The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League ( AFL ).

Formed in 1871 as a junior club and as a senior club in 1873, it is headquartered at the Essendon Recreation Reserve ( Windy Hill ) in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon, Australia but match day home games are played at Etihad Stadium or the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Essendon has won 16 VFL / AFL premierships which, along with Carlton, is the most of any club in the AFL.

It is recorded that Essendon has always had black and red in its strip.

To avoid clashing with other teams, Essendon adopted a red sash in 1875, and is recorded in magazines of the day as wearing Blue with Red sash up until about 1889.

He is the mascot for Essendon in AFL mascot manor.

James Hird ( born 4 February 1973 ) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and the current coach of the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League.

She is an avid supporter of the Essendon Football Club.

Carlton is considered to be the club's most bitter arch-rival ( for full details see Carlton – Collingwood AFL rivalry ), with Essendon close behind.

* Essendon wins the 1st VFL Premiership ( under the finals system used this year only, no Grand Final is played )

Locally, the airport is commonly referred to as Tullamarine or simply as Tulla to distinguish the airport from the other three Melbourne airports: Avalon, Essendon and Moorabbin.

Gavin Adrian Wanganeen ( born 18 June 1973 ) is a retired Australian rules footballer, playing in two Australian Football League premierships with Essendon and Port Adelaide.

* Essendon wins the 28th VFL Premiership: under the finals system used, no Grand Final is played.

Tullamarine has one football club, the Tullamarine Demons, who are competing in the ( Essendon District Football League ) and was formed in 1974 as a result of a merger between two existing Essendon District Football League clubs-Essendon Baptist St John's and Ascot Vale Presbyterians and in 1981 changed name to Tullamarine F. C., and is presently situated at the Spring Street Reserve.

Greenvale Football Club, an Australian Rules football team, is one of the Essendon District Football League's most successful teams, having won the A Grade premiership twice.

Bounded by the Calder Freeway to the south, the Tullamarine Freeway to the east, and the Western Ring Road to the north west, Airport West is so named for its position to the west of Essendon Airport, Melbourne's first general airport now used for light planes, charter and freight since the opening in 1970 of Melbourne Airport, located to the north of the suburb.

Essendon is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district.

Essendon is bounded in the west by Hoffmans Road, in the north by Keilor Road and Woodland Street, in the east by the Moonee Ponds Creek, and in the south by Buckley Street ( except for a small section further south bordering Moonee Ponds ).

The seat of Essendon in the Victorian Legislative Assembly is based on the suburb.

Essendon is home of the Essendon Football Club ( the Bombers ), an Australian rules football club which is a member of the Australian Football League.

Amongst Essendon ’ s best players were half forward flanker George " Tich " Shorten, center half forward Justin McCarthy, centre half back Tom Fitzmaurice, rover Frank Maher and wingman Jack Garden.

Essendon started season 2012 with four straight wins, its best start to a season since 2000.

In 1997, the Essendon Football Club named the then-triple best and fairest winner in its Team of the Century on the half-forward flank.

In 2002, Wanganeen was voted the 19th best Essendon player of all time in the " Champions of Essendon " list.

Although figuring amongst his team's best with three goals, Ablett's performance in the Qualifying Final was not enough as Essendon humbled Geelong by 76 points to force the Cats into a sudden-death Semi Final showdown with Melbourne.

In 2000, he was a key member of the Melbourne side that reached the Grand Final, with many pundits seeing White as the best Melbourne player on the ground in the loss to Essendon, as he had 24 hit-outs and 14 disposals.

Brown made his return from suspension in Round 6 of 2005 against Essendon and immediately had a big impact 14 marks and 8 goals, in what was the best game of his career and an ominous sign for the rest of the competition.

Just three days before his death, after being given a standing ovation by the crowd at the " Champions of Essendon " announcement dinner, at which he was named the greatest Essendon player of all time, Reynolds was visibly moved and stated " I don't deserve this honour ... Bill Hutchison was the best player I ever saw.

In 2002, Thompson's contribution to the club was recognised when he was voted the 20th best Essendon player of all time in the " Champions of Essendon " list.

Madden won four Essendon best and fairest awards ( 1977, 1979, 1983 and 1984 ) and captained the side in the 1980 and 1981 seasons.

He was named in the ruck in Essendon's " Team of the Century " and named as the fifth best player ever to play for the club in the " Champions of Essendon " list.

" Nevertheless, he continued to perform, playing for the Essendon Under – 19s in the next season, and also won the best and fairest in the process.

Hunt is best known for his commentary on 3AW and has a penchant for making up nicknames for players such as " not a well man " for Sean Wellman of the Essendon Football Club, " Doctor Christian Barnard " for Essendon Football Club player Paul Barnard, " Ot ' n ' Sticky " for Geelong footballer Brad Ottens ; " Yellow Brick Croad " for Hawthorn footballer Trent Croad ; " Oysters Kilpatrick " for Geelong footballer Glenn Kilpatrick ; " Special Fried Rice " for ex-Carlton footballer Dean Rice ; " The Mediator " for Kangaroos footballer Troy Makepeace ; " Heavy Overnight Dew " for Port Adelaide footballer Stuart Dew ; " Horney Torney " for Richmond and Adelaide footballer Jason Torney ; " Awesome Wells " for Kangaroos player Daniel Wells ;" Hooligan " for Blues player Ryan Houlihan ; Thomas the Tank for Collingwood player Dale Thomas ; " Brogan Josh " for Port Adelaide player Dean Brogan ; Yaaaablett !!

Essendon champion Dick Reynolds considered Regan the best full-back he ever saw.

In 1983, he booted six goals in the Qualifying Final to guide Hawthorn to a thrilling four-point win against Fitzroy, and was again among the best players on the field as the Hawks crushed Essendon in the Grand Final.

Essendon were known as the " Same Olds " ( as in " the same old Essendon ") in order to distinguish the Essendon VFL side ( that played at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground ) to which this article refers, from the separate and unconnected Essendon VFA side ( that played at what was then the Essendon Cricket Ground ), which existed from 1900 to 1921.

It was known firstly as Essendon Town and, after 1905, as Essendon " A " (" A " for association ).

The team became universally known as " The Dons " ( from EssenDON ); it was not until much later, during the War years of the early 1940s, that they became known as " The Bombers " — due to Windy Hill ’ s proximity to the Essendon Aerodrome.

Thus, Lord Cranborne was summoned to Parliament as Baron Cecil of Essendon ( his father's most junior dignity ), though continued to be known by his courtesy style of Viscount Cranborne.

Life peerages were also granted to former Leaders of the House of Lords, including John Julian Ganzoni, 2nd Baron Belstead ; Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington ; Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury ( better known as Viscount Cranborne and Lord Cecil of Essendon, having attended the Lords by virtue of a writ of acceleration ); George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe ; Malcolm Shepherd, 2nd Baron Shepherd ; and David Hennessy, 3rd Baron Windlesham.

* Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League, also known as the Essendon Bombers

This manifestation of Essendon Airport is perhaps less well known than the later ones but played some memorable performances around Melbourne including the Clifton Hill Community Music Centre and supports in front of bemused punters waiting for Midnight Oil and Jimmy and the Boys.

A competing group known as ' Save Essendon Airport ' wants the airport to stay open for air ambulance services.

Windy Hill ( officially known as Essendon Recreation Reserve ) is an Australian rules football ground located in Essendon, a northwestern suburb of the Melbourne metropolitan area.