1916 Chronology

Position: Fourth (Last)
Won 5, Lost 8, For 864, Against 956.
Captain: William Thomas
Vice Captain: Percy Maybury
Coach: Charlie Ricketts
Leading Goal Kicker: Percy Martini (22)
Revenue: Credit Balance: L39 14s. 9d.
Membership: 428

January
Tue. 11
Richmond plans to field two teams in the proposed League district competition. Beverley had not replied to Richmond’s invitation to play as its second eighteen.

___ Ned Richardson is rejected by the military recruiting staff on account of his veins “... or some other trouble.”

February
Sat. 26 The Richmond Australian reports that Jack Archer had promised every Richmond Football Club player serving with the Expeditionary Forces a new suit on their return.

March
Wed. 1
Only 250 people attend Richmond’s annual meeting. Many are “... girls, young women and small boys.”
The committee will ask the players to play as amateurs, albeit with limited pay for out of pocket expenses.

Fri. 10
Essendon, Geelong, Melbourne, South Melbourne and St. Kilda advise the League that they will not participate this season. Collingwood, Carlton, Fitzroy and Richmond state that they had decided to play.
The Metropolitan Amateur FA (of which Beverley is a member) unanimously decides to suspend the competition until the end of the war.
_ Richmond decides to issue special ladies and youth tickets at half a crown. Ticket holders will be admitted to all matches on the Punt-road ground but they are not entitled to vote.

April
Sat. 29
Richmond 12-12 (84) defeats a Pioneer Grenadiers XVIII (military camp) captained by Hughie James 2-7 (19) on the Punt-road ground.
Richmond team: Kiernan, Thorp, Bettles, Burke, Thomas (c), Stewart, Hede, Cronk, Stevens, Eason, Burns, Bayliss, Harley, Barnes, Richardson, Herbert, Taylor, Alessio.
Pioneer Grenadiers Team: Moyle, Hawkins, Williams, Duck, Alley, Farmer,Hunt, Sewart, Jones, Burns, Willis, Warren,Simpson, Kerr, Manallack, James (c), Johnson, Drummond.
The gate of L50 10s. 3d. was easily the largest amount ever taken by Richmond in a practice match. After expenses all profits went to the relief fund.
At the dinner following the game Frank Tudor, Richmond’s president and the Customs Minister, expresses the opinion that he is against conscription. An opinion antithetical to the views of his Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, on an issue that will split the Labor Party.

May
The Richmond Cricket Club decides to admit soldiers to the ground free of charge.

Sat. 6
Over 6,000 spectators attend Richmond’s opening game against Collingwood at the Punt-road ground.
Prior to the game and at half time returned soldiers address the crowd and appeal for eligible men to join the armed forces.
Richmond decides that all profits for the season are to be handed to the Returned Soldiers’ Immediate Relief Fund.

Sat. 13
Richmond plays Alex Eason (Geelong) and Bill Burns (East Fremantle) without permits against Fitzroy. Some clubs that are not participating this year will argue that Richmond must be disqualified.
At the conclusion of the Fitzroy match Hughie James is presented with a money belt. He is soon to depart for the war.

Sat. 20
Percy Martini, a noted Geelong forward plays for Richmond against Carlton without a clearance.
Carlton defeats Richmond by five points. Richmond led Carlton by 25 points with just 10 minutes to go but Carlton placed extra men on the ball and through ruthless attacking broke Richmond.
Richmond trainer Bert Jennings is given a wristlet watch by the players, trainers, and committee, as he is soon to leave for the war.

Sat. 27
Barney Herbert plays his 100th VFL game for Richmond.
Hughie James’s non-appearance at the game against Collingwood disappoints many. It was intended to be his last before his departure to the war.

June
Sat. 3
The Australasian reports that Richmond’s first contribution of L25 had been handed to the Wounded Soldiers Immediate Relief Fund.

Mon. 5
Richmond 19-13 (127) defeats Fitzroy 9-14 (68) at the Punt-road ground. It is Richmond’s highest score since it joined the League and the first time the club had beaten Fitzroy since July 23, 1910, after eleven straight defeats. It is Richmond's first win of the season.

Sat. 10
Richmond plays another Geelong player Harry Marsham against Carlton without a clearance.

Sat. 17
James Kearney becomes the fourth Geelong “ring-in” to play for Richmond this season. The others are Alex Eason, Percy Martini and Harry Marsham. Kearney, Marsham and Martini receive a 15s. travelling fee each week.
Richmond defeats Collingwood by one point at Victoria Park. It is Richmond’s first win at Collingwood since 1892, Collingwood’s first season.
League President O.M Williams address the players during the interval remarking that his first year of office was associated with national troubles, but that he hoped conditions would soon right themselves and that the game would win back its popularity.

