Floods, farces, finals, fisticuffs, fightbacks and fantastic football . . .

That flurry of f-words aptly sums up the history of the great sash rivalry between Richmond and Essendon over the past century.

Essendon has worn its sash guernsey since day one of its existence, while the Tigers adopted the sash look in 1914 – six years after entering the VFL competition from the VFA.

In late June of the 1918 season, the two teams did battle in a clash dubbed the “Water Polo Match”, given the state of the East Melbourne ground, which was Essendon’s home venue at the time.

Rain had flooded Melbourne in the day before the game and the ground resembled a lake.

A football writer of the day declared:  “Football was out and the players indulged in fancy diving and other aquatic exercises, which were thoroughly enjoyed – by the spectators, who were very few indeed.  Richmond, 5.15 to 3.4, swam home and so many players displayed equal skill in fishing the ball out of water holes, rivulets and dams, as constituted the playing area, that it was decided to put all the names in a pail and draw the best player – P. Dooley was the lucky fish”.

Six years later, Richmond and Essendon were involved in one of the most farcical events in league football history . . .

A round-robin finals system was introduced in the 1924 season, with percentages playing a key factor in determining the premier team.

The fourth-placed Richmond defeated second-placed South Melbourne by 28 points in the first semi-final, but then lost to Fitzroy by 20 points.

This meant the Tigers had to beat Essendon, who had finished top of the ladder after the home-and-away rounds, by 39 points, for the right to then challenge the Dons in the Grand Final.

In a bizarre outcome, Richmond won by 20 points, but lost the premiership to the losers, with Essendon being awarded the premiership under the crazy system, which never again saw the light of day.  

The Tigers had to wait a further 18 years before getting a fair dinkum crack at Essendon in a Grand Final. 

The 1942 Grand Final was staged at Carlton’s Princes Park due to the fact that the MCG was occupied by American Armed Forces during the Second World War.

Richmond, with its great captain-coach, Jack Dyer, starring, had beaten Essendon by 22 points in the second semi-final and went into the Grand Final as a warm favorite.

But the Bombers, under their champion captain-coach, Dick Reynolds, turned the tables in the big one, winning by 53 points – 19.18 (132) to 11.13 (79).

Stung by that defeat, the Tigers were hell-bent on retribution in the 1943 season . . .

They finished top of the ladder after the home-and-away series, but lost the second-semi to their red-sash nemesis Essendon by 23 points.

Richmond then had to defeat Fitzroy in the preliminary final, for the right to take on the Bombers in the Grand Final of ’43.  The Tigers comfortably accounted for the Maroons, as Fitzroy was called back then, and got their chance at avenging their ’42 Grand Final loss to Essendon.

The 1943 Grand Final was a tough, bruising encounter, with Richmond getting the jump on the Bombers, who were hot favorites to make it back-to-back flags.

With Dyer dominant from the outset, the Tigers kicked the first three goals of the match and held sway until the third quarter when Essendon grabbed the lead.

But nothing was going to stand in the way of Richmond taking out the game’s ultimate prize that day.

Dyer continued to inspire his charges, Dick Harris (the competition’s leading goalkicker that season) was outstanding up forward, kicking seven goals, and tough Tiger teenager Max Oppy did a mighty job curtailing the brilliance of his cousin, Dick Reynolds.

In a nailbiting finish, the Tigers, who had regained the advantage during the early stages of the final term, hung on to win by five points, in the closest VFL Grand Final for more than 20 years.

The following year, Dyer destroyed the Dons in the preliminary final, lifting an undermanned Richmond to a famous victory with an awesome nine-goal display at full-forward.  But the Tigers fell short by 15 points a week later in the 1944 Grand Final against Fitzroy, and they didn’t experience that one day in September (or October) again until 1967.

May 18, 1974 was a Federal election day in Australia – and it also was a day of infamy in the Richmond-Essendon sash rivalry . . .

At half-time of the Tigers v Bombers clash at Windy Hill, all hell broke loose when a huge brawl erupted as the players were making their way to their respective rooms.  It involved players, officials and the police, and remains arguably the most infamous of all league football fights. 

The repercussions lasted for months and the upshot was that renowned Tiger powerbroker Graeme Richmond was fined $2000 and banned from attending the Club’s games for the rest of the season, by the VFL hierarchy, for his on-field involvement in the brawl.  ‘GR’, however, ignored the ruling and appeared in the Tiger committee box the following week.  

He also took out a Supreme Court writ against the VFL, which he later dropped after his fine was eventually rescinded.

