securing star players who were temporarily in Melbourne on war service. Dyer was a fearsome presence in his role as playing coach, but he was unable to improve the Tigers' ability to win finals matches. A loss in the 1942 Grand Final to Essendon (after starting as favourite) meant that over the previous 18 years, Richmond had won two flags but been runner-up eight times.

Success through Hafey Era (1966-1982)

1966 heralded the start of the Tom Hafey era, one that would see the club winning four premierships under his leadership. They won the 1967 flag in a thrilling encounter with Geelong, ending a 24 year premiership drought. In 1969, it became two in three years as Richmond, who had finished fourth on the ladder, beat the much fancied Carlton in the Grand Final by 25 points.

The Tigers were dominant in 1972 and were hot favourites in the Grand Final against Carlton. However, the Blues stunned the Tigers in a game of ridiculous high scoring. Even Richmond equalled the then record highest score in a Grand Final of 22.18(150), but Carlton beat it with 28.9(177). The Tigers got their revenge in an intensely physical clash in the 1973 Grand Final and went back-to-back in 1974 with a strong win against a resurgent North Melbourne.

Richmond won its last premiership with a then record-breaking margin of 81 points over arch-rivals Collingwood in the 1980 Grand Final. After reaching and losing the 1982 VFL Grand Final, the rebel group organised by long-time servant Bill Durham, convinced former player and coach Barry Richardson to be leader. An election in late 1984 failed to clarify the situation. The challengers had the numbers, but Ian Wilson stubbornly held on to the presidency into the new year. When the one hundredth birthday of the club arrived in February 1985, there was too much dissension to mark the moment fittingly. Eventually, Wilson handed over to Richardson, who had selected his former premiership teammate Paul Sproule to return from Tasmania and take over the coaching position on a guaranteed contract.

As the season progressed with Richmond still struggling, Sproule came under pressure. Richardson guaranteed his position but at the end of the year the committee over-ruled Richardson and sacked Sproule. Incensed, Richardson walked out of Punt Road, which was in turmoil again. Desperately, the Tigers turned back to Tony Jewell, who was appointed coach for a second time, the only man in the club's history to get a second go at the job. Jewell later commented on the destruction wrought on the club during his four year absence..."the without presiding over a single game. The off-field confusion was reflected in the players' performance as Richmond slumped to only its second wooden spoon in 70 years.

Save Our Skins and a Return to the Finals (1987-1995)

Although the new president, ex-captain Neville Crowe, had stabilised the club and scored a coup by persuading club legend Kevin Bartlett to coach, the matter of servicing the huge debt remained a chain around the Tigers' neck. The club managed to stay solvent by cutting expenses to the bone and paying only two-thirds of the allowable salary cap. But there was no money for recruiting to improve an impoverished playing list. The club struggled to come to terms with the draft after its inception in 1986, and made a number of poor choices - notably, the number one pick in 1987 was used on a player who had only two games with the Tigers.

Finally, with the economy in serious recession and interest rates touching seventeen per cent, Richmond's creditors began calling in the debts. At one point, an attempt was made to seize the club's 1973-74 premiership trophies as securities for unpaid debts, an embarrassing situation. For a number of years, the exact amount that the club owed was not publicly known. After Bartlett came Allan Jeans, who then passed the job to ex-Tiger premiership player John Northey for 1993. Northey returned the team to the simple long-kicking style of the halcyon days under the legendary Tom Hafey. Along with some draft concessions granted by the AFL, Northey's efforts gradually improved the Tigers. The team fumbled an opportunity to make the 1994 finals, then opened 1995 with its best start to a season in 75 years and eventually made it to the preliminary final. With a talented playing list and a strong administration led by Leon Daphne (the Tigers' first president from the corporate world, the Alan Bond farce aside), Richmond looked set to become regular finalists again.

