The history of the Richmond Tiger club is quite interesting and dates back to the year 1885. The senior team of Richmond was not much organised and most of them ended playing at the junior level. As a result, the Richmond area did not have an official senior football team. The wait ended when the Richmond Football Club was officially formed on 20 February 1885. The Richmond Tiger team immediately secured admission to the Victorian Football Association. In 1902, the Richmond Tiger club won its first flag and by the year 1905 the team had become a part of the VFL. The first few seasons at the VFL were not very impressive and it was in the year 1919 when the Richmond Tigers made a dashing entry to the Grand Finals but lost the match to Collingwood. However, in the following year they defeated Collingwood and won their first flag at the Grand Final. In 1921 again they had some big victories and Carlton was the only club to beat the Tigers on a regular basis.
From 1927 to 1929, they lost three consecutive Grand Finals to the Collingwood and it was again in 1932 that the next VFL flag was won. In 1942, they again lost another Grand Final to Essendon and this brought out the fact that the Tigers had qualified for the finals eight times but had won it just two times. However, in 1943, Richmond Tigers bounced back in action and defeated Essen don in the Grand Finals. Under the leadership of Tom Hafey, the club won four premierships and won the Grand Final flag in 1967, after 24 years. In 1980, Richmond Tigers won over their former arch-rivals Collingwood but lost the Grand Final match in 1982. Then again in 1995 the team gave its best performance and tried to regain back its lost pride but again the lull followed. By 2004, coach Frawley had brought the worst performance of the team and it was in 2005 that the club bounced back in action finally after the resignation of Frawley. Under the guidance of Wallace, the team has managed to win more matches outside the club than was expected and as a result the Richmond Tigers are slowly regaining their lost pride.
The Richmond Tiger team members like Stan Judkins, Roy Wright and Ian Smith have won the Brownlow medals, Norm Smith Medal has been won by Kevin Bartlett and Maurice Rioli, Tassie Medal has been won by Dale Weightman. The Richmond Tigers have played the VFL/AFL Premierships of 1920, 1921, 1932, 1934, 1943, 1967, 1969, 1973, 1974 and 1980. The team has been the runners-up for 12 times at the VFL/AFL Premierships.
The present coach of the Richmond Tiger club is Terry Wallace and captain is Kane Johnson. The present ranking of the Richmond Tiger club in the 2007 season is 16th on the ladder.
