Western Bulldogs

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Western Bulldogs
Western Bulldogs Football Club Logo
Full name Western Bulldogs Football Club (Formerly known as Footscray Football Club)
Nickname The Bulldogs
Strip
Founded 1883
Sport Australian rules football
League Australian Football League
First season 1925
Ground Telstra Dome
Club song 'Sons of the West'
President/Chair David Smorgon
Coach Rodney Eade
Captain Brad Johnson
2006 6th

The Western Bulldogs, formerly known, and occasionally still referred to, as the Footscray Football Club, is an Australian Football League (AFL) club based at the Whitten Oval in Footscray, an inner western suburb of Melbourne. The club draws its supporter base from this traditionally working class area and plays its home matches at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne Docklands, also in the city's inner west.

Historically one of the League's less successful clubs, both in terms of on-field success and off-field resources, the club has taken significant steps to all but eliminate this stigma. The Club has had stable sponsorship and in 2006 it exceeded its membership target of 26,000, a record for the Club. The Whitten Oval is also undergoing a $20m redevelopment [1] - set to make its headquarters and training facility among the best in the League.

The Club is finding increasing popularity within the football community for its highly skilful and attacking style of play - a style that saw it reach the 2006 semi-finals. Many commentators and observers have even suggested the Bulldogs are in a position to win the 2007 Premiership [2].

Contents

[edit] Club history

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Footscray was relatively late in joining the Victorian Football League (VFL), the predecessor of the AFL. It did so in 1925 as the "Footscray Football Club", at the same time as Hawthorn and North Melbourne, all three coming from the Victorian Football Association (VFA).

Footscray, also known as the Prince Imperials from 1880-1882, played in the junior division of the VFA before joining the senior division of the VFA in 1886. Following the famed break away of 1896, during which the stronger VFA clubs formed the VFL, the tricolours (as they were known during this period) became a force in the VFA. The club went on to win 9 premierships between 1898 and 1924. This included a hattrick from 1898 to 1900 and 4 premierships between 1919 and 1924. The 1924 premiership would be Footscray's last in the VFA. The club played against the then premiers of the VFL, Essendon, to be proclaimed the "champion of Victoria". In what was an upset win, amongst rumours of bribes to the Essendon players to "play dead", Footscray won the match comfortably and this ushered in an invitation to join the VFL the following season.

E.J Whitten statue which stands outside of the Whitten Oval
E.J Whitten statue which stands outside of the Whitten Oval

The Western Bulldogs/Footscray has won only one premiership while playing in the VFL/AFL, in 1954. This success was in no small part due to two champions of the club - Charlie Sutton the wily and tough Captain/Coach at the time, and Ted Whitten, otherwise known as 'Mr Football', one of Australian Rules' best ever players.

Charlie claims to have invented the modern play-on style of football - run, handball, run, kick. Teddy Whitten has been the source of more arguments than any other on who is the greatest player to grace the fields of Australian rules football.

Both before and after 1954 the club struggled to make the final '4' however it almost always managed to hold itself a few games above the 'cellar dwellers' on the ladder.

Footscray 1980s shield logo
Footscray 1980s shield logo

The club has had players of both quality and character such as Charlie and Ted, and later Gary Dempsey, the heroic ruckman who was badly burnt in Lara bushfire of January 1969 but managed to take out the game's top individual award, the Brownlow Medal in 1975. Or Doug Hawkins, the roguish lad as much at home with a beer as taking on the likes of 'Dipper' on the outer wing of the Western Oval - the Doug Hawkins Wing. Even Simon 'the Pieman' Beasley, a deadly accurate full-forward and stockbroker who broke the image of blue collar players at the club.

[edit] The late 1990s

Under tightly focussed management by club president David Smorgon, driven coaching by Terry Wallace, and the on-field leadership of Chris Grant (who narrowly missed a Brownlow Medal in 1996 and 1997) and Tony Liberatore, the club had a relatively successful period through the mid- to late 1990s, making the finals from 1997 to 2000. However, without a premiership win, the club's future as ever looked on a knife's edge.

During Smorgon's term, the club was renamed from Footscray to Western Bulldogs and moved from the Whitten Oval, first to Princes park (1997-99), to the Telstra Dome for the 2000 season. After Bulldogs legend E.J. Whitten died, a memorial statue was erected at the Whitten Oval in his honour.

[edit] Recent developments

Photo of Western Bulldogs warmup 2004
Photo of Western Bulldogs warmup 2004

After a 'quiet' period under former coach Peter Rohde, the Bulldogs are looking to a brighter future with the appointment of Rodney 'Rocket' Eade as coach in 2005. Improvement was immediate with the Bulldogs winning 11 games and finishing 9th on the ladder in 2005, just missing out on the finals by 1/2 a game. Missing the finals dealt a blow to both players and supporters of the team as hot late season form saw the team being considered real premiership contenders, even though a finals berth had not been secured.