Wed. 21
Bill Burns receives a permit to play for Richmond.

Sat. 24
The “Sundry Squibs” column of The Richmond Guardian refers to Richmond as the “Gee-Richers” for the first time. It is a sobriquet referring to the influx of four Geelong players that the writer will use throughout the remainder of the season.

July
Sat. 15
Percy Maybury plays his 100th VFL game for Richmond.
The Richmond Guardian reports that Richmond had donated five guineas to the fund for Sergeant W. E. Walsh, who is in need of financial assistance, having lost his sight.

Sat. 22
The Australasian's John Worrall described Richmond as, “ the wearers of the wasp jackets, who were stinging the Magpies at every thrust.” Worrall’s use of capitalisation suggests that the “wasp” reference seems merely to be a metaphoric description of the Richmond uniform.

Sun. 23
The brilliant Richmond player Bill Nolan is killed in action in France.

August
Finals:
With only four clubs competing all participating teams qualify for the finals series.

Fri. 18
The Herald reports that so far this season Richmond has donated L80 to patriotic funds.

Sat. 19
Richmond plays its first ever League final. Carlton 10-15 (75) defeats Richmond 10-12 (72) before a crowd of 11,683 at the MCG. Richmond had a chance to win the game when in the dying moments George Bayliss missed a set shot from 30 yards out, dead in front of goal, and scored a point.
Richmond players don black armbands in memory of Bill Nolan.
Sergent Frank Twomey, former Richmond player and a war veteran, is given a rousing reception after limping in to the dressing room.
For decades, the myth is that Vic Thorp played this match under the pseudonym R. Sharpe. However The Argus, The Australasian, The Sporting Judge, The Age and The Football Record all list Thorp by name in their reviews/lineups. The Richmond FC yearbook of 1976 lists an R Sharp playing 1 game in 1916. That stat was supplied by Norm Snowden.
There was a Sharp who played for Carlton on this day however.
The Herald lists 'Sharp' as Richmond's full back in this match, however as it is the only paper to do so, it is clearly a copy error by the newspaper rather than him playing under an alias. Bettles, who was back pocket is listed as Betts, another copy error, by the Herald.

Sat. 26
Patrick “Toots” O’Loughlin, a former Richmond captain, is killed in action in France.

September

Sun. 10
Former Richmond player Alexander Salton is killed in action in France.
At a preliminary general meeting of the Richmond Cricket Club, grandstand debenture-holders are given the right to elect two representatives to the club’s committee to look after their interests.

Thr. 14
Richmond’s president, Frank Tudor, resigns from the federal ministry because he opposes the Prime Minister’s push for conscription.

Mon. 18
At the Richmond Cricket Club’s annual meeting Ted Cotter, the club’s president, states that he is thankful to the football club for its loyal and material cooperation and assistance, and that he takes back everything he said last year. The meeting also carried Jack Archer’s idea that grandstand debentures be redeemable for life memberships of the cricket club.

October
Sat. 28
Electors of Yarra (Richmond and Collingwood) vote overwhelmingly against conscription.
Third Division 6-16 (52) defeats Training Units 4-12 (36) in the famous A.I.F. match in London. Collingwood’s Dan Minogue captains the Third Division team which also includes Richmond player Hughie James and former player Les “Leggo” Lee. Minogue will later write that Lee was the star of the game. Tim Collins who played football for Melbourne but was also a Richmond Cricket Club representative to the Richmond Football Club in 1915 was a reserve for the match.

November
Sat. 11
The Richmond Guardian reports that Richmond’s secretary William Lohse had left the district for Laverton.

Wed. 15
Arthur “Ginger” Quinn, a former Richmond player, is killed in the war.
His photo appears in the Richmond Guardian on 3 Feb 1916.
The following week, the Guardian eulogised:
"As a footballer, he was as tenacious a follower as ever expended abundant energy in the game; he gave a bump, a real bump, and was always ready to take a bump in good spirit"

Thr. 23
Ted Keggin, the former St Ignatius student who works at Tillbury and Co Jewellers, departs from Port Melbourne pier on his way to the war.

December
Wed 27
An article in The Winner lists results of football games played behind the lines during the war. Arthur Danks plays for the 10th Battery 7.7.49 and they defeat 12th Battery 6.2.38