Editing Collingwood Football Club (section)

===Formation and early years===
[[File:Collingwood fc team 1896.jpg|thumb|left|200px|The Collingwood team that won the VFA premiership in 1896]]
The Collingwood Football Club was established on 12 February 1892.<ref>[http://www.afl.com.au/news/blogarticle/tabid/8123/newsid/89468/default.aspx afl.com.au]{{dead link|date=September 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/newsfeatures/news/newsarticle/tabid/5586/newsid/81675/default.aspx |title=The club's first secretary honoured – Official AFL Website of the Collingwood Football Club |access-date=29 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091007020548/http://www.collingwoodfc.com.au/newsfeatures/news/newsarticle/tabid/5586/newsid/81675/default.aspx |archive-date=7 October 2009 }}</ref><ref>A Century of the Best, Michael Roberts p.viii pub:1991</ref>

Collingwood played its first game in the [[Victorian Football Association]] (VFA) against [[Carlton Football Club|Carlton]] on 7 May 1892.<ref>A Century of the Best, Michael Roberts p.x pub:1991</ref> The club won the VFA Premiership in 1896.

In 1897, Collingwood, along with fellow VFA clubs [[Fitzroy Football Club|Fitzroy]], [[Melbourne Football Club|Melbourne]], [[St Kilda Football Club|St Kilda]], Carlton, [[Essendon Football Club|Essendon]], [[Sydney Swans|South Melbourne]] and [[Geelong Football Club|Geelong]] split from the VFA and formed the [[Victorian Football League (1897–1989)|Victorian Football League]] (VFL).

Collingwood won its first [[List of Australian Football League premiers|premiership]] in 1902, defeating Essendon by 33 points in the [[1902 VFL Grand Final]].