Lost Opportunities (1996-ongoing)

Somehow, the anticipated success failed to materialise, partly because Richmond allowed the coaching position to again become unstable. When the Tigers offered to reappoint Northey for only one year (considered by some to be a derisory offer to a man who had just taken the club to their first finals series in 13 years), Northey accepted a longer-term contract to coach Brisbane. Richmond, caught short, appointed the Bears' ex-coach Robert Walls for 1996. After several humiliating thrashings in 1997, Walls became the first Tiger coach to be sacked mid-season. After two and a half seasons under Jeff Gieschen, the club appointed ex-St Kilda captain Danny Frawley. After a Preliminary Final appearance in Frawley's second season, Richmond over-estimated the strength of the list and settled for trading for established players rather than drafting youth. Over the next three seasons, the team managed just 18 wins. The administration continued to support Frawley and ensured that he would see out his contract, a far cry from the way many of his predecessors were treated. However midway though the 2004 season which saw Richmond win only 3 games Danny "Spud" Frawley stepped down as senior coach before he was ultimately sacked. In 2005 saw Terry Wallace take over as senior coach, it was another unseccessful year where the club finished 12th. The Tigers had a terrible start to 2006, and were written off early in the season with three straight crushing defeats, placing them at the bottom of the ladder however turned the second half of the season around and just missed out of finals finishing 9th. The 2007 season proved to be Wallace's worst at any club. His side failed to eventuate pre season expectation of a top 8 finish, as his side finished 16th (last) for the wooden spoon with only 3 wins. This season also featured Richmond's largest ever defeat eventual premiers Geelong of 157 points, this subsequently led to Board and Management formally apologize to fans in which has been described as the darkest hour down at tiger land. The 2008 season is seen as a huge improvement compared to the 2007 season which saw 11 wins, however Wallace is now under serious pressure - considering he took the reigns of a last placed (wooden spoon) side and coached them to another last place in the third year of his "5 year plan" and then a 9th place in 2008.

The Future of the Club

Like most of the other Melbourne-based clubs, the Tigers have struggled to compete with the resource-rich teams outside of Victoria. Richmond's large support base and steady finances should ensure that the club is not under pressure to relocate, although they have been forced to play a number of home games at Docklands due to the reduction in the number of venues in Melbourne. The club has viewed this as unsatisfactory because fewer Richmond supporters will attend Dockland matches than at the MCG. This is most likely due to the fact that the MCG is widely perceived as the spiritual home of Richmond, as well as it being located next to Richmond's Punt Road training venue where pre-match entertainment is often held amidst the family atmosphere.

The Tigers must be mindful that a couple of years of bad losses could undo Richmond's position. The club has only to look at their struggling old rivals Carlton to realise that no situation is impregnable. Meanwhile, the supporters clamour for a return to the successes of the 1960s and 1970s. With a sixteen-team competition regulated by the salary cap and the player draft, success is much more difficult to achieve than in the old era under the VFL. Richmond's challenge will be to win more matches than it has in the recent past, to secure the better fixtures from the AFL, draw its share of media attention and therefore keep the books balanced.

The historic grandstand (opened in 1913) at Punt Road was named in honour of Jack Dyer.

Richmond remains entrenched at its spiritual home at a time when even Collingwood has moved its base. The Punt Road Oval has benefited from money coming from the Jack Dyer Foundation (established 1996) and more recently, a government grant announced in 2006. Eventually, the redevelopment will be a twenty-first century facility available to the people of Richmond, a far cry from the dilapidated state it was left in for many years. Most importantly, it will remain the physical link between the club and the proud community from which it materialised 120 years ago.

In round 6, 2007, Richmond suffered its biggest ever loss against Geelong, losing by a staggering 157 points. After this match, coach Wallace said the loss was "unacceptable and embarrassing" and the club officially apologised on their website for the inept performance.[1].

The Tigers finished last in the 2007 season with only 3 and a half wins. (Wins against Essendon, Collingwood and Melbourne. Drew with Brisbane).

2008 Season

After the end of the 2007 season Richmond elected to delist Patrick Bowden, Brent Hartigan, Andrew Krakouer and Carl Peterson. These four joined another four players in leaving Punt Road. These four included veteran Darren Gaspar, Kent Kingsley, Trent Knobel and Ray Hall. While these players left the club Jake King and Angus Graham were elevated off the rookie list.

During the trade period the Tigers obtained Bulldog midfielder Jordan McMahon along with Eagle forward Mitch Morton.

