82-year-old Barry Wilson opens the front door of his Ballarat home at 7:10am.

On the way to the door, Wilson passes by what he describes as his own ‘Hall of Fame’ and his personal pride and joy – three entire rooms of his house, stacked to the walls with over 70 years’ worth of Essendon memorabilia.

It’s just another morning in the life of one of the Club’s most devoted and passionate members, off to watch the Bombers train all of 100 kilometres away at the NEC Hangar.

If he’s in Victoria, odds say he won’t miss a single main training session.

Wilson knows every time he opens his door that the journey of close to three hours each way awaits him by public transport – it does not faze him in the slightest.

After his walk to the V-Line train, three separate stopovers and multiple buses en route to Melrose Drive, Wilson relishes the time he spends with the friends he’s made from his day-to-day hobby, all unified by the Dons.

This is how Wilson’s life as an Essendon fan was shaped – by his family, by the players who made an impression in his youth, and by the people who build a Football Club.

The beginning: A Sunday lunch to last a lifetime 

BW: Wow, how it all started.

Our family originated from Stawell and I had a cousin who was a lot older than myself -  she was married and I was still only a little boy - but she moved to Ballarat with her husband and they used to come to our house for Sunday lunch.

The husband, all he ever talked about was the Essendon Football Club and that's how I got converted, just listening to him ramble over a Sunday lunch.

The first game I went to, I was unfortunately a bit too young to understand just how good they were.

I would have only been probably eight years old and we went down to my uncle's home in Footscray for the weekend, where he suggested we go to the footy and it ended up being my first game.

I suppose it’s almost a regret that I wasn’t able to appreciate it at that age, because that was the era of John Coleman.

As I got a bit older, my idol was Bill Hutchison and I used to write letters to him and he would personally pen handwritten replies to me. My father never owned a car - he was a real battler - he just lived from week-to-week and Bill actually wrote once to say, 'if ever your father can bring you to a game, just come knock on the change room door.'

How different it is today. I came to the door and he just wandered up in his full footy gear, took me around and introduced me to the whole team. That’s a day you never, ever forget.

That’s where it all started. The fact that my father never owned a car, I was just a fan listening on the radio most of the time until I was old enough to save for a car and then start coming down to games myself.

You felt more at home at Windy Hill, but I must admit it's much more comfortable sitting in a personal seat these days rather than standing in the outer. As much as it was sad to leave, you have to appreciate the need for the facilities these days.

I still love to get to Windy Hill when I can for the AFLW games and the VFL, just to have a trip down memory lane.

I've been heavily involved in a footy club in Ballarat, where I was secretary, football manager and tribunal advocate. Up until about 25 years ago, I could only come to Essendon games when it was a Sunday or a Friday night game - in the role I had with the local team, I just had to be there and commit to it.

When I finished up, it was quite appropriate because my first year out of that job was 2000. I couldn’t have picked a better year to be going to the game every week and be retired from work, that's when I started coming down to all the training sessions.

The journey: ‘I just love it’

BW: Well, I walk out the kitchen door at 10 minutes past seven for every main training day.

I’ll walk about a block and a half to the local stop to get a bus which takes me to Ballarat Station and I have about a five minute change over, where the next train takes me to Southern Cross.

When I get to Southern Cross, I have another five minutes to then get a train to Essendon Station, before I have to then quickly get a bus to Westfield Shopping Centre at Airport West. There, I have about a 15-minute wait for another bus which goes to the Airport and drops me off just across the road there (on Melrose Drive).

I'd say it’s probably a bit of everything that keeps me coming here, I just love it.

I love to see them train and I've made some good friends by coming. I felt when I retired it was just no good sitting around at home.

I was very lucky that I’d worked on the railways for so long because when I retired, my wife and I got a free pass. There’s no expense involved and it's a very relaxing experience for me. You just sit on the train, get to come down here and the club has been so good to me.

I used to do the same thing at Windy Hill and there were usually more afternoon sessions back then. The way it is these days means it's an early start but I'm back home at about 4pm, and like I say, it easily beats just sitting around waiting for mealtime to come around.

The home Hall of Fame: ‘I’m just so proud of it’

BW: It's very important to me.

It goes from the 1950’s through to the present day and (the big one) is actually a photo that Bill Hutchison, the Brownlow Medallist, personally posted to me, taken in a studio.

There are cards there that would be worth a lot of money and there's no way known I would part with them. Having said that, I'm very worried what's going to happen when I go, you know?

All the sons, they're all very staunch Essendon but my ‘Hall of Fame’ as I call it, it's not actually in the house. If you were to put all of it in your house, it'd take three complete rooms just to store the lot of it.

I'm just so proud of it, you know.

I ask Essendon people to come and have a look sometimes and they're all very impressed with it, so it brings me a lot of joy.

