In the buildup to Member Thank You Round this weekend, we're highlighting the members who've made this club what it is today.

Through success, through heartache and all in between, these are just some of the stories that have defined the AFL's greatest fanbase.

Owen, 15-year member

I will be forever appreciative for Essendon's support in 1993.

I have Cerebral Palsy, affecting my speech and muscle control, so I utilise an electric wheelchair for mobility. My family wrote to Essendon requesting financial support to purchase a Second Skin body suit.

The purpose of the suit was to assist in maintaining upper body control and improving posture. I experience uncontrolled movements primarily in my arms and the suit was successful in assisting me to attend Flora Hill High School (now B. S. E.) in Bendigo.  I have since gone on to complete my B.A. from Deakin and Masters from Melbourne University.

Essendon invited my friend Bernie and myself to training at Windy Hill. We were both thrilled to meet Kevin Sheedy and the team, something we'll never forget. This is just one reason why I love supporting Essendon!

Mandy, 13-year member

With COVID interruptions and my husband having terminal pancreatic cancer, we didn’t get to many games after the 2020 season and he sadly passed away in December of 2022.

In the last couple of years, we have managed to get to a lot more games and it's been so nice to see my kids at the game enjoying the football again, going to the game in memory of their dad, because he was a massive Essendon supporter.

David, 26-year member

My Essendon story crosses three generations.

My Father had just moved to Hoddle Street, Essendon in 1944, a long drop punt from the ground. Relatively new from Europe and not familiar with Australian Rules, he heard a roar down the road from Windy Hill during Essendon's round two match against Melbourne.

He wandered into the ground at the start of the last quarter when the gates were open in those days. When he saw the teams out on the ground, he decided to support the team of the Red and the Blue because he liked their colours! After five minutes of supporting them, the crowd around him told him the team he was cheering for was the wrong team!

Once realising his mistake, he went on to follow the Mighty Dons over 70 years and nine Premierships. The second generation of Bombers, which is my journey, started in round 17 of 1970, also against Melbourne at Windy Hill. The Bombers were struggling that year and were having their worst year since 1933, but in the second quarter piled on 10 goals to one and went on to win their first game in eight matches. Something connected with me that day after having no interest in football in my first eight years.

The third Generation began when the family was holidaying on the Gold Coast. I was watching the start of the Friday night Essendon v Bulldogs clash in round seven 2004 at 11pm when the late AFL replay in Queensland was the only way to watch your team. My four-year-old daughter was soundly asleep - or so I thought! A small eye was poking through her bedroom door towards the lounge. room television longing to watch!

Being the soft dad I am, I allowed her to watch one quarter and she was glued to the television. The next Friday night when Essendon played Adelaide, once again the small eyes were peering through the bedroom door towards the TV and the process was repeated. Soon after, she loved everything Scott Lucas! The four-year-old is now a paid up and passionate 24-year-old Essendon tragic, and with my youngest daughter getting on board in 2021 we have completed the three generations and nearly 80 years of Essendon following.

Jonathan, 30-year member

Just like my mother, I am Essendon - a product of a family grocery business across Essendon, Ascot Vale and Moonee Ponds.

My step-father however, grew up near Box Hill and remained a Hawk until his final days. In the mid-1980s, we lived in Queensland and it wasn’t easy to watch the footy, so when Hawthorn won in 1983, my step-father felt he never got to celebrate properly.

In the ’84 Grand Final - with a strong lead - he announced at three-quarter time he was off to the pub to celebrate. When the final siren sounded, mum sprung into action. She dressed us all in red and black. She found red and black streamers and decorations and covered the house.  She bought red and black liquorice and even burnt toast and sausages and put tomato sauce across them.

My step-father came home, sighed and just went straight to bed.

Christine, nine-year member

I am fourth generation Essendon.

My great grandfather William Royle was President of the Essendon Cricket Club and my parents were both Bombers and raised in Essendon. As kids, we would all sit in the Showers Pavilion at Windy Hill and Mum would make about 30 rounds of sandwiches and bring the thermos.

We were a Bomber family. Saturday afternoon was footy, then watching World of Sport over our roast dinner on Sunday. Later, I would learn that my husband was a boy who sold drinks, pies and lollies amongst the stands at Windy Hill. He too is an avid Bomber!

We have seen many highs and many lows, but we are forever faithful to our wonderful club.

John, six-year member

I was born in Italy in 1962 and emigrated to Australia in 1965. Both were premiership years for Essendon, so it was fate or destiny that I would become a lifelong Bombers fan.

Being immigrants, we were not aware that there was a football team in Essendon nor that the VFL even existed. My parents’ priority was to find work and start our new lives in what was to then a strange land for us - I started school at Essendon Primary in 1967 and I didn’t know what was behind the very high wooden fence that I would walk past every day.

At North Essendon Primary, my older sister’s grade 6 teacher was Peter Daniel, who was an Essendon player. It was around this time that I started barracking for the Bombers; possibly because my older sister told me I had to!

I was very excited when the 1972 season came around as a friend’s older brother had promised to take me to a game. On the Saturday night after round one of the 1972 season, I saw that Essendon had a big win over Footscray that day (it may have been match highlights on the news or a replay) and that Geoff Blethyn had kicked a bag of goals.

I shook some coins out from my money box, asked school mates how much it cost to get into Windy Hill (I think it was 25 cents) and got the okay from mum and dad. I remember standing in line for quite a while before they opened the gates, but I strolled in and was mesmerized – I had never been to a footy ground nor had I ever seen grandstands.  I sat and watched the game, totally focused on what was happening on the field and loved every minute of it, but I couldn’t see Geoff Blethyn anywhere.