Next up came the 2007 AFL Draft the Tiger recruited highly rated midfielder Trent Cotchin with their 1st pick (number 2 overall), backman Alex Rance (pick number 18 overall) and ruckman Dean Putt (pick number 51 overall). Then in the Pre Season draft the elected to pick David Gourdis with the number one pick. The Tigers also picked Clayton Collard, Jarrod Silvester, Tristan Cartledge and Cameron Howat for thie rookie list. Cam Howat had previously been on the rookie list but was delisted then picked up again.

The Tigers had kept a low profile going into their Round 1 clash against Carlton. Many people predicted Carlton would run all over Richmond because Carlton had received Chris Judd during the trade period. The Tigers trailed by as much as 25 points during the second quarter but they came back, led by Matthew Richardson kicking 5 goals. The Tigers ended up winning 17.7 (109) to Carlton 11.13 (79) in front of a crowd of 72,552 at the MCG.

Following a previous dismal season, Richmond finished 9th overall, narrowly missing out on a place in the finals.

During the 2008 Trade Week the TIgers traded their third round pick (42 overall) for young Port Adelaide midfielder, Adam Thomson

Supporter Base

Richmond has an enormous support that can lie dormant during times of poor performance but is vociferous and very noticeable during periods of success. In the golden era of the 1960s and 1970s, the Tiger supporters were sometimes labelled rabid and arrogant, a description that matched how the club's rivals felt about the Tigers in general.

The building of the fan base was a slow burn for Richmond. In the 1890s, the club never sold more than three hundred season's tickets, but the following was built up with success in the VFA and membership numbered about 2,000 at the time of admission to the VFL in 1908. Between the wars, the club captured the imagination of the residents of Richmond. The successful Tigers were a positive motif for the oppressed working class community which suffered deprivation during the Great Depression. At this time, the Richmond community was almost one-half Catholic, and this demographic was reflected in the club amongst the players and officials.

As Melbourne dramatically spread out in the post-war years, so too did the Richmond supporters. Many were now concentrated in the eastern suburbs, which eventually formed the club's metropolitan recruiting zone. Indeed, at one point during the early development of the Waverley Park ground, the Tigers considered making the stadium its home for this reason. Following the barren period of the 1950s, Richmond was able to tap into the large number of fans by moving home matches to the MCG and almost doubled attendance figures. The Tigers maintained this advantage over the other clubs until the mid-1980s, when poor administration led to a downturn in every area of the club. As the club struggled for funds, the membership plummeted from over 10,000 to under 3,000.

The greatest display of loyalty from the fans occurred during 1990. Threatened by liquidation, the supporters rallied to pay off the multi-million dollar debt via the "Save Our Skins" campaign. During the fully professional AFL era, the Tigers have enjoyed a level of support that allows it to determine its own destiny by regularly turning a profit. With the growth of the game outside Victoria, Richmond has picked up a lot of support in the other states of Australia.

Season records in bold
¹ Includes three finals matches in both 1995 and 2001

At the completion of the 2007 season this equated to 13,205,085 people who had attended a Tigers' match over the last sixteen years, for an average of 37,514 - quite remarkable figures for a team that has made the finals only twice in the period.

The Official Richmond Cheer Squad are an organised group of passionate supporters that attend every Richmond game whether in Melbourne or interstate, recognised as being the most passionate of supporters.

Club Identity and Culture

Checker Hughes coached the Tigers to 5 Grand Finals in 6 years, winning the 1932 premiership before moving to Melbourne where he won another four flags.

Club culture can be indefinable. It is a mixture of history, personalities, media invention and supporter desire but it is also very much a product of how the people actually involved with the club view themselves over time. Club identity can change over time or it can change temporarily.

Initially, Richmond saw itself as a gentlemanly and sportsman-like club; it even went to the extent of sacking a player who used poor language. During the early 1900s, the club used the press as a forum to publicise a campaign against violence in the game, which earned the derision of some rival clubs. This image followed the club into the VFL in 1908 and during the First World War the club emphasised the number of men associated with the club who had enlisted and served overseas. But the club's actions in 1916, when it voted with three other clubs seen as representative of the working class (Collingwood, Fitzroy and Carlton) to continue playing football, left no doubt as to which side of the class divide that the Tigers belonged. The club's self-consciously non-confrontational image can be partly attributed to two of long serving presidents - George Bennett (1887-1908) and Frank Tudor (1909-1918). Both were Richmond men and respected parliamentarians who took the view that how the game was played was more important than whether the game was won.