The family: ‘If we get married and we go to the footy…’

BW: My wife barracked for Collingwood when I first met her.

She wasn't as passionate as me, and when we started going out together and got a bit serious, I said to her, “now, I've got be honest with you.”

Since then, she's been as passionate as I am. She doesn't come to training but goes to every game - this past season, we went to every single game, over to Perth and everything in between.

I'm very lucky that my wife is so keen, she doesn't come to training, but our next door neighbour's a widow, so she gets to spend quite a bit of time with her, so she's not at home bored stiff while I’m down here.

We’ve got five sons who are all Essendon and they just grew up that way, we used to take them to Windy Hill and have little stools for them to just peep through the picket fence sort of thing.

You think about all the grandchildren as well, it's just the natural flow.

The friendships: ‘It just makes you feel a part of the club’

BW: As far as relationships, there are some great ones I’ve made by coming here.

There’s a man by the name of Bruce Chamberlain, who lives across the road from the Club. I've gotten to know him just from watching training together and he insists he always drives me back to Glenbervie Station after the sessions.

He even told me today (he knew I was doing this interview) and he said, “when you finish, ring me and I'll come back over and drive you back to the station.”

I don't know whether you’d remember the name Harry Horsnell?

He was originally Kevin Sheedy’s personal statistician. When Champion Data came in, he lost that role and he became a volunteer and was eventually a Life Member of the Club.

When he heard what I used to do - he lived in Werribee - he used to meet me at Footscray Station and wait for me there, usually driving me to the Club and doing the same on the way back, which made it a lot easier than what I'm doing now.

He did that for me once on a Friday (in 2017) and the next night he dropped dead at the MCG.

Harry was the fittest 80-year-old I'd ever seen. On the day he drove me back to Footscray, if anyone had told me he was going to die the next night, I just would have said it couldn't possibly happen. He was a great friend, he made my day-to-day so much easier.

I'd always speak highly of John Worsfold as a person, he would often come over the fence and just say g’day, ask me how I thought the boys were looking, that kind of thing.

There’s even (Club receptionist) Pauline Borg. Two years ago, I didn't know her and now I consider her one of my best friends, (Ticketing and Member Retention Lead) Maddy Lancaster’s another one who just gives us so much help with interstate tickets and those experiences.

Three or four of us watch training together, you talk about how the boys are going on the track, what happened the previous week or what’s coming up - it's just something I couldn't do without.

The day that hit home: ‘One of the greatest moments in my life’ 

BW: One of the greatest moments not just as an Essendon supporter but in my life, was two years ago when I turned 80.

I was watching the boys train one day and Maddy Lancaster come out and she said, “are you going to be here the day after your birthday? A couple of us are going to come down and have coffee with you.”

I told her it’d be really good and was pretty happy with that, so I was watching training when the day came and she jumped around to see me.

She took off, went up to grab my coffee and came back to me saying, 'follow me.'

I thought, 'gee, this is strange.' We went through the door around the back of reception and I thought she was taking me on a tour of facility, but she wasn't saying anything really - I'm thinking, 'what is going on here?'

We got around to the corner of the Hangar and there's Dyson Heppell with the whole team. I had no idea what was going to happen, and he got up and made a speech about how I'd been a member for 58 years (at that stage) and how I’d been coming up from Ballarat three times a week.

He gave me a jumper signed by every player in the squad with the number 80 on the back and the whole team sang me Happy Birthday.

You know what Sam Draper’s like, he was jumping up and down in the air yelling, 'Bazza! Bazza! Bazza!'

All the players lined up to come and shake hands with me, and again I had tears rolling down my face because I just had no idea it was going to happen. That was a day I'll never forget - that jumper is now up framed in the hall of fame with the photos that were taken on the day.

The Club has just given me some of the greatest moments of my life. I suppose Maddy still did get me that cup of coffee too, it just ended up being a lot more than what I expected.

The memories: ‘I’ve entered time on’

BW: I've been lucky enough to be in the ground to see Essendon win six Grand Finals and a lot of people that have followed other clubs, they can't say that sort of thing.

The one that stood out most of all was 1984. We'd been belted, absolutely belted by Hawthorn in 1983 and it looked like it was going to happen again at three-quarter-time, we were gone for all money.

I was sitting behind the goals at the Punt Road End where we were kicking and the way we stormed home, I just had tears streaming down my face. I have no hesitation saying 1984.

Obviously, 2000 was magnificent but we always knew we were going to win and that'll probably never be done again, but that last quarter (of the ’84 Grand Final) from looking down the barrel to where we got was just unbelievable.

I sort of drop the attitude now, as I'm 82.

I jokingly say I've entered time on in the last quarter. I just love the club that much and it's been so good to me in all the time I’ve been coming down here, so while I can do it, I definitely will do it.