Toast Essendon Football Club 150 Year Anniversary 1872-2022

[Runk]

That jumper looks great

 

[Lore]

The launch of the club’s 150 Years celebrations starts tomorrow at 10am, hosted by Sarah Jones with Kevin Sheedy as guest.

Dear members and fans,

Wherever you may be, I hope you and yours are keeping well.

It gives me tremendous joy to inform you of the Essendon Football Club’s formal launch of our 150-year anniversary celebrations.

Our club was formed from humble, blue-collar beginnings in 1872. Our very first home ground was McCracken’s paddock, so-called because the land was owned by club President Robert McCracken and the ground adjoined his home in Kent Street, Ascot Vale.

Fast forward 150 years, and we are in a truly world-class training and administration facility at the NEC Hangar in Tullamarine, and it will be next year whereby we acknowledge the foundations of our rich heritage, and the people and powerful stories that make the Essendon Football Club the equal-most successful team in VFL/AFL history.

Our members and supporters are encouraged to visit essendonfc.com.au on Friday morning at 10:00am (AEST) to watch the 150-Year Anniversary Launch. Hosted by Sarah Jones, Fox Footy host and granddaughter of our beloved club champion Jack, the panel – including the great Kevin Sheedy – will reflect on some of our club’s greatest triumphs and tragedies as we launch the celebrations into our anniversary year.

Look out for the unveiling of our new commemorative logo which cleverly encompasses elements of all the club’s previous logos throughout our history, as well as a sneak peek into the club’s landmark eight-part documentary series called The Bombers: Stories of a Great Club and new commemorative book, The Red & Black Collection.

Essendon Football Club is inherently committed to celebrating its incredible legacy in the VFL/AFL competition across 150 years, and we invite our loyal and passionate members and supporters to join us in the festivities into 2022.

Due to the Victorian restrictions and the ongoing pandemic, next week we will crown the best and fairest winner at the Crichton Medal event, again in a virtual format. Pleasingly, our members and supporters will have the opportunity to join the prestigious count. As is the world we are living in at the moment, conveniently you may even be able to watch on in your pyjamas at home! Further details about the evening will be communicated over the coming days.

2022 will really be a year to remember as we celebrate this very proud football club and we look forward to you joining us in the many celebrations, kicking off with the 150-Year Anniversary Launch tomorrow.

Thank you for your continued support of the red and black.

Paul Brasher
President

From The President: Paul Brasher

President Paul Brasher speaks about the Dons' upcoming 150th year anniversary.

www.essendonfc.com.au

Also mentions a new commemorative logo featuring elements of all our past logos, an 8-part documentary series and a commemorative book to mark the occasion

 

[VelvetSledge]

New logo!

 

[JayJ20]

Finally a new logo. If it's a combination of our past logos, then I'm hoping it's heavily inspired by our current logo and the club monogram.

Please please please no 80s toy plane.

 

[eth-dog]

Let's hope the new logo isn't as tacky as most in the AFL currently.

 

[GUMBLETRON]

Let's hope the new logo isn't as tacky as most in the AFL currently.

Let's hope it isn't as tacky as the current one.

 

[Stopher]

Excellent.

We've got a proud history, strong colours, a cool mascot and a beautiful monogram (most are, tbf).

It shouldn't be hard to have a good logo.

 

[eth-dog]

Let's hope it isn't as tacky as the current one.

So not at all?

 

[JayJ20]

Silhouette of the logo looks good. I only see red and black which is a positive.

 

[Foreverdon]

 

[GUMBLETRON]

That is good.

 

[VelvetSledge]

Genuinely love it. Surprised

 

[JayJ20]

View attachment 1237883

Really happy with it! Looks so good.

 

[TheGrizz]

Great logo

 

[Foreverdon]

 

[Lore]

$270+ for the book, which is like a coffee table book (if you preorder they’ll personalise it with your mug shot).

Documentary series is going to be on Foxtel and Kayo from October 19th, (2022?) club members get a month of free kayo to watch it. That looks like it’ll be good.