After World War I, the club's attitude hardened as they attempted to match it with the then power clubs Collingwood and Carlton. Eventually, the Tigers became more prosaic in their approach to recruiting and training.

Club Song (Oh, we're from Tigerland)

One of the fundamental elements of an AFL club is the club song. It is part of a club's identity, and goes hand in hand with the club jumper. Richmond's "Oh we're from Tigerland" is no different, and is often regarded as the most popular song of all sixteen AFL clubs. It is upbeat, easy to sing and all Richmond supporters love to join in and shout "Yellow and Black" during the song.

Jack Malcolmson is credited with writing the words to the song in 1962, adapting them to the tune of "Row, Row, Row", a 1930's show tune. Richmond were using words sung to the tune of Waltzing Matilda at the time and approached Jack, a caberet singer who was performing regularly at the Richmond Football Club Social Club, to write the lyrics. It is said that then coach, Des Rowe and the playing group gave the song a standing ovation when they heard it sung for the first time.

OH, WE'RE FROM TIGERLAND,
A FIGHTING FURY WE'RE FROM TIGERLAND,
IN ANY WEATHER YOU WILL SEE US WITH A GRIN,
RISKING HEAD AND SHIN,
IF WE'RE BEHIND THEN NEVER MIND,
WE'LL FIGHT AND FIGHT AND WIN,
FOR WE'RE FROM TIGERLAND,
WE NEVER WEAKEN TILL' THE FINAL SIREN'S GONE,
LIKE THE TIGER OF OLD,
WE'RE STRONG AND WE'RE BOLD,
FOR WE'RE FROM TIGER (YELLOW AND BLACK)
WE'RE FROM TIGERLAND.

Stadium

The Melbourne Cricket Ground

The club's home ground is the Melbourne Cricket Ground where they play most of their home matches in the regular season. The MCG has capacity of 100,000, and the club usually draws large attendances against Victorian clubs, particularly against rivals such as Essendon, Collingwood and Carlton.

Richmond train at their spiritual home ground, the Punt Road Oval, which is located only a few hundred metres away from the MCG.

Club records

VFL/AFL Premierships

• 10 (1920, 1921, 1932, 1934, 1943, 1967, 1969, 1973, 1974, 1980,)

VFL/AFL Runner-Up

• 12 (1919, 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1933, 1940, 1942, 1944, 1972, 1982)

VFA Premierships

• 2 (1902, 1905)

VFL/AFL Reserve Premierships

• 9 (1929, 1946, 1954, 1955, 1966, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1997)

VFL/AFL Under 19 Premierships

• 11 (1958, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1985, 1989)

McClelland Trophies

• 7 (1967, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1982)

Champions of Australia

• 3 (1969, 1973, 1974)

Pre-season/Night Series Premierships

• 1 (1962)

VFL/AFL Wooden Spoons

• 6 (1917, 1960, 1987, 1989, 2004, 2007)

Individual records

Current squad

As of November 19, 2008:

48 players total

Club Leadership Since Admission to the League in 1908

Club Administration Since Admission to the League in 1908

Individual Awards

AFL Army Award winners

• Brett Deledio (2008)

Best and Fairest

See Jack Dyer Medal

Champion of the Season winners

Stan Judkins, RFC's first Brownlow medallist.

Awarded 1858 to 1945

• Vic Thorp (1916, 1919)
• Jack Dyer (1940, 1942, 1943)

Brownlow Medal winners

First Awarded 1924

• Stan Judkins (1930) (co-winner)
• Bill Morris (1948)
• Roy Wright (1952, 1954)
• Ian Stewart (1971)

Leigh Matthews Trophy winners

First Awarded 1982

• None

Leading Goalkicker

See Michael Roach Medal

Coleman Medal winners

First Awarded 1897

• George Bayliss (1920)
• Jack Titus (1940)
• Dick Harris (1943)
• Michael Roach (1980, 1981*)

* Michael Roach was the first winner of the Coleman Medal in 1981. Retrospective awards were dated back to 1955. Prior to 1955 the Leading Goalkicker Medal was awarded.

