Western Bulldogs

Western Bulldogs

Names
Full name	Footscray Football Club, trading as Western Bulldogs
Nickname(s)	Bulldogs (official), Bullies
Season 2010
Club Details
Founded	1883
Colours	Red,      White and      Blue
Competition	Australian Football League
Chairman	David Smorgon
Coach	Rodney Eade
Captain(s)	Brad Johnson
Premierships	1 (1954)
Ground(s)	Etihad Stadium
	Whitten Oval (Training)
Other information
Official website	www.westernbulldogs.com.au
Guernsey:

The Western Bulldogs (the trading name of the Footscray Football Club) are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West 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 Etihad Stadium in Melbourne Docklands, also in the city's inner-west.

Founded in 1883, the club won 9 premierships in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) between 1898 and 1924. Since joining the then Victorian Football League (VFL), the predecessor to the AFL, in 1925, the club has been one of the League's least successful, both in terms of on-field success – its only VFL/AFL Premiership coming in 1954 – and off-field resources. However, in recent years, the club has taken significant steps to eliminate this stigma, achieving stable sponsorship and consistently strengthening membership figures (28,215 members in 2009)^[1]:732. The Whitten Oval is also undergoing a AU$20 million redevelopment^[2] – set to make its headquarters and training facility among the best in the league.

In recent seasons, the club has been finding increasing popularity within the football community for its highly skilful and attacking style of play – a style that saw it reach the semi-finals in 2006 and the preliminary finals in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, the club won the AFL pre-season competition, the NAB Cup^[3], and is again regarded as among the favourites to win the AFL Premiership.^[4]

Club history

The E.J. Whitten Stand

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 four 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". ^[5]

Joining the VFL

Footscray adapted relatively quickly to the standard of VFL football despite losing some of their VFA stars, and by 1928 were already a contender for the finals, missing only on percentage in 1931. Though they slipped to eleventh in 1930, 1935 and 1937, the following year they became the first of the new clubs to reach the finals. They fell back drastically in 1939, but during the war-torn 1940s were more consistent than ever, winning their first nine games in 1946.

1950s and E.J.

In this period, Footscray failed to win in finals, losing six first semis between 1938 and 1951. In 1953, however, they set a record of conceding only 959 points in the home-and-away games due to a powerful defence featuring Wally Donald, Herb Henderson and Jim Gallagher. They finally won the first semi against Essendon, and the following year took out their only premiership so far, beating Geelong and then Melbourne in the 1954 VFL Grand Final.

1954 VFL Grand Final	G	B	Total
Western Bulldogs (Footscray)	15	12	105
Melbourne	7	9	51
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground	Crowd: 80,897[6]

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 snr., otherwise known as 'E.J.' or '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. Whitten was also famous for his inventive and lightning flick pass ,which was banned due to the umpire's difficulty in distinguishing whether the ball was thrown, or hit with the open hand!

However, Footscray failed to capitalise on their premiership success, falling off in the latter part of the decade and finishing with their first wooden spoon in 1959. But they bounced back to reach the 1961 Grand Final where they were beaten by Hawthorn. The rest of the decade was a bleak era for the club, particularly between 1965 and 1969, when they finished in the bottom three every year.

1970s

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

Ted Whitten Snr. retired as a player in 1970 and held the record for the most VFL games played at the time (321 games), but he would continue in a coaching capacity until the end of 1971. The 1970s were relatively better but the club still could not win a final – and by decade's end they were back near the bottom.

The main stars of the decade included 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. Promising South Australian import Neil Sachse had his neck broken in a freak accident while playing against Fitzroy at the Western Oval. He was left quadriplegic. In 1978 Kelvin Templeton became the first Bulldogs player to kick 100 goals in a season, including a club record of 15.9 in Round 13 against St. Kilda.

1980s

With the disappointing 1970s behind it, the club introduced an array of stars during this decade. Simon Beasley became a household name after being recruited from Swan Districts in Western Australia to provide the Bulldogs with a genuine replacement for champion Kelvin Templeton. Beasley was to go on to become the Bulldogs' record goal kicker, and face of the club during the mid '80s.

