Editing Richmond Football Club (section)

=== Origins and VFA years (1885–1907) ===
[[File:RoyalHotel1874.jpg|thumb|left|The Richmond Football Club was formed at a meeting at the Royal Hotel in Richmond in 1885]]
A short-lived football club named Richmond formed in 1860 with [[Tom Wills]], one of the founders of [[Australian rules football]], serving as its inaugural secretary and captain.<ref>Blainey (1990), p62.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|first1= Gillian|last1= Hibbins|first2= Trevor|last2= Ruddell|title= 'A Code of Our Own': Celebrating 150 Years of the Rules of Australian Football|url= http://www.mcc.org.au/~/media/Files/Yorker-Issue%2039_Autumn2009_low-res.pdf|publisher = Melbourne Cricket Club Library|journal= The Yorker|year= 2009|issue= 39 |page=8}}</ref> Wills' cousin [[H. C. A. Harrison]] captained Richmond briefly in the early 1860s before moving to [[Geelong Football Club|Geelong]].<ref>Mancini & Hibbins (1987), p119.</ref> This club was disbanded in 1871<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article183022376|title=Richmond's Best Since 1921-Expect Season;s Honors|newspaper=Sporting Globe |date=6 May 1931|page=9|via=Trove}}</ref> and has no continuity to the present club. A number of teams formed in Richmond during the game's rapid expansion in the 1870s and early 1880s.<ref>Blainey (1990), p64.</ref> However, all played at a junior level and it was considered an anomaly that Richmond, one of Melbourne's most prominent suburbs, did not boast a senior side. The wait ended when the Richmond Football Club was officially formed at the Royal Hotel in Richmond on 20 February 1885.<ref>Hansen (1992), p. 28.</ref> A successful application for immediate admission to the [[Victorian Football Association]] (VFA) followed. The club shared the [[Punt Road Oval]] with the [[Monash Tigers|Richmond Cricket Club]], one of the strongest cricket clubs in Australia which had been playing on the ground since 1856.<ref>[http://www.richmondcc.com.au/content.aspx?file=216|14108q. Richmond Cricket Club]. Retrieved 7 August 2007.</ref>

At first the team wore blue [[guernsey (Australian rules football)|guernsey]]s and caps with yellow and black stripes in the style of the Richmond Cricket Club. The football club soon adopted yellow and black as its official colours. From the 1890s the supporters and players were often referred to as "Richmondites"<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139143174 |title=Football Notes. |newspaper=[[The Australasian]] |volume=XLIX |issue=1279 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=4 October 1890 |access-date=2 August 2023 |page=18 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and, according to ''The Age'' in 1890,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196970621 |title=Football. |newspaper=[[The Age]] |issue=10,991 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=17 May 1890 |access-date=2 August 2023 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> ''The Leader'' in 1899 <ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196509958 |title=RICHMOND (35) BEAT WEST MELBOURNE (21). |newspaper=[[The Leader (Melbourne)|Leader]] |issue=2265 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=3 June 1899 |access-date=2 August 2023 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and former club secretary William Maybury<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article136623128 |title=Victorian Football Memories |newspaper=[[The Referee (newspaper)|The Referee]] |issue=1940 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=14 May 1924 |access-date=2 August 2023 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> the team were occasionally called "Wasps." The moniker by which they are now known, the "Tigers", was first adopted around 1908–10 period through the newspapers ''Punch''<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article176016641 |title=Football Gossip. |newspaper=[[Melbourne Punch|Punch]] |volume=CVIII |issue=2758 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=4 June 1908 |access-date=2 August 2023 |page=35 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and ''The Richmond Guardian''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article255867844 |title=Sundry Squibs. |newspaper=[[Richmond Guardian]] |issue=1774 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=7 May 1910 |access-date=2 August 2023 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

During the late 1880s, Richmond struggled to make an impression in the VFA, and after a promising season in 1888 (when they finished fifth with eleven wins), the club slipped backwards, in the process losing players to more successful sides. As the local economy slipped into severe [[Recession|depression]] in the early 1890s and the crowds began to dwindle, some of the VFA's strongest clubs began to agitate for a reform of the competition. Richmond was not considered part of this elite group, which usually [[Voting bloc|voted as a ''bloc'']] at VFA meetings.