They’ve interviewed about 80 people for it, loads of former Essendon people including Doc Reid ❤ There’s also appearances from David Parkin and Dermott Brererton to look forward to a couple of outsiders. Seems they’ve covered as much history as they can, including reflecting on ASADA days and Jobe’s Brownlow along with all the nicer stuff. Apparently Dave Barham was heavily involved with it, being a TV man and current board member, and they’ve partnered with Kayo and Fox so I guess they might’ve produced it for us.

The commemorative logo is the original shield and monogram with the early flag that looks like a scarf on the right, the later flag that looks like a sash on the left, and the scroll from the same logo as the later flag.

Sheedy would also like us to remember that the windy hill windsock’s sponsor had not paid their fees and the windsock had to be tied down anyway, he just used it as a tactical thing and WC lost their shit

Also marshmallows.

 

[I Remember Bluey]

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New Essendon documentary: Bombers revisit dark days of supplements saga
Ten years after Essendon started its ill-fated supplements program the Bombers have released a documentary lifting the lid on the devastation it caused to so many.


Essendon figures have lifted the lid on the devastating toll of the supplements scandal, saying it “destroyed” relationships and crippled careers.
Almost 10 years on from the first injection, Bombers list boss Adrian Dodoro said the drugs saga was a “black cloud” which had only begun to lift from the club.

Watch Fox Footy’s massive line-up of grand final week coverage on Kayo including live pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage with full analysis from the best team in the business. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free >

Essendon fought a bitter battle to clear the players’ names but were shocked when 34 Bombers were ultimately suspended for one year because of a shambolic injections program led by sports scientist Stephen Dank.

In an eight-part documentary series, titled ‘The Bombers: Stories of a great club’, celebrating the club’s 150-year anniversary, which will be shown on Fox Footy and Kayo from October 19, Essendon players and key staff open up on the harrowing extent of the trauma.

Dyson Heppell says the players’ maintained their innocence
Former midfielder Heath Hocking said it was hard to escape the intense scrutiny at the peak of the crisis.

“It was a tough year,” Hocking said.

“Especially early on going down to the shops and feeling like everyone was looking at you and (thinking) he’s a drug cheat and things like that.

“I know in my heart that wasn’t true.

“You still have those thoughts that people are thinking that.”

Skipper Dyson Heppell said the players’ maintained their innocence.

“You have a decision to become a victim to the whole situation or you can stand up and face it and know within yourself we carried ourselves (well) … and deep down knowing we absolutely did nothing wrong,” Heppell said.

An AFL anti-doping tribunal briefly cleared the players on March 31, 2015, finding them not guilty of using a banned substance, Thymosin beta-4. But relief turned to despair on January 12, 2016 when the World Anti-Doping Authority handed down the year-long suspension, forcing the banned players to train away from the club.

Coach James Hird resigned in August 2015 under fierce pressure, and admitted he faced a tough mental health battle in the following years.

Former chairman Lindsay Tanner said the 12 month-long penalty in the Court of Arbitration for Sport was much worse than they feared.

Jobe Watson was stripped of his 2012 Brownlow Medal.
“Nobody realistically was anticipating the result that occurred,” Tanner said.

“We did realise there was a risk of a decision that was going to go against us, but we were astonished at the severity of the penalty,”

Former coach John Worsfold, who took charge of the team as it slumped to the bottom of the ladder amid the fall-out, said the WADA verdict had gutted the players.

“It hit them like a tonne of bricks,” Worsfold said.

“They (players) have put their faith and their trust in a game that they love and they have been hurt.”

Worsfold said the club understood the detachment the players felt from the game and the club following the suspensions.

“(We thought) it is going to be hard to get them to love the game again and have that trust of everyone around them,” Worsfold said.

The Essendon 34 weren’t allowed to visit the club and were discouraged from talking about the specifics of the injections program.

Former chairman Paul Little said “the players were totally lost”.

“They couldn’t speak to their families, they couldn’t speak to their girlfriends. They couldn’t speak to anyone,” Little said.

“It (that period of time) wouldn’t want to have been much more turbulent.

“It was a war that we were going through, and we were constantly on the back foot.”

