Affiliated: VFA 1883-1924; VFL 1925-1989; AFL 1990-present

Club Address: 412 Berkly Street, Footscray West 3012 

Postal Address: P.O. Box 4112, Footscray West 3012

Home Ground: Docklands

Formed: 1883 as Footscray; name changed to Western Bulldogs in 1997 

Colours: Red, white and blue 

Emblem: Bulldogs

Premierships: SENIORS - 1898-99-1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, 1954 (10 total) RESERVES - 1938, 1945, 1962, 1988, 1994, 1998 (6 total) UNDER 19S - 1954 (1 total)  OTHER PREMIERSHIPS - Championship of Victoria 1924 (1 total); V/AFL Night Series 1963-64, 1967, 1970, 2010 (5 total)

Recorder Cup winners: C.McCarthy 1923 (1 total)

Brownlow Medallists: Alan Hopkins 1930#; Norm 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 (10 total)

Tassie Medallists: E.J. ‘Ted’ Whitten 1958*; Brad Hardie 1986 (2 total)

Dolphin Medallists: Terry Wallace 1988 (1 total)

All Australians: E.Whitten 1956, 1958 & 1961; J.Schultz 1961; I.Bryant 1966; G.Dempsey 1972; D.Thorpe 1972; B.Hardie 1986; B.Royal 1986; M.McLean 1988; A.McGuinness 1988; T.Wallace 1988 (12 total)

AFL All Australians: Terry Wheeler (coach) 1992; Scott Wynd 1992; Chris Grant 1997, 1998 & 1999; Rohan Smith 1997 & 2003; Paul Hudson 1998; Terry Wallace (coach) 1998; Scott West 1998, 2000, 2004, 2005 & 2006; Brad Johnson 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006 & 2007; Nathan Brown 2001 & 2002; Luke Darcy 2002; Lindsay Gilbee 2006; Adam Cooney 2008; Dale Morris 2008; Matthew Boyd 2009; Brian Lake 2009 (26 total)

V/AFL Top Goalkickers: J.Collins (84) 1954 & (74) 1957; K.Templeton (118) 1978 & (91) 1979; S.Beasley (105) 1985 (5 total)

The Bulldogs' Official 'Team of the Century': Click here

Highest Score: 33.15 (213) vs. St Kilda 16.10 (106) in round 13 1978

Most Games: 341 by Chris Grant from 1990 to 2007

Record Home Attendances: 1. Western Oval - 42,354 in round 12 1955: Footscray 5.13 (43); Collingwood 5.7 (37)  2. Docklands - 48,728 in round 14 2001: Essendon 24.10 (154); Western Bulldogs 11.10 (76)

Record Finals Attendance: 107,935 for 1961 grand final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground: Hawthorn 13.16 (94); Footscray 7.9 (51)

Overall Success Rate 1925-2009: 45.3%

# indicates awarded retrospectively by the VFL in 1989 after having initially been lost on a countback of votes

GREAT GAMES LINKS:	Bulldogs Find Their Bark
MINI-BIOGRAPHIES:	Frank Aked senior   Simon Atkins   Simon Beasley   George Bennett   George Bisset   Peter Box   Phil Bradmore   Ian Bryant   Dave Bryden   Tony Buhagiar   Chris Burton   Jack Collins   Gary Cowton   Matthew Croft   Phil Cronan   Bill Cubbins   Allen Daniels   Dave Darcy   Les Dayman   Gary Dempsey   Terry Devery   Bill Doolan   George Dougherty   Bill Downie   Roger Duffy   Alec Eason   Jim Edmond  Ted Ellis   Roy Evans   Reg Evendon   Jack Fincher   Norman Ford   Adrian Gallagher   Jim Gallagher   Alex Gardiner   Charles Gaudion   Brian Gilmore   Art Gregory   Tom Grimshaw   Bill Grundy   Ian 'Bluey' Hampshire   Chris Hansen   Brad Hardie   William 'Ching' Harris   Doug Hawkins   Tom Hedley   Herb Henderson   Harry Hickey   Merv Hobbs   Alan Hopkins   Jack Howell   Paul Hudson   Ray Huppatz   Graham Ion   Geoff Jennings   Rick Kennedy   John Kerr   Bill Kruse   Tony Liberatore   Alby Linton   Ian Low   Aubrey MacKenzie   Stuart Magee   Joe Marmo   Ivan McAlpine   Len McCankie   'Con' McCarthy   Marty McDonnell   Ron McGowan   Tony McGuinness   Roy McKay   Tom McKinley   Hugh McLaughlin   Michael McLean   Harry Morgan   Alby 'Boy' Morrison   Robert Nash   Ken Newland   Bernard O'Brien   Arthur Olliver   Richard Osborne   Ambrose Palmer   Greg Parke   Stan Penberthy   Steve Power   Andrew Purser   John Quarrell   Bernie Quinlan   Alan Rait   Murray Rance   John Reilly   'Tim' Robb   José Romero   Bob Rose   Don Ross   Barry Round   Brian Royal   Leo Ryan   Ian Salmon   Laurie Sandilands   Paddy Scanlan   William Scanlan   John Schultz   William Sewart   Jim Sewell   William Spurling   Harvey Stevens   Ted Stevenson   Alan Stoneham   Charlie Sutton   Kelvin Templeton   Jim Thoms   David Thorpe   Bernard Toohey   Jack Vosti   Emmett Dunne   Steve Wallis   Norm Ware   Tom Waye   Richard Wearmouth   Peter Welsh   Ted Whitten senior   William Wood   Scott Wynd   Murray Zeuschner