Mick Malthouse was appointed senior coach in 1984, and a dramatic improvement saw them rise to second position in 1985 before a gallant ten-point loss in the Preliminary Final against Hawthorn. The club boasted a wonderful list at this time, with Beasley, Doug Hawkins, Brian Royal, Rick Kennedy, Steve Wallis, Peter Foster, Mick Mclean, Jim Edmond, Andrew Purser, Steve MacPherson and Brad Hardie forming the backbone of a new breed of Bulldog. The Bulldogs also narrowly missed out on finals action in 1987 when they were beaten by Melbourne in the last round, in front of a record crowd at their home ground.

1989

Discontent between players, officials and fans reached an all-time low by the time the 1989 season came round. Barrie Beattie was replaced by businessman and prominent racing personality Nick Columb as Bulldogs president in March. Faced with the prospect of running a club of declining membership and sponsorship, he was also shocked to discover just how bad the debt situation was. While Columb was branded by some as the villain of the story, the wisdom of hindsight shows that had he not instigated the merger, the Western Bulldogs Football Club would cease to exist as it is today.^[7][8]

The Bulldogs survived a proposed merger with the Fitzroy Lions when the people of Footscray, led by businessman Peter Gordon and a host of others, rallied to raise funds to pay off the club's debts. In further developments, former club player Terry Wheeler was named as Malthouse's replacement while champion veteran wingman Doug Hawkins was appointed captain.

1990s

Whitten Oval is the Western Bulldogs' administrative and training headquarter

The Bulldogs began the new decade and their new lease of life in promising fashion, finishing in seventh place with twelve wins, including one against eventual premiers Collingwood, when rover Steven Kolyniuk ran around the man on the mark and kicked a goal to put his team in front. Although they just missed out on the finals, there was much to look forward to, and the year was capped off with diminutive rover Tony Liberatore winning the Brownlow Medal.

After a disappointing 1991, the Bulldogs bounced back in brilliant fashion in 1992, finishing second on the ladder and making their first finals appearance since 1985. Danny Del'Re was a revelation at full forward, while champion veterans Hawkins, Royal, Wallis, Foster and MacPherson helped ensure the club played the most exciting brand of football for many years. Scott Wynd capped a magnificent year with the Brownlow Medal, while Chris Grant and Simon Atkins also had outstanding seasons.

In 1994 and 1995, the Bulldogs again made the finals, only to again be eliminated by the Demons and the Cats. Leon Cameron and Danny Southern were stars, but it was a familiar story, with the team tripping at the final hurdles again. In August, club champion Ted Whitten snr. lost his battle with prostate cancer and such was his status in the game that he was given a state funeral. In his honour, the club renamed the Western Oval the Whitten Oval and a memorial statue was erected outside the stadium.

Under the tightly focused 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. The 1997 season in particular, will be remembered for the club's cruelest loss, losing to eventual premiers Adelaide in the preliminary final by two points after leading for much of the game and looking like securing their first grand final since 1961. Rohan Smith, Brad Johnson, Chris Grant, Jose Romero, Paul Hudson and company were catalysts in a fine season, but 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 their home games from the Whitten Oval, first to Optus Oval from 1997 to 1999, and then to the newly-built Docklands Stadium for the 2000 season.

2000s

Western Bulldogs players during warm-up against Collingwood in 2004

After Terry Wallace's shock departure at the end of 2002, assistant coach Peter Rohde took charge, but after two miserable seasons, the Bulldogs anticipated a brighter future with the appointment of Rodney Eade as coach in 2005. Improvement was immediate with the Bulldogs winning 11 games and finishing ninth on the ladder in 2005, just missing out on the finals by half 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 five players having to have knee reconstructions, including captain Luke Darcy, Robert Murphy and a list of other major injuries to key players. Despite this setback, the Bulldogs finished the home-and-away season with 13 wins (see 2006 AFL season), making it to the finals for the first time since 2000, with Scott West and Brad Johnson continuing their inspirational standards. They won the Elimination Final against Collingwood in front of 84,000 at the MCG and reached the semi-finals before being defeated by eventual Premiers the West Coast Eagles at Subiaco Oval. Many fans expect the club to be potential Premiership contenders in the near future. (See Current AFL ladder)

On 5 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 16 August 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.

