Esteemed, long-time Richmond servant Bill Meaklim has stepped down from his position as the Club’s historian.

Meaklim was appointed as Tigerland’s historian in 1986, while still involved in his key role as the Club’s head statistician.

He spent 25 years (1973-1998) collating stats for both the seniors and reserve-grade teams, covering more than 1200 games in total, and never missing a match.

A 78-year member of his beloved Tigers, Meaklim has missed only three Richmond games in the past half-century (twice because he was in hospital, and the other time when he should have been!).

Richmond CEO Brendon Gale paid tribute to Meaklim, who has been a life member of the Club since 1992, and was awarded an OAM in the 2017 Australia Day honours for his decades of service to the Tigers.

“Football clubs are significant businesses nowadays, but ultimately they have been built on the backs of people like Bill,” Gale said.

“He has given his heart and soul to this Club and we thank him for all he has done in the role as historian.

“While he won’t play the role of historian into the future, he will still remain an important part of the Club through his involvement with the Former Players and Officials’ Association and as a member of our History and Tradition committee.”

Meaklim’s replacement as Club’s historian is Rhett Bartlett, who has been actively involved at Tigerland since 1999 as a History and Tradition committee member, researcher, and was author of the club's official 2008 Centenary book "Richmond FC". He has also helped Curators Ron Reiffel and Roland Weeks in the club's museum, rattled tins for Save Our Skin, and his connection with Bill Meaklim goes all the way back to 1988 when Rhett (as a nine-year-old) sat with the statisticians on match-day, while his father Kevin coached the club.