Editing Essendon Football Club (section)

=== Formation and VFA years (1871–1896) ===
[[File:Essendon fc 1873.jpg|thumb|left|Essendon players and officials c.1878]]
[[File:1891 VFA Premiership Match.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Scenes from the [[1891 VFA season|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.<ref name="smh">{{cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/sport/the-fall-20140224-33b6a.html|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=1 March 2014|title=The Fall}}</ref> The Essendon Football Club is thought to have been formed in 1872 at a meeting in the home of a well-known brewery family, the McCrackens, whose [[Ascot Vale]] property hosted a team of local junior players.<ref>{{cite web|title=Essendon Football Club – Club History|url=http://www.essendonfc.com.au/history/history2.asp|access-date=10 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611064128/http://www.essendonfc.com.au/history/history2.asp|archive-date=11 June 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Robert McCracken (1813–1885),<ref>{{cite web| url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196956612| title = Deaths: M'Cracken, ''The Age'', (Wednesday, 18 February 1885), p.1.| newspaper = Age| date = 18 February 1885}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| chapter-url = http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mccracken-robert-4070| title = ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'': McCracken, Robert (1813–1885).| chapter = McCracken, Robert (1813–1885)| publisher = National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}}</ref> 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 Football Club|Melbourne]], was the team's first captain.<ref name="ReferenceA">''The Clubs – The Complete History of Every Club in the VFL/AFL'', editors G. Hutchinson and J. Ross, {{ISBN|978-1-86458-189-8}}</ref>

The club played its first recorded match against the [[Carlton Football Club|Carlton]] Second Twenty (the [[Reserve team|reserves]]) on 7 June 1873,<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Argus|date=9 June 1873|page=7|title=Football}}</ref> with Essendon winning by one goal. Essendon played 13 matches in its first season, winning seven, with four draws and losing two.<ref>Mapleston (1996), p.19.</ref> The club was one of the inaugural junior members of the Victorian Football Association (VFA) in 1877,<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Australasian|publication-place=Melbourne|title=Football Gossip|author=Peter Pindar|date=21 July 1877|page=76|volume=XXIII|issue=590}}</ref> and it began competing as a senior club from the [[1878 VFA season|1878 season]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Annual Meetings of football clubs|newspaper=The Australasian|publication-place=Melbourne|date=13 April 1878|page=461|volume=XXIV|issue=628}}</ref> 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:<ref>Mapleston (1996), p.29.</ref> losing to Norwood (on 23 June)<ref>{{cite web| url = https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/42001832| title = Football: Essendon v. Norwood |newspaper=The South Australian Register |date=25 June 1883 |page=7}}</ref> and defeating Port Adelaide (on 16 June),<ref>{{Cite news|date=18 June 1883|title=Essendon v. Port Adelaide|newspaper=The Argus|location=Melbourne|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8530303|page=3}}</ref> a combined South Australian team (on 18 June),<ref>{{cite web| url = https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197787706| title = Football: Essendon (Victoria) v. Adelaide and Suburban Association Twenty-Three |newspaper=The Evening Journal |location=Adelaide |date=19 June 1883 |page=3}}</ref> and South Adelaide (on 20 June).<ref>{{cite web| url = https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/208339669| title = Intercolonial Football Match |newspaper=The Express and Telegraph |location=Adelaide |date=21 June 1883 |page=3}}</ref>

The club played against the [[1888 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia|touring British footballers in 1888]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196001762|title=England v. Essendon|newspaper=[[The Age]] |location=Melbourne |date=30 Jul 1888 |accessdate=3 Oct 2024 |page=6 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article6896195|title=Football|newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |location=Melbourne |date=30 Jul 1888 |accessdate=3 Oct 2024 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

In 1891, Essendon won their first VFA premiership, which they repeated in [[1892 VFA season|1892]], [[1893 VFA season|1893]] and [[1894 VFA season|1894]]. One of the club's greatest players, [[Albert Thurgood]], played for the club during this period, making his debut in 1892.<ref name =":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.essendonfc.com.au/our-club/history/club-history|title=Club History|website=essendonfc.com.au|access-date=22 January 2019}}</ref> Essendon (18 wins, 2 draws) was undefeated in the 1893 season.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Mapleston (1996), p.438.</ref>