Editing North Melbourne Football Club (section)

===Association years===
[[File:NMFCchart.png|thumb|Chart showing the progress of North Melbourne F.C. through the VFA and V/AFL]]
Football took a significant step forward in [[1877 VFA season|1877]], with the formation of the [[Victorian Football Association]] (VFA), the first properly constituted administrative body in the [[colony of Victoria]].<ref name="review13Oct">{{cite web|publisher=The Australasian|access-date=14 April 2025 |date=13 October 1877|title=The Football Season of 1877 – Part 1|last1=Pindar |first1=Peter|page=13|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/143270959}}</ref> Hotham was one of five senior metropolitan clubs to compete in the [[1887 VFA season|inaugural season]].<ref name="vfa1877etg">{{cite web |title=Victorian Football Association Season 1877 |url=https://www.elitetograssroots.net/vfa/1877.htm |publisher=Elite to Grassroots |access-date=14 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240809211103/http://www.elitetograssroots.net/vfa/1877.htm |archive-date=9 August 2024}}</ref><ref name="vfaproject1877">{{cite web |title=Game by Game for 1877 |url=https://www.thevfaproject.org/pages/Season/1877.php |publisher=The VFA Project |access-date=14 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250406172942/https://www.thevfaproject.org/pages/Season/1877.php |archive-date=6 April 2025}}</ref>

In 1882, Hotham amalgamated with the Hotham Cricket Club and moved into the [[North Melbourne Recreation Reserve]] ([[Arden Street Oval]]) as part of an effort to improve the ground improvements at the Hotham Cricket Ground, which was the name of the Reserve at the time.
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:John Henry Guest 1862-1922.jpg|alt=John “Jack” Henry Guest 1862-1922 NMFC second-20 premiership coach 1886-1887 & Secretary North Melbourne Cricket Club 1882-1883. Former student St Mary's Anglican School Hotham, married Annie Caroline Allison 1968-1922 at St Mary's Anglican Church in 1885. Annie is a member of the Allison funeral family dynasty with its roots in Hotham (North Melbourne).|thumb|'''John “Jack” Henry Guest 1862-1922''']] -->
The first taste of premiership success in the VFA for the club came in [[1886 VFA season|1886]], when John Guest (1862-1922), born John Henry Guest, and known as Jack Guest, was elected as the team secretary of Hotham's second-twenty team and led it to a reserve grade premiership.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hotham Football Club |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66155876 |publisher=North Melbourne Advertiser |access-date=14 May 2025 |page=3 |date=21 May 1886}}</ref> Guest replicated this achievement the following season in 1887 helping the club win back-to-back premierships.<ref>{{cite web |title=NORTH MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66149178 |publisher=North Melbourne Advertiser |access-date=14 May 2025 |page=3 |date=31 March 1888}}</ref> He had previously been appointed secretary of the merged Hotham Cricket Club in 1882.<ref>{{cite web |title=ROSE OF HOTHAM C.C. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66159512 |publisher=North Melbourne Advertiser |access-date=14 May 2025 |page=3 |date=21 September 1883}}</ref> In 1884, his older brother William Langford Guest (1860–1922) was elected treasurer of the North Melbourne Football Club, serving as a delegate to the VFA in [[1884 VFA season|1884]].<ref>{{cite web |title=HOTHAM F.C. |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66160068 |publisher=North Melbourne Advertiser |access-date=14 May 2025 |page=3 |date=4 April 1884}}</ref> Their younger brother Archie Guest (1866-1932) played a few games for North before transferring to play for rival club Williamstown from 1887-1890.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A grass roots history of Australian rules football - : The reader is taken from the Garrison playing fields of Templemore, Tipperary, Ireland in the 1830s to Hotham (Nth Melbourne) to present day places and teams in Victoria, Northern Territory & West Australia. A football playing history spanning 1830s to 2025. |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3644996526/view |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=Trove |language=en}}</ref>   

In 1886, the club adopted the traditional uniform of blue and white vertical stripes at the insistence of the VFA, who wanted a visible contrast between Geelong's and Hotham's uniforms. Additionally, the club returned to its original "North Melbourne Football Club" name on 30 March 1888 after [[Town of North Melbourne|the local government area]] reverted its name to [[North Melbourne]].<ref name="namechange">{{cite web |title=NORTH MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66149178/6630421 |publisher=North Melbourne Advertiser |access-date=15 May 2025 |page=3 |date=31 March 1888 |quote=They were aware that the name of the town had been changed from Hotham to North Melbourne, and it was only right that the football club should follow suit. (Hear, hear). Perhaps someone present would move in the matter. On the motion of Mr. Sutcliffe, it was then unanimously decided that the club be henceforth known as the North Melbourne Football Club.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Northern History: When Hotham made the name change. |url=https://www.hothamhistory.org.au/northern-history-when-hotham-made-the-name-change/ |publisher=Hotham History Project |access-date=14 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523150127/https://www.hothamhistory.org.au/northern-history-when-hotham-made-the-name-change/ |archive-date=23 May 2024}}</ref>

The 1880s saw the club develop a penchant for inter-colonial travel with trips to Tasmania (1881 and 1887) and South Australia (1889). Hotham also found itself well represented at the first ever intercolonial representative game in 1879, with four players from the club gaining selection for Victoria.