Before the Fence, Richmond Did Not Yet Look Like Richmond
Richmond Football Club began in 1885. The date is easy to remember because history has a habit of turning beginnings into clean lines.
The first season was not clean. Colours were unsettled. The ground was still becoming a football venue. Supporters, sellers, committees and players occupied a space without the infrastructure that later made a club look permanent.
One surviving detail captures the difference: at Punt Road, the crowd could spill onto the playing area because there was no proper fence. The distinction between footballer and barracker could become physical rather than symbolic.
What did Richmond actually feel like before the club had the boundaries, rituals and visual identity supporters now take for granted?
The first season looks very different when it is treated as a place people were building in real time rather than the polished opening page of a finished institution.
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