Brad Johnson is the club's present captain

Prior to the 2007, the Bulldogs made a splash by trading for Brisbane midfielder Jason Akermanis. They were hot Premiership favourites early on in 2007, but yet again injuries took their toll, and they faltered in the last seven rounds, losing six games and drawing one, to finish 13th.

In the following pre-season they traded away Jordan McMahon to Richmond and Sam Power to North Melbourne. They also recruited ruckman Ben Hudson and forward Scott Welsh from Adelaide and back Tim Callan from Geelong in what was a very successful trade week.

In 2008, the Bulldogs were widely predicted for the bottom four after the pre-season, but have had a successful home-and-away season, finishing in third place with fifteen wins, one draw and six losses (five of which occurred in the season's last seven games). The Dogs' finals campaign began with a heavy loss to Hawthorn by 51 points at the MCG in the first qualifying final, but won the subsequent semi-final against Sydney by 37 points. The Bulldogs lost their Preliminary Final match against reigning premiers Geelong.

Much was expected of the Western Bulldogs following their 3rd-place finish in 2008. They began the season with a 63-point thrashing of Fremantle in Perth, and then recorded solid wins over North Melbourne and Richmond before losing their next three games to West Coast (in Perth), Carlton and St. Kilda who would have won by more than 28 points had it not been for inaccurate goal-kicking.

The Bulldogs then notched up their first away win against Adelaide since 2001, kicking eight goals to one in the third quarter to win by 32 points. The following week, they survived a determined effort from Melbourne by 14 points before succumbing to Geelong in one of the games of the season, storming home in the last quarter but failing to take the points when captain Brad Johnson missed from a tight angle after the siren, the Cats prevailing by two points.

The narrow loss only seemed to spur the Bulldogs further, and they proceeded to win their next five games, including a 93-point drubbing of Port Adelaide in Darwin and a highly memorable 88-point win over the reigning premiers Hawthorn, 19.19 (133) to 6.9 (45). They led 9.6 (60) to 0.2 (2) at quarter-time and 13.10 (88) to 0.4 (4) at half-time.

2010 AFL National Australia Bank Cup Final	G	B	Total
Western Bulldogs	2.13	8	104
St Kilda	0.9	10	64
Venue: Etihad Stadium	Crowd: 42,381

After a bit of a dip in form including losses to Collingwood, St Kilda and a massive upset against West Coast at home, the Bulldogs rebounded with a hard-fought 18-point against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba, a win regarded by many fans as the best of the season. This was followed up by an equally impressive 14-point win over Geelong. In the final round of the home-and-away season, the Bulldogs needed to defeat Collingwood by more than 22 points in order to reclaim third place on the ladder. After controlling a tight game for three quarters, the Bulldogs managed to pull away and, with goals to Shaun Higgins and Brad Johnson, emerged victorious by 24 points, thus earning the right to play Geelong in the first week of the finals^[9].

There is media expectation that the Western Bulldogs will feature in the top 4 in 2010 after doing so in 2008 and 2009. The pre-season delivered the Western Bulldogs their first competition victory since 1970. The Bulldogs defeated St Kilda by 40 points in the NAB Cup Grand Final by 40 points, with new recruit Barry Hall starring with seven goals and winning the Michael Tuck Medal for being the best player.^[10]

Club symbols

Club song

Western Bulldogs Club Song is sung to "Sons of the Sea".

Sons of the west,

Red, white and blue,

We come out snarling, Bulldogs through and through.

Bulldogs bite and Bulldogs roar, we give our very best.

But you can't beat the boys of the Bulldog breed, We're the team of the mighty West!

Club Song

Before the Footscray Football Club became the Western Bulldogs, the song used different Lyrics;

Sons of the 'scray,

Red, white and blue,

We will come out smiling, if we win or lose.

Others build their teams my lad, and think they know the game,

But you can't beat the boys of the Bulldog breed, that make ol' Footscray's name!

Also used was a version Mike Brady originally wrote:

Sons of the 'scray,

Red, white and blue,

We'll come out snarling, we're bulldogs through and through.

Bulldogs bite and bulldogs roar, remember '54,

Cos you can't beat the boys of the Bulldog breed, that make ol' Footscray's name!

