Alexander McCracken (7 May 1856 – 25 August 1915), an influential sports administrator with the Essendon Football Club, was the first president of the Victorian Football League.Ross (1996), p.87.
Background The son of Robert McCracken (1813–1885), the brewer and first president of the Essendon Football Club, and Margaret McCracken (1831–1905), née Hannay, Alexander McCracken was born in Melbourne on 7 May 1856.
He attended Scotch College in East Melbourne from 1869 to 1871.
His brother John (1853–1879) became Essendon's first team captain, and his cousin Coiler McCracken (1848–1915), became Essendon's second captain.
On 19 July 1884, McCracken married Mary Elizabeth (1863–1938), a daughter of John Murray Peck — co-founder of Cobb and Co, and vice-president of the Essendon Football Club from 1898 to 1905.Peck (1942). They had five children.
McCracken's Brewery
He was the head of McCracken Brewery, until May 1907 when the company, along with five other brewing firms, was merged into Carlton & United Breweries Limited. He was appointed a Director of the new company.
Football Alex McCracken played a number of times for the Essendon Football Club in the four pre-VFA years (1873–1876) with his brother, John, and his cousin, Coiler, and also in the club's first season in the VFA 1877, when the team was captained by his cousin.Maplestone (1996), pp.428-430.
In 2008, McCracken was inaugurated as one the ten "Legends" of the Essendon Football Club Hall of Fame.
Organisations and associations He was deeply involved in various sporting/social and commercial organisations as administrator, founder, and/or patron, including:Gellie (1986), Aldous (1988), and Maplestone (1996), pp.18-19, 330-331, etc.
First secretary of the Essendon Football Club (at the age of 17). First president of the Victorian Football League (VFL). Elected at the VFL's first official meeting on 12 April 1897 he retired (due to ill-health) just before his death in 1915.Ross (1996), pp. 38, 87. President of the Essendon Literary and Debating Society. President of the Essendon Poultry, Dog, Pigeon and Canary Society. President of the Essendon Town Fire Brigade. President of the Brewers' Club of Melbourne. Founder of the Essendon Cricket Club. Founder and president of the Essendon Rowing Club. Founder of the Essendon Tennis Club. Founder of the Oaklands Hunt Club. Chairman of the Brewers' Association of Victoria (1901). Chairman of the Manufacturers' Bottle Co. of Victoria (1903). Chairman of the Liquor Trades Defence Union (1903). Chairman of the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (1909–1915). Vice-president of the Essendon Golf Club. Vice-president of the North Suburban Cycling Club. Vice-president of the Victorian Racing Club. Patron of the Essendon Bowling Club. Director of the Trustees Executors & Agency Co. Ltd. Director of the Victoria Insurance Co.
Politics In 1894 McCracken, as a Free-Trade Democratic Association candidate, stood against the incumbent MLA, Alfred Deakin, for the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Essendon and Flemington.
Soundly defeated by Deakin — "The easy win of Mr Deakin in Essendon and Flemington was somewhat of a surprise, for it was expected that Mr M'Cracken would run him much more closely than he did. [At the declaration of the poll] Mr Deakin's majority of nearly 2 to 1 was received with loud cheering." — McCracken did not attempt to enter politics ever again.
Properties The Essendon football Club was refused the use of Windy Hill and played its first few seasons (probably near Filson St) on Robert McCracken's "Ailsa".
He built a mansion home called "North Park", now the Columban Mission, on the south side of Woodland St, Essendon.
Alexander had a country estate called "Cumberland"; and it was, with the Inverness Hotel and Alister Clark's "Glenara", a venue for after hunt celebrations until the Oaklands Hunt Club bought "Sherwood" in Somerton Rd. After Alexander's death, the Johnsons of "Glendewar", across the creek from "Cumberland" moved into Alexander's property.
Death He died at his North Essendon residence, "North Park", on 25 August 1915 and was buried on 27 August in a private ceremony, at Melbourne General Cemetery.
Notes
References
Bibliography
Aldous, Grant, The Stop-over That Stayed: A History Of Essendon, City of Essendon, 1988. Bragiola, Alex (Frost, Leonore, ed.). The Fine Homes of Essendon and Flemington, 1846-1880, Essendon Historical Society, (Moonee Ponds), 2010. Cameron-Kennedy, D.F., The Oaklands Hunt, 1888-1988: A Chronicle of Events, D.F. Cameron-Kennedy, (Melbourne), 1989.
Mancini, Anne & Hibbins, Gillian Mary, Running with the Ball: Football's Foster Father, Lynedoch Publications, 1987. Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. Peck, Harry H., Memoirs of a Stockman, Stock and Land Publishing Company, (Melbourne), 1942. Ross, J. (ed), 100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported, Viking, (Ringwood), 1996.
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