The Bombers prevailed and it was all over, or so I thought. I had been watching the reserves, of course, but I had no idea about this - I thought this was the game and I was getting ready to leave!

When I saw another group of players running out, I asked a man next to me, “Is there another game now?”. Of course, Blethyn ran out with the senior team and kicked four goals that afternoon. The Bombers won by 47 points and it was the most wonderful experience I had had to that point of my life.

Gayle, 14-year member

As a Bombers supporter all my life, my biggest moment was when my grandchild Paige Scott was drafted by Essendon in 2022. I still tear up to this day.

Debra, 55-year member

Come on the Dons, keeping the family legacy alive.

The beginning of my family’s Essendon story can be traced back to the early 1940’s.  My father would head to Windy Hill with his brother, sister and friends for every home game. They’d sit in front of the Reynolds stand cheering on champions such as Reynolds, Hutchison and Coleman. I am very proud of this iconic photo (below) that has been published in many VFL and club history books even though my father didn’t make the cut. My uncle made the banner and we believe it was one of the first to adorn the fences of the MCG.

The Ford family tradition of meeting up at the footy was re-imaged in the 1970’s when Dad, my uncle and the next generation would gather in front of the Windy Hill scoreboard.  Despite the lack of success, I have great memories of these times.  We headed out every Saturday to the games at all the suburban grounds. We can all remember lining up at the gates early to get the best spot, standing on tin cans for a better view, the peanut man, running on the ground after a win and playing kick to kick until it got dark. I can’t forget to mention the four premierships we celebrated together as a family - Grand Final week was just the best. Packed Windy Hill for the last training run, the Grand Final parades, the match itself and the local celebrations on the Sunday.

However, my footy experience has changed over the years. Gathering at games as a family for me has morphed into a new family of fellow passionate Bomber friends, great people I have met via my involvement in the player sponsorship program - I now treasure the special inner sanctum and game day experiences we have together.

My father stopped going when it became too much for him but he watched on at home and sadly we lost our 93-year-old Bomber patriarch early in 2023.

2023 was a tough year for our family for many reasons and going to the footy each week, meeting up with my new Bomber ‘family’, enjoying the wins and watching the development of many of our younger players has brought some joy through a lot of sadness. Our family is forming the next generation of Bomber members and I’m the educator of all things Essendon to these five young boys, just like my dad and uncle were my ‘educators’ over fifty years ago.  Enjoy the ride boys.  Come on the Dons.

John, 26-year member

I have been a Bomber supporter for as far as I can remember, my father and grandfather were Essendon supporters and I can recall being taken to Windy Hill around 1957-1960 to see the Bombers play.

By 1961, I was a bit more independent and I used to head up to Windy Hill with my mates to see the Bombers, we used to wrangle our way into the dressing rooms after each game and had collected autographs many time over (wish I had those bloody autograph books now)!

I saw the 1984 Grand Final with a mate, he took his two young sons and I took my boy. My mate and I were on the middle deck of the stand, behind the goals, our boys were on the deck immediately above us.

I can still remember the big smiles on their faces when we looked up at their deck immediately after the Bombers hit the front in the last quarter. We used to watch home games in those days from in front of the Showers Pavillion - after the games we used to somehow get into the players’ ‘after the match’ drinks. I remember Terry Daniher saying to us one night, "If you want to stay boys, you will have to pay $5… but you'll get your money’s worth."

In recent times I have tapered off my match day attendences - I am 74 now and my son is 48, he's now living at the Sunshine Coast, so attendance at these recent games placed a bit too much strain on my ageing right knee. I am still following those Bombers very closely but in the comfort of our lounge room these days.

One of my hobbies over the years has been painting. In 2017, I produced a portrait of James Hird and Kevin Sheedy, and a portrait of club icon Jack Jones in 2019, which is now in the possession of the Jones family.

Michael, four-year member

I have supported the Essendon Football Club for nearly 70 years and the original reason for that support is simple.

As a seven-year-old migrant from the U.K., I arrived in Australia at Essendon Airport. When I started at our local primary school shortly after, the kids thought they could show me up as an uninformed pom, so they asked "Who do you barrack for,” thinking I would have no answer.

I thought fast and produced the only local name familiar to me, "Essendon.” Straight away, they were more respectful and impressed - I had no idea then that Essendon was a top team and had won the premiership twice not long before and finished runners-up in 1951 and 1957. My support has never wavered since, and although I have never lived near Essendon, I would commute by tram and train to watch matches at Windy Hill for many years. Many younger family members now support Essendon as well, all due to that one spur of the moment answer back in 1955.

Dyson, 10-year member

I am from Perth and I love the Essendon Football Club.

I was named after Dyson Heppell as both my dad and grandfather are also Essendon supporters, they grew up in Melbourne and used to go to Windy Hill to see the Bombers play all the time.

My dad’s favourite memory of Essendon is the 1984 VFL Grand Final that he went to with my granddad and we have both watched the replay together many times. My favourite memory was meeting my idol, Dyson Heppell in Melbourne last year when the family went over for a football weekend. It was the best day of my life and I also got to meet Jake Stringer, Harrison Jones, Nick Hind and Sam Draper.

My mum is also an Essendon supporter now, even though she used to barrack for West Coast.

I play footy for the Willetton Junior Football Club and I hope to one day play for Essendon. Go Bombers!