Rugged Essendon defender Ron Andrews copped a six-match suspension for striking Richmond ruckman Brian Roberts and Bomber fitness adviser Jim Bradley received a six-match penalty for striking Tiger strongman Mal Brown.  Tiger teenager Stephen Parsons received four weeks for striking Bradley, and Brown got one week for striking Ashley.

The brawl forced the league to review its game-day procedures, with less staff allowed on the ground, and more protection given to teams when they left the field.  By the way, Richmond won the match, dubbed the Windy Hill Brawl, by 10 points.

At the same venue, four years later, the man known as ‘The Flying Dutchman’, Paul Van Der Haar, ignited a famous Essendon come-from-behind victory over Richmond.

Van Der Haar had suffered a severe neck and back injury as the result of a trailbike accident early in 1978, prompting fears that his then brief, but exciting, league career could be over.

In Round 6 of the ’78 season, however, Van Der Haar made an unexpected comeback, in the clash with Richmond at Windy Hill.  The home-crowd excitement at Van Der Haar’s return was quickly quelled by the Tigers, who seized control of the match.

Early in the final term, the Bombers were staring down the barrel of a five-goal deficit, and they appeared shot.  Enter Paul Van Der Haar . . .

In typical manner, with little regard for his own safety, ‘Vanda’ constantly propelled himself skywards and threw his body at every contest.
He took some trademark ‘speccies’, booted three goals, and inspired the Dons to a nine-goal to one last quarter, which got them over the line by 21 points.

Fast-forward four years, to Easter Monday, 1982, and it was Richmond v Essendon at the MCG, and a first-time coaching confrontation between multi-Tiger premiership teammates, Francis Bourke and Kevin Sheedy.

Bourke had taken over the coaching reins at Tigerland in ’82, while Sheedy was in his second season in charge at Essendon.

In front of a massive crowd of 90,564, which is Richmond’s second-highest ever home-and-away attendance, only 11 points separated the teams at three-quarter time (the Tigers’ way) in a high-scoring encounter.  But in the final term, the Tigers ran riot, kicking 10 goals to two, to run out winners by 62 points. 

Rob Wiley snagged seven goals in a brilliant display for Richmond, Kevin Bartlett, in his 364th game, kicked four goals, and big Brian Taylor booted three.  For Essendon, Glenn Hawker led the way with five goals and Wayne Otway scored three goals.

The next time the sash rivals played before a crowd of similar proportions, was in the cut-throat 1995 second semi-final at the ‘G.

This was Richmond’s first finals campaign since 1982, and the Tigers,who had been beaten by North Melbourne in a qualifying final the previous week, activated their double chance, against the Bombers.

By half-time, it seemed almost certain the Tiger Army’s fears of the team being ‘bundled out in straight sets’ would be realised.  Richmond trailed by five goals and was being beaten in almost every position on the field. 

There was, however, one Richmond player shining like a beacon, and doing everything in his power to keep a faint pulse beating within the Tiger . . . Matthew Knights.

Richmond’s acting captain had produced a brilliant solo performance throughout the first half, kicking three of the side’s four goals (including one that subsequently featured in the Tiger Treasures of the Century, as part of the Club’s 2008 league football centenary celebrations).

Knights had provided a sufficient springboard for a stunning Richmond form reversal in the second half.  Tiger players who had been missing in action suddenly appeared energised by Knights’ sterling efforts.  Incredibly, by the last change, Richmond, which had been six goals down midway through the third quarter, was one point in front.

A frenetic final term followed, with the Tigers keeping the Bombers at bay to record a 13-point victory that ranks as one of the most memorable wins in Yellow and Black history.

Six years on, Essendon enjoyed some sort of revenge for that shock September loss to Richmond, thrashing the Tigers by 70 points in the 2001 qualifying final at the ‘G, with Bomber Dean Solomon doing a superb job in defence on star forward Matthew Richardson, and Matthew Lloyd kicking four goals up the other end of the ground.

Revenge for ‘Richo’ came six years later, in Essendon’s Round 21 farewell tribute match to coach Kevin Sheedy and champion player James Hird, which drew a crowd of 88,468. 

Richmond led by 10 points at three-quarter time and ran right away from the Dons in the last quarter, kicking seven goals to four, to record a 27-point win, with Richo receiving the three Brownlow votes on the night for his dominant 25-dispoal, 15-mark display.

We await the next fascinating installment in the history of the Clash of the Sash . . .