Richmond’s reputation as a strongly-supported club went through the roof yesterday with the announcement it had broken through the magical 100,000 members’ mark – a phenomenal first in the history of AFL/VFL football.

This extraordinary achievement is something that every person with Yellow and Black blood coursing through their veins should be immensely proud of.

It’s not the first time, however, that the Tigers have been pioneers on the fan front.

Way back in 1972, Richmond became the first league club to attract attendances of more than one million in a season.

The Tigers had a combined crowd total of 1,008,855 for the ’72 season, in which they finished runners-up to Carlton.

It took Collingwood until 1977 to hit the one million attendance figure in a season.

The two other members of the traditional Victorian big four clubs – Essendon and Carlton – didn’t achieve this until the 1990s (the Bombers in 1993 and the Blues in 1995).

In the opening round this season, Richmond smashed another significant league football attendance record, when 90,151 watched the Tigers unfurl their 2017 premiership flag and go on to defeat Carlton by 26 points.

Not only was that the biggest-ever crowd to a Round 1 AFL/VFL match, it also was the fourth consecutive game Richmond had reached the 90,000 attendance milestone – something never previously achieved throughout league football history (three was the previous best).

The Tigers did this on all three occasions throughout their 2017 finals campaign – 95,028 in the qualifying final v Geelong, 94,258 in the preliminary final v GWS, 100,021 in the Grand Final v Adelaide – and then followed up with that record 2018 Round 1 crowd.