See these pups turn into men, To deem thy premiership quest,

Cos the days are getting older, as the dogs rise up in the West!

(Repeat chorus)

Club jumper

• The home jumper is primarily royal blue with a red and white hoop and features a stylized white 'Bulldog' Logo on the jumper front. The player numbers are white, and located high upon the back.
• Although the team officially trades under the name "Western Bulldogs", the initials "F.F.C." for Footscray Football Club, which still remains the club's official name, are placed on the back of the jumper immediately beneath the collar in small white capital letters.
• The clash jumper is primarily white, with a red and blue hoop around the chest area. A white Bulldog Logo is located on the front of the guernsey. The player's number is blue, and located high upon the back.

Real life mascot

Sid, the club's real life mascot

The 2010 real life mascot for the Western Bulldogs is a pedigree 20 month old pure white British Bulldog named 'Sid' (Actual name Murlane Bigshot). Sid appears at all of the Western Bulldogs home games at Etihad Stadium wearing the club colours and can be found during the game on level 3 aisle 30 where fans can come and pat the teams mascot and maybe get a photo or two.

Membership base

Since the 1990s the Western Bulldogs have struggled for membership and financial backing, 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 and continued to make modest year-on-year increases in membership in 2007 and 2008.

¹ Following finals matches ² Finals Yet to be played

Honours

VFA

Premierships (9)

• 1898
• 1899
• 1900 (3 in a row)
• 1908
• 1913
• 1919
• 1920 (back to back)
• 1923
• 1924 (back to back)

VFL/AFL

Premierships (1)

• 1954

Runners-up (1)

• 1961

Night Series

Premierships (5)

• 1963
• 1964
• 1967
• 1970
• 2010

Individual awards

Best and Fairest

Brownlow Medal winners

• Allan Hopkins (1930)
• Norman Ware (1941)
• Peter Box (1956)
• John Schultz (1960)
• Gary Dempsey (1975)
• Kelvin Templeton (1980)
• Brad Hardie (1985)
• Tony Liberatore (1990)
• Scott Wynd (1992)
• Adam Cooney (2008)

*Chris Grant gained most votes in 1997 but was not eligible due to suspension

Leigh Matthews Trophy winners

• Luke Darcy (2002, with Michael Voss)

Coleman Medal winners

• Jack Collins (1957)
• Kelvin Templeton (1978, 1979)
• Simon Beasley (1985)

Scott West Most Courageous Player Award

This is awarded to the player judged to be the most courageous for the season.

• Daniel Cross (2008)
• Dale Morris (2009)

Australian Football Hall of Fame players

• Ted Whitten (Legend)
• Charlie Sutton
• Gary Dempsey
• Doug Hawkins
• Allan Hopkins
• Arthur Olliver
• Bernie Quinlan
• Barry Round
• John Schultz
• Norm Ware

Team of the Century

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

Notable players of the past 30 years

• Doug Hawkins
• Neil Cordy
• Rick Kennedy
• Simon Beasley
• Stephen MacPherson
• Peter Foster
• Brian Royal
• Stephen Wallis
• Tony McGuinness
• Tony Liberatore
• Simon Atkins
• Steven Kolyniuk
• Scott Wynd
• Leon Cameron
• Chris Grant
• Matthew Croft
• Steven Kretiuk
• Rohan Smith
• Scott West
• Luke Darcy
• Daniel Southern
• Brad Johnson
• Jose Romero
• Paul Dimattina
• Nathan Brown
• Mitch Hahn
• Robert Murphy
• Nathan Eagleton
• Lindsay Gilbee
• Daniel Giansiracusa
• Adam Cooney

Current squad

See also

• Western Bulldogs season 2009
• Western Bulldogs season 2010

• List of Western Bulldogs/Footscray players

Footnotes

Bibliography

• A History of the Footscray Football Club: Unleashed, by John Lack, Chris McConville, Michael Small and Damien Wright. Aus-Sport Enterprises Pty Ltd, 1996 ISBN 0-646-26215-7

References

External links

• Official Website of the Western Bulldogs Football Club
• "Around the Grounds" – Web Documentary – Western Oval
• [1]