The 19th and 20th legends of the Essendon Football Club were inducted last night at the 2010 Essendon Season launch.
 
Two-time premiership player Michael Long and the late long-serving administrator Wally Crichton were inducted as 'legends'.
 
A bust of their images was unveiled which will be house permanently in the Windy Hill Hall of Fame.
 
An emotional Long said playing at Essendon had changed his life and that he was overwhelmed by joining people like Simon Madden as a club legend.
 
To hear from Long last night click here. Full highlights of the night and photos will be available on this website soon.
 
 
In a first for the club, seven 'members' of the Hall of Fame were also inducted. The inaugural seven were: George Stuckey, Keith Forbes, John Birt, Garry Foulds, Wally Buttsworth, Don McKenzie and administrator Arthur Showers
 
Essendon’s other 18 legends are: Albert Thurgood, Bill Busbridge, Tom Fitzmaurice, Dick Reynolds, Bill Hutchison, Jack Clarke, Terry Daniher, Ken Fraser, Simon Madden, Tim Watson, Barry Davis, John Coleman, Alex McCracken, Frank Reid, Allan Hird, Bill Cookson, Greg Sewell and Kevin Sheedy.
 
 
Wally Crichton
 
Few people have dedicated as much of their life in the service of Essendon Football Club as Wally Crichton. Crichton served the club continuously, sometimes in multiple roles, for an unbroken period of 34 years.

Crichton was wounded in the Great War and lost a leg. This ended any ambition of playing football but instead he became a successful and long-serving club administrator.

Wally Crichton joined the Essendon committee in 1926 and became the club’s vice-president in 1932, a position he held until 1940. He held a number of positions concurrently including Essendon delegate to the League from 1934 to 1959 and also served as Victorian state team manager. He became Essendon president 1941 and held the position until his death in 1959.

Crichton led the club during a period of change and great success. His presidency included the golden years of 1942 to 1951 when the club won four premierships and was runner up in another four.

The R.S. Reynolds Stand was built during his reign and a shelter, since demolished, was built and named in his honour in 1959.

As a mark of the esteem with which Wally Crichton is held, the Essendon Football Club’s best & fairest medal was renamed the Crichton Medal.
 
Committee 1926-1931
Vice-president 1932-1940
President 1941-1959
VFL delegate 1934-1958
 
Arthur Showers

Arthur Showers will be remembered as the man who brought the Essendon Football Club back to Essendon after 40 years playing in East Melbourne. He served the club as a committeeman and later at President, from 1935 until his death in 1940.

1921 was a dark year for Essendon. The club finished last and was also given notice that it had to leave the East Melbourne Cricket Ground to allow the expansion of Jolimont rail yards. Essendon was facing homelessness.

After a series of meetings the club voted to merge with North Melbourne and move to Arden Street. This provoked great outrage among supporters who feared the loss of their club.

Arthur Showers, then an Essendon councillor and soon to be club committeeman, led the “Back to Essendon” group which campaigned tirelessly to return the club to Essendon. He found a legal loophole saying the North Melbourne Reserve was for the exclusive use of North Melbourne residents and therefore could not be used by the Essendon Football Club.

Other options were considered, including sharing Victoria Park with Collingwood, and also the Showgrounds. Finally the club accepted the Essendon Council’s offer of the use of the Essendon Recreation Reserve and the club moved here in 1922 and has remained here since.

If not for Arthur Showers, Essendon Football Club might not have survived beyond 1921.

In April 1939, a new grandstand was named the A. F. Showers Pavilion in his honour. Arthur Showers died in 1940.
 
President 1935-40
Committee 1921