There are more than 8,000 items held in the Essendon Hall of Fame (HOF) but this small, ornate silver cup is the oldest object.
The beautiful trophy is prominently displayed just inside the Essendon HOF and dates from 1874, Essendon’s second season in the competition.
The cup is made of silver and engraved with the following wording; ‘Essendon Football Club Cup, Awarded to Archibald Graham, 3 October 1874.
To hear Jobe Watson discuss the captaincy on on SEN click here.
So who was Archibald Graham and what is the significance of this cup? Archibald Graham was born in Queen Street, Melbourne in February 1856. He played in Essendon’s first season, 1873, and was an accomplished player at that. He played for the club until 1881 and was vice captain in 1875 and captain in 1876.
Clues to the cup’s significance are its name, date and the recipient. Because the cup is called the Essendon Football Club Cup, was presented to an accomplished player and awarded at the end of the season, suggest the cup could be an early best player trophy, but this does not seem to be the case.
To learn more about the Hall of Fame - or become a member of The Stuckey Club - click here.

In October 1876, two years later, The Argus Newspaper records an Essendon Football Club Cup being awarded to the winner of the 100m sprint event at the annual Essendon Football Club athletic sports carnival. It would seem the trophy was awarded for sprinting and not football.

The donor of the trophy explained that family stories passed down over the years suggest that the trophy was filled with gold sovereigns when it was awarded to Graham, but if true, the sovereigns were long gone by the time the trophy arrived at the Essendon HOF.

So while we still have the trophy, what became of Archibald Graham?
Unfortunately Graham died after breaking his neck in a fall from his horse in the early evening of Wednesday 17 March 1897 as he was returning from a day at the Omeo races. It was reported by friends who were with him that his horse bolted suddenly and Graham was thrown. Coincidentally this was only a few weeks before the opening game of the new football league, the VFL, in which Essendon became the VFL’s inaugural premiers. He was 41.
Visit the club history page by clicking here.
Meanwhile, Essendon would like to advise supporters of a small delay in the mailing of 2010 membership packs (packs were originally planned to be sent during the week of 16th December).

 

The unexpected delay is due to a number of factors including strikes at Australia Post and an upgrade of the Essendon’s  IT systems (which will ultimately improve the accuracy of club information).

 

Membership packs will start hitting mailboxes soon after Xmas and the majority will be received in mid to late January 2010.