Western Bulldogs
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| Image:2006 AFL Western Bulldogs.jpg | |
| Full name | Western Bulldogs Football Club (Formerly known as Footscray Football Club) |
| Nickname | The Bulldogs |
| Strip | Blue guernsey with red and white horizontal stripes around the midriff with bulldog logo. Blue Shorts. Blue Socks with Red and White trim |
| Founded | 1883 |
| Sport | Australian rules football |
| League | Australian Football League |
| Ground | Telstra Dome |
| Club song | 'Sons of the West' |
| President/Chair | David Smorgon |
| Coach | Rodney Eade |
| Captain | Luke Darcy-injured (acting captain Brad Johnson) |
| 2006 | 6th of 16 |
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].
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[edit] Club history
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.
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.
[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 looks on a knife's edge.
During Smorgon's term, the club was renamed from Footscray to Western Bulldogs and moved from the Whitten Oval to the Telstra Dome. After Bulldogs legend E.J Whitten died, a memorial statue was erected at the Whitten Oval in his honour.
[edit] Recent developments
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 evential 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 197cm 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 ambitous 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 | 26,042¹ | 6th (semi-finalist) |
¹final 2006 membership
²following finals matches
[edit] Individual awards
[edit] Best and Fairest
[edit] 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)
[edit] Not Eligible, due to suspension
[edit] Leigh Matthews Trophy winners
- Luke Darcy (2002, with Michael Voss)
[edit] Coleman Medal winners
- Jack Collins (1957)
- Kelvin Templeton (1978, 1979)
- Simon Beasley (1985)
[edit] Current squad
As of November 25, 2006:
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Rookies: |
See also Western Bulldogs playing list 2006.
[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 |
| Norm Ware | Tony Liberatore | Scott Wynd | |
| Coach: | Charlie Sutton |
[edit] Club jumper
- This is the 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 are 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, traditionaly 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
- Craig Parry (golfer) (#1 ticket holder)
- Sarah Jane (model) (#1 Female ticket holder)
- Wil Anderson (comedian)
- Merv Hughes (cricket player)
- Russell Gilbert (comedian)
- Ernie Sigley (television/radio presenter)
- Fernando Alonso (2005-06 F1 world champ)
- Jason Gillespie (Cricketer)
- Fifi Box (radio presenter)
- Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lankan Cricketer)
- John Howard (Australian Prime Minister)
- William McInnes (Actor)
- Kevin Harrington (Actor)
See List of celebrity supporters of AFL clubs
[edit] External links
- Official Website of the Western Bulldogs Football Club
- The Bulldogs Barking Un Official Fan site of the Western Bulldogs, Western Bulldogs fan Forum
- Full Points Footy History of the Western Bulldogs Football Club
- Footscray Not Western Bulldogs - History of the Footscray Football Club
