The Richmond and Collingwood rivalry stretches back a century.

It was probably the most intense rivalry in the league football competition for several decades, before lying somewhat dormant for a while as the Tigers, in particular, struggled at the lower end of the ladder.

Now the rivalry is back big time, with the two teams preparing to do battle in a preliminary final on Friday night, and a crowd of close to 100,000 fanatical supporters expected to cram into the MCG to watch the blockbuster clash.

Not since the 1980 Grand Final have Richmond and Collingwood met in September. On that occasion, it was the Tigers who triumphed by a whopping 81 points.

So, how did the rivalry between the two clubs come about?

Well, it can be traced back to when Collingwood captain Dan Minogue walked out on the Magpies in 1919 after returning from World War One, where he had served Australia with great distinction.

Minogue apparently was unhappy with Collingwood’s treatment of Jim Sadler, who was a former teammate of his, and requested a trade to Richmond.

The Magpies were furious with Minogue and refused to grant him a clearance or pay the money he was owed from his retirement fund.

Minogue responded by standing out of league football for a year in order to secure his transfer to the Tigers, where he took over as captain-coach.

He then rubbed salt into Collingwood’s wound by leading Richmond to its inaugural VFL premiership in 1920 with victory over the Magpies in the Grand Final.

It was war between the neighbouring league clubs from then on.

Collingwood took immense delight in inflicting three consecutive Grand Final defeats on the Tigers from 1927-29.

Legendary Tiger Jack Dyer then arrived on the league football scene in the early 1930s, and he very quickly learned to hate the Magpies.

So strong was Dyer’s contempt for Collingwood, he once declared during his highly-successful football media career that he wouldn’t even watch black and white television.

Jack’s on-camera jousts with his renowned former Magpie on-field adversary, little Lou Richards, made for excellent entertainment. Imagine how they would have got stuck into each other in the lead-up to this Friday night’s huge encounter between their beloved clubs!

Long-time, leading Richmond administrator, Graeme Richmond, did his best to fuel the rivalry flames under his powerful watch at Tigerland from the mid-1960s onwards.

Before each clash with the Magpies, ‘GR’ would ram home to the Tigers’ playing group, in no uncertain manner, why beating them was imperative.

According to three-time Richmond premiership hero Kevin Sheedy, GR would say, ‘Those herds of mongrels marching down Hoddle Street are coming to take our land, cocko’.

Four-time Tiger premiership coach Tommy Hafey grew up barracking for Collingwood.

He led Richmond to finals wins against the Magpies in 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1975, before sensationally departing Punt Road in late 1976 and taking the coaching reins at Victoria Park, much to GR’s chagrin.

Collingwood had finished last in the ’76 season, but flourished under Hafey’s coaching guidance.

The Magpies rocketed up the ladder the following year and won their way into the Grand Final, where they played a draw with North Melbourne, but lost the replay.

They had a further three unsuccessful Grand Final attempts with ‘T-Shirt Tommy’ at the helm, including the hefty 1980 defeat at the hands of the Tigers, before sacking him midway through the 1982 season, when they plummeted down the ladder.

Richmond was going in the opposite direction that year under new coach, five-time Club premiership champion Francis Bourke.

The Tigers finished on top of the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season, convincingly accounted for Carlton in the second semi-final, but then suffered a shock loss to the Blues in the Grand Final.

That defeat was the catalyst for the next, and arguably biggest, chapter in the Richmond-Collingwood rivalry story.

Two Tiger premiership stars, Geoff Raines (a triple Jack Dyer Medallist) and David Cloke (1982 Club captain) were enticed to join the Magpies in a massive recruiting coup.

Graeme Richmond was never going to take that well, and over the course of the next few years the Tigers plundered Collingwood, securing the services of Phillip Walsh, John Annear, Craig Stewart, Neil Peart, Wally Lovett and Peter McCormack.

The Magpies, not to be outdone, fired back by luring gun Tiger full-forward Brian Taylor to Victoria Park.

By the time the expensive poaching war was finally over, both clubs found themselves in dire financial straits.

In Richmond’s case, it ended up on the verge of extinction, ultimately rescued by the Save Our Skins campaign.

Now, three decades later, the Richmond-Collingwood rivalry is again reaching fever pitch, with both clubs back as genuine powerhouses of the competition, both on and off the field.

Whatever happens this Friday night on the hallowed MCG turf, the rivalry seems well and truly set to flourish throughout the next few seasons.