In 2006, the Bulldogs continued to play well despite a disastrous run of injuries throughout the year; with 5 players having to have knee reconstructions, including captain Luke Darcy and a list of other major injuries to key players. Despite this setback, the Bulldogs finished the 22-round home and away season with 13 wins (see Current 2006 AFL ladder), making the finals for the first time since 2000 and reaching the semi-finals before being defeated by eventual Premiers the West Coast Eagles. Many commentators and fans expect the Club to be genuine Premiership contenders in the near future.

On the 5th of August 2006, Chris Grant broke the Western Bulldogs record for the most senior AFL/VFL games at the club. On this day he played his 330th game, breaking Doug Hawkins' previous record of 329 games.

Looking for new markets, the club had played one game every year at the S.C.G. in Sydney and one home game each year at Marrara Oval in Darwin. On August 16, 2006, the league announced that the Bulldogs' Sydney "home" game would be played at Manuka Oval, Canberra (the country's capital) as of 2007, for the next three years.

[edit] Looking forward

The Bulldogs will look to make a major impact in 2007. Following a strong finish to the season in 2005 and a consistently good performance in 2006 (despite a number of major injuries), the Club and its supporters will hope for a serious challenge for the 2007 Premiership.

During the end of season trade week in October 2006, the Bulldogs lured one of the League's most decorated players, Jason Akermanis. The Club has also moved to address its deficiency in height by signing the 197 cm Andrew McDougall. It is hoped these acquisitions together with the return of injured players, including Luke Darcy, will give the team the all-round strength needed to compete strongly in the finals.

[edit] Membership base

Since the 1990s the Western Bulldogs have struggled for membership and financially, avoiding folding or merging with another club through heavy subsidisation from the AFL as part of a competitive balance fund.

However, in 2006 the Bulldogs broke their membership record. The bulldogs reached their target of 26,000 members only two minutes before the official closing time for all AFL memberships, which was at 5pm on Friday the 30th of June, after starting the day needing 140 new members to achieve the landmark.[3] The Club expects this trend to continue, with CEO Campbell Rose setting an ambitious 32,000 membership target for season 2007.[4]

Year Members Finishing position²
1998 20,064 3rd
1999 20,491 5th
2000 18,056 8th
2001 19,085 10th
2002 20,838 12th
2003 21,260 16th
2004 19,295 14th
2005 21,974 9th
2006 26,042 6th
2007 25,811¹ -

¹ as at 2 April 2007[5]

² following finals matches

[edit] Individual awards

[edit] Best and Fairest

See Charles Sutton Medal

[edit] Brownlow Medal winners

[edit] Not Eligible, due to suspension

[edit] Leigh Matthews Trophy winners

[edit] Coleman Medal winners

[edit] Current squad

 view • talk • edit 
   

Rookies:

  • 24 Michael West
  • 40 Jarrod Harbrow
  • 41 Marty Pask
  • 42 Gavin Hughes


[edit] Australian Football Hall of Fame players

[edit] Team of the Century

In May 2002, the club announced a team of the greatest players from the last century.

Backs: Charlie Sutton Herb Henderson John Schultz
Half Backs: Wally Donald Ted Whitten Senior (captain) John Jillard
Centres: Harry Hickey Allan Hopkins Doug Hawkins (vice-captain)
Half Forwards: Alby Morrison Kelvin Templeton Chris Grant
Forwards: Jack Collins Simon Beasley George Bisset
Followers: Gary Dempsey Scott West Brian Royal
Interchange: Jim Gallagher Arthur Olliver Brad Johnson
Norman Ware Tony Liberatore Scott Wynd
Coach: Charlie Sutton

[edit] Club jumper

Current jumper design
Current jumper design
  • The home jumper is blue with a red and white hoop and has the Bulldog Logo in the centre. The club's 2006 sponsors were LeasePlan and Diadora. Although the team is officially the "Western Bulldogs" now, the old initials "F.F.C." for Footscray Football Club are still placed on the back above the number.

[edit] See also

[edit] Banners

Historically, the club has allowed supporters to mount banners with groups of supporters getting together to produce and pay for them. The slogans on the banners included:

  • Carn the ’scray — a reference to the traditional Australian call of encouragement heard at both the footy and the racetrack of Come On abbreviated to Carn, traditionally written C’’n.
  • Go the Doggies — a reference to the bulldogs going forward in attack.
  • "Red White And Blue Through and Through" — to put your heart toward the bulldogs.

[edit] Famous fans

[edit] External links

Clubs in the Australian Football League
Adelaide | Brisbane Lions | Carlton | Collingwood | Essendon | Fremantle | Geelong | Hawthorn
Kangaroos | Melbourne | Port Adelaide | Richmond | St. Kilda | Sydney | West Coast | Western Bulldogs
Former clubs: Brisbane Bears | Fitzroy | University
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