Essendon Football Club has announced it will honour the magnificent contribution the late Ron Evans made to the Club, the community and AFL football through the establishment of the Ron Evans Leadership Grant.

The Ron Evans Leadership Grant will be recognised in perpetuity and awarded annually on Crichton Medal night. The $10,000 grant aims to develop the leadership skills of players, athletes and administrators at the Essendon Football Club and its affiliated football and sporting clubs.

""We think this is a most appropriate way to pay tribute to a man whose leadership and foresight played such an important role in where this Club – and indeed the game – finds itself today,"" Essendon managing director Peter Jackson said today.

""Beyond football he also made an outstanding contribution to the community on a number of levels and as such we wanted this leadership grant to incorporate the affiliated clubs and community sporting clubs we are associated with.

""We are pleased that Ron’s wife Andrea and the Evans family have agreed to this as an appropriate way for the Club to pay tribute to him. Essendon Football and Club and Ron Evans were very much a part of each other’s life and I am sure recipients of this award will cherish it.""

Essendon Football Club has 10 affiliated sporting clubs – athletics, tennis, lawn bowls, men’s and ladies’ hockey, cricket, netball, baseball, croquet and water polo.

Essendon Football Club also has five affiliated football clubs – the Bendigo Bombers, Lauderdale Football Club (Tasmania), Redland Football Club (Queensland), North Shore Football Club (NSW) and the Tiwi Island Bombers (Northern Territory).

The selection panel of four will include the Chairman and Managing Director of the Essendon Football Club, Ken Fraser and Andrea Evans, the wife of Ron. The recommended nominee will be ratified by the board of the Essendon Football Club.

Ron Evans played 64 games for Essendon between 1958 and 1962. He kicked 210 goals in that time and was Coleman Medallist in 1959 and 1960. He represented Victoria five times.

Following his career at Essendon, he shifted to West Perth where he played 60 games, kicked 271 goals and represented Western Australia five times.

Ron Evans was Essendon Football Club chairman between 1988 and 1992, overseeing the club’s move the MCG. He then went on to serve on the AFL commission in the role of Chairman between 1998 and 2007.