History of the official richmond cheer squad

The Official Richmond Cheer Squad began its life in the 1950s. A group of supporters would gather

behind the goals at Richmond’s Home games and would follow the forwards from one end of the

ground to the other at the end of each quarter. These supporters would cheer and chant supporting

the Tigers through the good times and the bad.

Towards the end of the 50’s this group approached the club through Alice Wills to become an official

part of the club. The Club agreed to this proposal and a constitution of how the group was to be run

was drawn up and in 1959 the Official Richmond Cheer Squad came into being. The first officially

recognised Cheer Squad within the V.F.L. Alice went on to become the Cheer Squad’s first

Chairperson, a position she held until 2010 when she officially stepped down.

In 1965 the Team moved its home games from Punt Rd to the MCG. With this move the Cheer Squad

was unable to move from end to end to follow the forwards and was given a seating area on Level 1

of the Southern Stand behind the goals at the Punt Rd end of the stadium by the M.C.G.

The Cheer Squad grew in its new home and with the Tigers becoming a powerhouse of the league

winning a drought breaking premiership in 1967, the Cheer Squad quickly felt at home at our new

ground.

Banners started to be hung up around the parapets (sadly now replaced by advertising) making the

MCG a true home for the Team with phrases such as “Ruthless Richmond,” “Tenacious Tigers” or

similar.

Run Throughs started to appear around the time of this move. Supporters, and later Cheer Squads as

they appeared, would decorate the end of the Players Race with streamers. Around the 60’s instead

of weaving the streamers around the wire, they were placed on two poles and moved away from the

gate to the playing arena. These started as small things that the team would run through, but as

time went on they grew into what we now know as Run Throughs or Banners. Each one trying to

inspire the team to achieve or celebrating a special milestone or occasion.

In the 90s the Southern Stand was demolished and the Cheer Squad spent some time in the top deck

of the Olympic Stand while construction of the Great Southern Stand was undertaken, and upon it’s

completion the Cheer Squad moved back behind the goals at the Punt Rd end, this time at ground

level and remains there to this day.

The Cheer Squad has always existed to provide support to the club with colour through the use of

floggers, flags, patties and sound through chanting and cheering.

The Cheer Squad remains just as it was when it was formed those many years ago, run by a

committee of volunteers who sacrifice their time to ensure that everything runs as smoothly as

possible on match days, that there is always a run through and a group of supporters there to cheer

no matter where we may play around the country.