The Premier of Victoria, Mr Daniel Andrews, has paid tribute to the contribution Essendon has made, and continues to make, to the wider community. 

Mr Andrews was the keynote speaker at an event for the Spring Street Bombers at State Parliament on Tuesday night. 

“No club in our league could possibly have done more when it comes to supporting the role of women, when it comes to supporting Indigenous Australians and their place in this great game,” he said. 

“The Essendon Football Club has always been at the forefront of the social change and the behavioral change that only football can actually deliver." 

Essendon runs numerous Indigenous, multicultural and youth education programs that help thousands of people across the country. 

“That initiative within the league, that leadership within the game is bigger than any one person and certainly our club is at the forefront of that and I am very proud to say I am a Bomber for those reasons," Mr Andrews said.

“This is the most successful football club in the history of this great game and we should never lose sight of that.”