Editing Richmond Football Club (section)

===Entry into the VFL (1908–1944)===
[[File:FrankTudorPEO.jpg|thumb|right|160px|The Hon. Frank Tudor, federal leader of the [[Australian Labor Party|ALP]], was president of Richmond during World War I]]
The first few seasons in the VFL were less than spectacular. Although the club turned up some star players, it let a lot of talent leave and the administration was unstable after [[George Henry Bennett|George Bennett]]'s death at the end of the 1908 season. In 1916, the side won its first wooden spoon while also playing in the finals for the first time – [[World War I]] having reduced the competition to just four clubs, finals qualification was automatic.

Finally, in 1919, Richmond made their first [[AFL Grand Final|Grand Final]] appearance, losing to [[Collingwood Football Club|Collingwood]]. Richmond stoked a rivalry with Collingwood by recruiting their former skipper [[Dan Minogue]] as playing coach and gained vengeance by beating Collingwood in the [[1920 VFL 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 [[List of Australian Football League minor premiers|minor premier]] with only one loss for the season in 1921, Carlton 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.

[[File:Richmond fc 1920.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Richmond team that won its first VFL premiership in 1920]]
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 neighbouring archrivals, Collingwood.

[[File:Performance Chart AFL RIC.svg|thumb|Chart of yearly ladder positions for Richmond in [[Australian Football League|VFL/AFL]]]]
The next VFL flag came in 1932, with Richmond's triumph over Carlton in a tough encounter which saw Richmond [[Centre line (football)|wingman]] [[Allan Geddes]] play the second half with a broken jaw. Another premiership came in 1934, this time against South Melbourne's famed "Foreign Legion", avenging Richmond's loss in the [[1933 VFL Grand Final]].

[[File:Jack Dyer.jpg|thumb|right|160px|Richmond legend [[Jack Dyer]] played 19 consecutive seasons for the club, scoring 443 goals]]
Prior to the commencement of the 1940 season, internal problems were brewing between the key personalities at the club. Some felt that the uneven performance of the team was due to [[Percy Bentley]]'s coaching methods, and that he should be replaced. [[Jack Dyer]] walked out on the club and threatened to play in the VFA after his father, a committeeman who was involved with the anti-Bentley faction, lost his position at the board elections. Finally, the matter was resolved and Bentley kept his job, while Dyer returned to training on the eve of the season. The problems appeared to have been solved when Richmond won the semi-final against Melbourne to go straight into the [[1940 VFL Grand Final]]. However, Melbourne reversed this result with a crushing win to pinch the premiership. Richmond had been out-thought by their old mentor [[Frank '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.

Despite the tribulations created by the Second World War, Richmond was 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.{{citation needed|date=February 2014}}{{example needed|date=February 2014}} Dyer was a fearsome presence in his role as playing coach, but he was unable to improve Richmond's ability to win finals matches. A loss in the [[1942 VFL 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. [[Jack Titus]] set a still unbeaten record of playing in six losing Grand Final teams. In 1943, Richmond broke through to beat Essendon in a thrilling [[1943 VFL Grand Final|Grand Final]] by five points, a win that the club dedicated to ex-player Bill Cosgrove, an [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] pilot who had been killed in action a few weeks before the match. But another Grand Final loss followed in [[1944 VFL Grand Final|1944]], when Dyer's team failed against Fitzroy on a very hot day.