AFL Rising Star winners

First Awarded 1993

• Brett Deledio (2005)

Norm Smith Medal winners

First Awarded 1979

• Kevin Bartlett (1980)
• Maurice Rioli (1982)

Mark of the Year winners

• Michael Roach (1979)
• Michael Mitchell (1990)

Goal of the Year winners

• Michael Mitchell (1990)

Tassie Medal winners

Awarded 1937 to 1988

• Dale Weightman (1985)

All Australian selections

Commenced 1953

• Joel Bowden (2005, 2006)
• Wayne Campbell (1995, 1999)
• David Cloke (1979)
• Neville Crowe (1966)
• Darren Gaspar (2000, 2001)
• Royce Hart (1969)
• Jim Jess (1980)
• Andrew Kellaway (2000)
• Matthew Knights (1998)
• Mark Lee (1980, 1983, 1985)
• Bruce Monteath (1979)
• Brad Ottens (2001)
• Geoff Raines (1980)
• Matthew Richardson (1996, 1999, 2008)
• Maurice Rioli (1983, 1986)
• Michael Roach (1979)
• Des Rowe (1956)
• Dale Weightman (1985, 1986, 1988)
• Roy Wright (1956)
• Nathan Foley (2007)

National team representatives

Commenced 1998

• Joel Bowden (2001, 2004)
• Nathan Brown (2003, 2004)
• Wayne Campbell (1998, 1999, 2000)
• Brett Deledio (2005)
• Darren Gaspar (2001)
• Andrew Kellaway (2000, 2002)
• Chris Newman (2005)
• Brad Ottens (2001)
• Andrew Raines (2006)
• Matthew Richardson (1999)

Australian Football Hall of Fame Members

As legends of the game:

• Jack Dyer
• Kevin Bartlett
• Ian Stewart

As players of the game:

• Percy Bentley
• Francis Bourke
• Royce Hart
• Dan Minogue
• Charlie Pannam
• Vic Thorp
• Jack Titus
• Dale Weightman
• Roy Wright

As coaches of the game:

• Tom Hafey
• Frank 'Checker' Hughes

Richmond Team of the Century

In 1998, Richmond announced its team of the twentieth century. The selection of the twenty two players shows an even spread of champions from all the eras of the club: Thorp from the club's first premiership wins of 1920-21; McCormack, Strang, Titus and Dyer from the inter-war years; Rowe, Morris and Wright from the battling era after the war; Richardson and Knights from recent times. But the great days from the late 1960s to the early 1980s provide the bulk of the side: Sheedy, Green, Keane, Bourke, Barrot, Clay, Hart, Dean and Bartlett who made up the core of Tom Hafey's teams, and later success stories Weightman and Raines. Ian Stewart, named on the bench, created a record as the only man to win selection in a team of the century at two clubs - he was named in the centre of St Kilda's team as well. Richmond has four players denoted below with an asterisk who are also members of AFL Team of the Century. The second most of any club.

[2]

Richmond Hall of Fame

The club's hall of fame was created in 2002 with 23 inductees. Below is a list, separated into categories, of members and the year they were inducted. So far, five Richmond "Immortals" have been named, the first of whom was Jack Dyer, the year before his death in 2003. Dyer was followed by Kevin Bartlett, Tom Hafey, Francis Bourke and Royce Hart.

[3]

Premiership teams

See Richmond Premiership Teams

Current Club Guernseys

• The home jumper is black with a yellow sash which goes from top left to bottom right. The Clash jumper is the same as the home jumper with the addition of yellow side panels and inverse numbers on the back. The guernseys are made by sportswear company Reebok.

The Tigers first wore their clash jumper against Essendon in the penultimate round of the 2007 season, winning by 27 points.

Mascot

Richmond club mascot, Tiger "Stripes" Dyer

Richmond's club mascot is named after AFL legend Jack "Captain Blood" Dyer.

See also

• Wikipedia listing of Richmond players
• List of Richmond Football Club coaches
• Richmond Football Club 2007 Season

Notes

References

• Hansen B: Tigerland, Richmond Past Players and Officials Assoc, Melbourne 1992
• Hogan P: The Tigers Of Old, Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996
• Richmond Football Club - Hall of Fame

External links

• Official Website of the Richmond Football Club
• "Around the Grounds" - Web Documentary - Punt Road