In 1896, Richmond [[wiktionary:forfeit|walked off the field]] in a match against [[Sydney Swans|South Melbourne]] to protest the umpiring, and later in the season, the Tigers had their half-time score annulled against [[Essendon Football Club|Essendon]] when it was discovered that they had too many men on the ground. In the closing three weeks of the season, Richmond's cut of the gate takings amounted to just five pounds, and they finished the season with the wooden spoon.

[[File:Alec Redmond Richmond.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Alec Edmond captained Richmond from 1901 to his retirement in 1907]]
In October 1896, the cabal of six strong clubs broke with the association to form the [[VFL/AFL|Victorian Football League]] (VFL). As a struggling club with a poor following, Richmond was not invited to join the new league. Richmond's performances did not immediately improve in the depleted VFA until the turn of the century.

The Tigers were boosted by a significant country recruit in 1901. [[George Sidney Johnson|George "Mallee" Johnson]] was an instant sensation and the first true star player at the club. Richmond leapt to third place and then in 1902, with Johnson dominating the ruck, Richmond entered the closing weeks of the season neck and neck with [[Port Melbourne Football Club|Port Melbourne]] at the head of the ladder, but Port Melbourne faltered against [[Williamstown Football Club|Williamstown]] to hand Richmond its first flag. Having missed a potential bonanza from a premiership play-off, the VFA decided to emulate the VFL and introduce a finals series in 1903, a fateful decision for the Tigers. After recruiting the competition's leading goalkicker, [[Jack Hutchinson (footballer, born 1880)|Jack Hutchinson]], and finishing the season as [[Minor premiership|minor premier]], Richmond lost both finals and were [[runner-up]].

The following season, the club became embroiled in a feud with umpire Allen, whom the Tigers accused of failing to curb field invasions and, in particular, the dubious tactics of arch-rival [[North Melbourne Football Club|North Melbourne]]. In the 10 September 1904 match, during which a significant number of Richmond players sustained serious gashes, and despite the earnest requests of the Richmond players, field umpire Allen refused to exercise his legitimate, official power to check the boots of the North Melbourne players for "spikes" on the soles of their boots.<ref>[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/189428099 Association Match: North Melbourne (5.11) beat Richmond (4.15): Another Great Struggle, ''The Age'', (Monday, 12 September 1904), p.9.]</ref> When the two clubs were scheduled to meet in the [[1904 VFA Grand Final]], Richmond announced that they wouldn't play with Allen as umpire. The VFA called Richmond's bluff, and appointed Allen as umpire for the match, meaning that the Grand Final was scratched and North Melbourne won the premiership on forfeit.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article189426636 The Football Trouble: Why the Richmond-North Melbourne Match was not Played, ''The Age'', (Wednesday, 5 October 1904), p.8.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article263638899 The Association Football Premiership, ''The Richmond Guardian'', (Saturday, 8 October 1904), p.2.]</ref><ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10344347 Football: North Melbourne—Richmond Fiasco: Richmond Club Censured, ''The Argus'', (Saturday, 8 October 1904), p.13.]</ref>

Richmond were now openly at odds with the VFA, and matters failed to improve in the next few years. The club was campaigning against violence (both on-field and among the crowd), ungentlemanly conduct and poor sportsmanship, issues that plagued the VFA to a far greater extent than the rival VFL since the 1896 split. Richmond cultivated links with some VFL clubs by playing practice matches against them. Richmond knew that they were a major asset to the VFA, had built up a large following and played on one of the best grounds in the competition, where they remained unbeaten for five years. In 1905, Richmond confirmed their status with a second premiership, this time overcoming bitter rivals [[North Melbourne Football Club|North Melbourne]], "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, then went ahead with the commitment and earned further censure. Later in the year it became clear that the [[VFL/AFL|VFL]] wanted to expand its competition and Richmond won a place ahead of North Melbourne, which had been strengthened by an amalgamation with the bankrupt West Melbourne as part of their bid. Richmond were granted admission to the VFL on 18 October 1907.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204996291 |title=FOOTBALL LEAGUE. |newspaper=[[The Age]] |issue=16,413 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=19 October 1907 |access-date=2 August 2023 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>