The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Thought to have formed in 1872, the club played its first recorded game on 7 June 1873 against a Carlton Second 20, winning 1 goal to nil. The club played a senior club in the Victorian Football Association in 1878, one year after the VFA formed. It is historically associated with Essendon, a suburb in the north-west of Melbourne, Victoria. Since 2013, the club has been headquartered at The Hangar, Melbourne Airport, and plays its home games at either Docklands Stadium or the Melbourne Cricket Ground; throughout most of its history the club's home ground and headquarters was Windy Hill, Essendon, where it played from 1922 until 1991. While it stopped playing games at the ground thereafter, Windy Hill remained its training and administration base until the end of 2013. Dyson Heppell is the current team captain.
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is the major state-level Australian rules football league in Victoria. The league evolved from the former Victorian Football Association (VFA), and has been known by its current name since 1996. For historical purposes, the present VFL is sometimes referred to as the VFA/VFL, to distinguish it from the present day Australian Football League, which was known until 1990 as the Victorian Football League and is sometimes referred to as the VFL/AFL.
Bruce Abernethy is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Football Club and Adelaide Football Club in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL), and the Port Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and is a media personality.
Harold Vivian "Vic" Cumberland, also known as Harry Cumberland, was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the South Australian National Football League (SANFL).
Nicholas "Nick" Smith is an Australian rules footballer with the Box Hill Hawks of the Victorian Football League (VFL). Previously, Smith played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
The 1918 Victorian Football League season was the 22nd season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
Daniel Harris is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Football Club and Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played as a midfielder and has been noted as one of the best centre clearance players in the league. He was also one of the league's best tacklers, making the top ten for most tackles in each season between 2006 and 2008. After being delisted by North Melbourne he was drafted with the first selection in the 2010 Rookie Draft as a mature age rookie to join the new Gold Coast Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 2010.
Alexander James Hall was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) in 1891 to 1896 then in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1898 to 1900. In 1906, his first year of coaching in the VFL, he played his only game for the St Kilda Football Club. He went on to coach Melbourne (twice), Richmond and was Hawthorn's coach in their inaugural season in the VFL.
The 1920 Victorian Football League season was the 24th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
The 1926 Victorian Football League season was the 30th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
The 1967 Victorian Football League season was the 71st season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
The 1949 Victorian Football League season was the 53rd season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
The 1948 Victorian Football League season was the 52nd season of the elite Australian rules football competition.
Fred Fanning was an Australian rules footballer who played for Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL) who holds the record for most goals in a VFL/AFL match.
Sydney Quinton Barker Sr. was an Australian rules footballer who played with Richmond, Essendon and North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). His son, also named Syd Barker, had a brief league career with North Melbourne.
Cecil Alfred Ruddell was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1940s.
Cecil George Cumberland, the brother of Vic Cumberland, was an Australian rules footballer who played five senior games with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 1899.
Mitchell Hannan is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A forward, 1.89 metres tall and weighing 87 kilograms (192 lb), Hannan has the ability to play as a forward and in the midfield. After failing to play in the TAC Cup as a junior, he joined the St Bernard's Football Club in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) where he won a premiership and the best on ground in the 2015 VAFA Grand Final. The next year, he played with Footscray in the Victorian Football League (VFL) where he won his second premiership in as many years. His performances in the VAFA and VFL saw him recruited by the Melbourne Football Club in the 2016 AFL draft and he made his debut in the opening round of the 2017 season.
Bayley Fritsch is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A forward, 1.88 metres tall and weighing 81 kilograms (179 lb), Fritsch has the ability to play as both a high marking and small crumbing forward. Considered a late bloomer, he missed out on selection with the Eastern Ranges in the TAC Cup as a junior. After winning the league rising star in the Eastern Football League, he joined the Casey Scorpions in the Victorian Football League (VFL) where he spent three seasons. The 2017 VFL season saw him win the Fothergill–Round Medal, play for Victoria in the state representative match, be named in the VFL Team of the Year, and finish runner-up in the league leading goalkicker and Casey's best and fairest award. His season saw him drafted by the Melbourne Football Club in the second round of the 2017 AFL draft and he made his AFL debut in the opening round of the 2018 AFL season.
