Australian Football

Football of some sort is recorded as having been played in Richmond in 1867 by two teams of Irish settlers. The Richmond Football Club itself was formed in 1878, and played its first match against another club (Oatlands) two years later. One presumes that, prior to this, the club’s members only engaged in informal matches among themselves.

In 1895, Richmond joined the Midlands Football Association, but details of its record in that competition have disappeared. The club’s history becomes easier to trace after world war one, and particularly after it joined the Southern County Football Association in 1923. Richmond won two SCFA premierships before transferring to the Richmond Football Association, where it remained until the competition was suspended owing to the war at the end of the 1940 season.

After the war, Richmond competed with a reasonable amount of success (nine flags in thirty-six seasons) in the South Eastern Districts Football Association. In 1980 the club underwent an amalgamation with Campania, and competed under the name of Richmond Campania until 1990. From 1981 to 1990 the club competed without noteworthy success in the Southern Division of the Tasmanian Amateur Football League. 

It then crossed to the Tasman Football Association where it contested half a dozen grand finals during the course of an involvement lasting ten seasons, winning a total of five premierships, including four in succession between 1993 and 1996. With the future of the TFA seemingly in doubt - it duly went into recess at the end of the 2001 season - Richmond sought, and was granted, admission to the Old Scholars Football Association in 2001. The club adapted quickly to its new home, winning senior flags in both 2004 and 2005, and reaching another grand final in 2008, which was narrowly lost against Old Hobartians. A year later the Blues made amends by accounting for St. Virgil's in the grand final by 42 points with scores of 15.15 (105) to 9.9 (63). Their fifth and most recent flag in the competition was won in 2017 by means of a 19.10 (124) to 7.13 (55) grand final defeat of Hutchins. The following season brought another grand final appearance but opponents DOSA were too strong and triumphed by 16 points.