Alex McCracken
Alexander McCracken, an influential sports administrator with the Essendon Football Club, was the first president of the Victorian Football League.
Family
The son of Robert McCracken, the brewer and first president of the Essendon Football Club, and Margaret McCracken, née Hannay, Alexander McCracken was born in Melbourne on 7 May 1856.His brother John became Essendon's first team captain, and his cousin Coiler McCracken, became Essendon's second captain.
Alexander McCracken married Mary Elizabeth, a daughter of John Murray Peck — co-founder of Cobb and Co, and vice-president of the Essendon Football Club from 1898 to 1905 — on 19 July 1884. The has two sons, and three daughters: Alec Lindsay McCracken, Joy Margaret Louisa McCracken, Murray Robert McCracken, Jean Mary McCracken, and Madge Huntington McCracken.
Education
He attended Melbourne's Scotch College in East Melbourne from 1869 to 1871.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 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.Organisations and Associations
He was deeply involved in various sporting/social.commercial organizations as administrator, founder, and/or patron, including:- First secretary of the Essendon Football Club.
- First president of the Victorian Football League (VFL).
- *Elected at the VFL's first official meeting on 12 April 1897 he retired just before his death in 1915.
- 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.
- Chairman of the Manufacturers' Bottle Co. of Victoria.
- Chairman of the Liquor Trades Defence Union.
- Chairman of the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria.
- 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. 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 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.