Former Echuca football star and Essendon Football Club chief executive officer Xavier Campbell will accompany four-time premiership coach Kevin Sheedy on a visit to Echuca Moama as part of the Essendon Country Tour on Friday, April 29.
Campbell was in Echuca only a week ago when he attended the Echuca and Euroa Goulburn Valley League match with his family at Victoria Park.
He will return with Sheedy and a cast of current and former players for the Friday night event at the Border Inn Hotel in Moama.
Campbell has a strong association with the riverside community, having played with Echuca between 2010-12.
The Bombers are hitting the road across Victoria in April, with four very prestigious items on board.
Campbell is joining the trip on only the Echuca leg, given his close association with the town.
During the four-day tour, which starts on Thursday, April 28, the Essendon Country Tour will see Sheedy and company joined by the 1984, 1985, 1993 and 2000 premiership cups.
To coincide with celebrations for the club’s 150th anniversary, Sheedy will join the tour with Essendon icons including Mark Harvey, Dyson Heppell, Sean Wellman, Dustin Fletcher and a number of other past champions.
They will attend various events in regional towns across Victoria to reminisce on their times in the red and black.
Essendon supporters, and football fans alike, will get the opportunity to have photos with the club legends and premiership cups, participate in clinics, receive free giveaways and hear stories from different eras of Essendon’s history at various Carlton and United Breweries pubs along the way.
As a thank-you from the club to fans across the state, all events will be free for supporters to attend.
The tour, sponsored by Powercor, will depart the NEC Hangar and head to Heppell’s hometown of Leongatha, where a junior clinic will be held at the Leongatha Football Club, before continuing to Traralgon for the first nightly event at the Grand Junction Hotel.
For day two, the bus will make its way to Mansfield before heading on to Echuca, where Campbell will join a number of special guests at The Border Inn Hotel following a wine tasting pre-event with thanks to Treasury Wine Estates.
Across day three, the tour continues to Horsham and then on to Ballarat with a Treasury Wine Estates event at the Sporting Globe to finish the day.
To wrap up the journey, the four premiership cups will travel to Warrnambool and then to Marvel Stadium in time for the Bombers’ round-seven clash with the Western Bulldogs.
Sheedy said he was excited to tour regional Victoria and visit Bombers fans across the state.
“This tour is going to be a lot of fun. To be able to share stories from Essendon’s history while also celebrating our 150th year is something very special,” Sheedy said.
“I look forward to celebrating with fans across the state and recognising how important our regional fans are.”
Campbell said the club could not wait to visit fans across regional Victoria after COVID-19 prevented these types of opportunities during the past two years.
“Over the past two years, COVID has restricted our abilities to get out within the community and interact with our fans around Victoria, so we are very excited to be able to take the cups to the people,” Campbell said.
“Fans are the heart and soul of the Essendon Football Club and this tour is just one way we can reconnect and acknowledge how important they are to the club.”
To register your interest in attending these free events, email generalenquiries@essendonfc.com.au
Stay tuned for more information in the coming days for further details on the Essendon Country Tour itinerary.