Club Historian Rhett Bartlett chronicles the weekly run of the Richmond Guardian which focuses on the birth of the Richmond Football Club on this day in 1885.
The entire 1885 weekly run of the Richmond Guardian, one of two major local papers of the time, was digitised thanks to the fundraising efforts of 19 donors organised by Rhett Bartlett, with the support of the State Library of Victoria, and Trove website, in 2022.
The scanned pages below have revealed how the local press reported the initial steps taken by the Richmond Football Club to field a side in 1885. These articles were previously only accessible on microfilm, stored away in the State Library.
THE INTEREST.
On February 14th 1885, the Richmond Guardian reported on a “preliminary meeting” which took place three days earlier by “some of the local players who had assembled to discuss the advisability of starting the movement.”
The Richmond Guardian guesses what the club colours will be – “orange and black.”
THE ADVERTISEMENT.
Page 2 of the Feb 14th 1885 Richmond Guardian, contains the most significant advertisement in Richmond Football History.
A notice for the public meeting at the Royal Hotel (which still stands today across from the football ground), for Friday 20th for the purpose of forming the Richmond Football Club.
The notice does not mention what time the public meeting was to begin.
The Hotel proprietor was John P. Byrne, and his later advertisements announced he was “caterer to the Richmond Cricket Club, and Richmond Bowling Club”, and that his hotel was “the well-known local cricket and football clubs’ rendezvous.”
THE BIRTH
The creation of the club on February 20 was announced on page 2 of the Richmond Guardian the following day.
The article goes further in-depth than other press reports in that it names the committee voted in that night, which helps us identify who was present at this historic moment.
CLUB COLOURS
The Richmond Guardian’s description of the night the club colours were decided on (Feb 26), appears in a barely legible blurry microfilm of February 28th.
In part is reads “It was decided the colours should be all blue, with yellow and black sash; cap with yellow and black stripe running from back to front.”
The article also documents that the club member tickets “be bound at once, to be uniform with the colours.” Intriguingly it calls out for “some of the ladies of Richmond to show their goodwill towards the club by presenting colours for the goal posts.”
THE FIRST GAME
Richmond’s first game for premiership points was against Williamstown on May 2.
The team was printed that morning in the Richmond Guardian.
DRINKS
One of the peculiar discoveries involves Richmond’s first game at the Punt Road Oval on May 9 vs University.
In the week leading up to the game, tenders were advertised for the right “to sell refreshments” during that game.
THE FENCE
As the Punt Road Oval had no fence around the arena, during the July 11 match vs Williamstown, the crowd encroached upon the playing area and “sometimes the ball was sent amongst the spectators, and barrackers, and players mingled in the scrimmage.”
That spectacle resulted in the Cricket club organising a concert for August 1885 to raise funds for the erection of a fence.
The advertisement includes the request for anyone who has “a mile or two (more or less) of second-hand of cast off Iron Chain or Fencing.”
THANKS
One week after the end of the 1885 season, the Honorary Secretary of the Richmond Football Club James Charles, published a letter in the October 3rd Richmond Guardian.
In part he wrote “I have also to thank our supporters, patrons, president, and vice-presidents for the support they have given us”, and urged the players to “not allow themselves to be enticed away by other clubs, as offers are sometimes made to men for their services.”
An interesting part of his letter is his plea that “I sincerely hope that none of the Richmond will lower themselves by accepting bribes of any sort, but manfully decline them, and play for the honor and love of the game.”
117 years after his letter, James Charles would become the first inductee into Richmond’s Hall of Fame in 2002.