The Bombers were stripped of three first and second-round draft picks in the 2013 and 2014 national drafts.

The club was also fined $2 million.

Dodoro said “to see young men’s careers torn apart was brutal”.

“It is a black cloud that is slowly lifting,” Dodoro said.

“It was unrelenting, and to walk out of these offices every day, to see throngs of media, cameras.”

Captain Jobe Watson was praised for his leadership throughout the saga despite the significant personal toll.

Michael Hurley

18

Michael Hurley

Age

34

Ht

193cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.3

5star

K

12.1

4star

HB

6.2

4star

M

6.4

5star

T

0.9

3star

MG

389.3

5star

D

16.5

4star

K

11.8

5star

HB

4.7

3star

M

6.3

5star

T

0.3

1star

MG

301.2

4star

D

15.0

4star

K

7.6

3star

HB

7.4

5star

M

5.0

5star

T

2.0

4star

praised Jobe Watson’s leadership. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Veteran defender Michael Hurley

18

Michael Hurley

Age

34

Ht

193cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

18.3

5star

K

12.1

4star

HB

6.2

4star

M

6.4

5star

T

0.9

3star

MG

389.3

5star

D

16.5

4star

K

11.8

5star

HB

4.7

3star

M

6.3

5star

T

0.3

1star

MG

301.2

4star

D

15.0

4star

K

7.6

3star

HB

7.4

5star

M

5.0

5star

T

2.0

4star

said Watson was a pillar of strength.

“I often refer to Jobe as the guy that brought us together and got us through,” Hurley said.

“He wore the brunt of it. He was the captain of the club, essentially the face of the club throughout that period. Him and Hirdy were the ones who copped a fair brunt.

“For a teammate and captain he really got us through and led the way. Someone I couldn’t have any more respect for.”

Jobe’s father, Tim Watson, who is an Essendon legend, said the impacts were far-reaching as club bosses tried to plot a path out of the mess.

“It destroyed a lot of relationships, it disrupted a lot of people’s lives. It was a significant event,” Watson said.

Essendon was second on the ladder facing a top-of-the-table battle against Hawthorn in Round 17 of 2013 when things began to unravel on the field, five months after the club “self-reported” in February.

They were banned from the finals, replaced by Carlton, and then slid down the ladder in following years, racking up 12 wins (2014), six wins (2015) and three wins (2016).

Hird said he felt for the players the most.

“My overarching thought throughout the whole process was to make sure the players were OK,” Hird said.

“And to try and get them cleared of anything that happened, which obviously in the end didn’t happen, (but) emotionally and mentally to try and make sure they were OK.

“There are players that lost three years of their career there and that shouldn’t have happened.”

Campbell said the documentary series, which was led by Essendon board member Dave Barham and produced by Neil Kearney, “captures everything about our football club”.

“It captures the people, the moments, the success, the challenges and the triumphs and 150 years is such a significant milestone,” Campbell said.


“It does bring to life a lot of what this football club has stood for.

“It is a family club, it is a successful club, it has a rich heritage, and it is a club which is always striving to do more, to be more and to win more.”

 

[RedmanWasHere]

So a doco that rehashes a few years of hell for me.

No thanks.

 

[Lore]

So a doco that rehashes a few years of hell for me.

No thanks.

It’s an 8 part series commemorating 150 years, not just the last 10. I guess you just skip that episode?

 

[RedmanWasHere]

It’s an 8 part series commemorating 150 years, not just the last 10. I guess you just skip that episode?

I forgot about it being in 8 parts.

Yeah will definitely skip that part.

 

[Maddogm]

Apparently Dave Barham was heavily involved with it, being a TV man and current board member, and they’ve partnered with Kayo and Fox so I guess they might’ve produced it for us.

He's also done stuff like the 100 years of Australian football doco in the past

 

[The Devils Advocate]

omg new logo is ****ing sick!

 

[justlookingaround]

I think it’s too wide tbh

 

[JT_the_Man]

 

[faible]

I hope Dodoro gets an interview. Gee that would upset people.

 

[Lore]

I hope Dodoro gets an interview. Gee that would upset people.

He's in the trailer