Year of the Dogs

Year of the Dogs

Directed by	Michael Cordell, Stewart Young
Produced by	Michael Cordell, Chris Hilton
Written by	documentary
Starring	Alan Joyce Tony Liberatore Stephen Wallis Terry Wallace Chris Grant Pat Hodgson Jenny Hodgson Peter Gordon
Release date	1997 (Australia)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English

Year of the Dogs is a 1997 documentary detailing the 1996 season of the Footscray Football Club (now Western Bulldogs).

History

Filmed during the turbulent 1996 season where they finished second-last (15th) in the Australian Football League, the documentary follows the club and two dedicated fans, Pat and Jenny Hogson. The Bulldogs have a horror run of losses; senior coach Alan Joyce is sacked and replaced by Terry Wallace. The Dogs continue to struggle under this change in coaching administration, and continue to lose games.

With a thin supporter base, the club is under numerous financial difficulties. The AFL CEO Ross Oakley is insistent that smaller AFL clubs must merge and the Dogs are under pressure to amalgamate with other clubs. After the Melbourne Hawks merger failure, the club's members vote strongly against any proposed merger. In the end a taskforce of businessmen and former players take over the club to ensure its future. The club president (Peter Gordon) resigns.

In addition to this, youngest player (Shaun Baxter) is fighting cancer and the club veteran, Stephen Wallis, knows his playing days are numbered.

For the last game for the season, Footscray play Essendon. Wanting to give their retiring player, Wallis a good send off, they play hard and put up a good performance, but end up losing narrowly in a closely played game.

For the next season, the Bulldogs are renamed the Western Bulldogs (a name they still carry to this day) in an effort to attract new members. The film showcases the club's battling spirit, and as an aside they escape a merger with Fitzroy (although Fitzroy were the club that did suffer that fate, being merged with Brisbane). After Wallace's performance as caretaker, he is signed on for the 1997 season.

Miscellanea

It was filmed in 1996 during the course of the season and released theatrically in 1997, ironically when the Bulldogs were having one of their best seasons and later narrowly missed making the Grand Final, losing to eventual premiers Adelaide by just two points.
The film won an AFI award for "Best Editing in a Non-Feature Film" (Stewart Young).
The film was replayed on 7mate the day before the 2016 AFL Grand Final, in which the Western Bulldogs would break a 62-year premiership drought by defeating the Sydney Swans by 22 points.^[1]

Box office

Year of the Dogs grossed $199,191 at the box office in Australia.^[2]

References

↑ Perry, Kevin (29 September 2016). "Grand Final Friday Night Special: Bulldogs Road to Glory on Seven". Decider TV. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
↑ Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office

External links

Western Bulldogs
History Records Current squad Players Captains Coaches Awards Charles Sutton Medal Leading goalkickers Captain: Robert Murphy Coach: Luke Beveridge
Home grounds	Whitten Oval (1925–41; 1943–97) Yarraville Oval (1942) Princes Park (1997–99) Docklands Stadium (2000–present)
Premierships (2)	1954 2016
Seasons (92)	1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Related articles	VFL team Year of the Dogs Fitzroy Bulldogs
Known as Footscray Football Club from 1925–96

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