Since entering the VFL in 1925 the Bulldogs have epitomised the archetypal Aussie ideal of honest, hard working - but, in premiership terms, predominantly unsuccessful - blue collar grafters. However, if affection and admiration rather than flags were an index of a club's achievements then Footscray - and, latterly, the Western Bulldogs (see footnote 1) - would arguably rival Carlton or Essendon as the V/AFL's most enduringly successful member.

Things were different prior to 1925, however. In the twenty-five seasons prior to their admission to the VFL the Tricolours, as they were then known, secured no fewer than nine VFA premierships. Just about the only thing which has remained constant since then is the club's working class identity (see footnote 2). Certainly there has been little in the way of on field success to get excited about.

Having said that, the club has produced a succession of champion players, including no fewer than nine Brownlow Medallists, as well as the individual who, to many, epitomised the essence of Australian football in the twentieth century more than anybody else. Indeed, so synonymous was Edward James Whitten with the essential spirit of the sport that he was almost universally, in Victoria at any rate, accorded the designation 'Mr. Football'.

Not even Mr. Football could inspire Footscray to more than a couple of sporadic stabs at premiership success, however.  Indeed the first such stab, in 1954, arguably owed more to team balance and determination than to any particular impact or prowess on the part of Whitten. Moreover, the fact that the club was ultimately successful in lifting the premiership that year was largely attributable to the fact that one significant VFL heavyweight - Geelong - was in abeyance, while two others - Melbourne and Collingwood - were undergoing transition. Certainly, it is hard to imagine the Bulldogs matching it with either Geelong's 1951-52 premiership side, or the redoubtable Melbourne combination of the late 1950s which won five flags from six consecutive grand final starts.

That said, a premiership is still a premiership, and a team can do no better than beat the opponents which fate conspires to place before it.  Moreover, to equate Footscray's 'success' as a football club merely with its achievements since 1925 is to do it a considerable disservice, for the Tricolours enjoyed a rich and illustrious history for more than forty years prior to their admission to Victorian football's premier competition, and their achievements during that period arguably played an even bigger part in developing the club's unique identity and character than any subsequent events.

Unravelling the origins of the Footscray Football Club is no easy task.  As long ago as the 1870s, various clubs bearing the Footscray name appeared, with one such being a founder member of the junior division of the VFA in 1877.  Three years later, out of respect for Prince Louis Napoleon, the 'Prince Imperial' of France, who had heroically met his end in 1879 during the Zulu wars, this club changed its name to 'Prince Imperial Football Club'.  The following season saw the emergence of another club in the district, Footscray Excelsior, which soon provided a home for many of the area's better players.  In a bid to restore its position as Footscray's leading club, Prince Imperials reverted to its original name before the start of the 1883 season.  This, coupled with the likely adoption the same year of the now famous red, white and blue colours, has led to the near universal nomination of 1883 as the inaugural year of the club which today bears the name of Western Bulldogs.  However, an objective examination of the facts appears to make it clear that such a demarcation is both convenient and contrived; as with many football clubs originating during the 19th century, identifying a discrete and unambiguous starting point is notoriously difficult.

Whatever the truth about its genesis, one watershed in the club's development which is easy to identify occurred in 1886, when Footscray was one of five clubs to be newly granted senior status by the VFA (see footnote 3), bringing the total number of senior clubs in the competition to fifteen.  With the arrival of a new rail link to the metropolis, Footscray's transformation from obscure plains outpost to integral part of suburban Melbourne was well underway.  Playing its home matches at the colourful but notoriously boggy Western Reserve, Footscray provided the rapidly growing local population with an obvious means for engendering its nascent sense of community identity and spirit, if not quite yet the full blown pride that emerges from success.  To put it bluntly, the club struggled during its early years, both financially and on the playing arena, often taking to the field with players missing, and never seriously troubling competition heavyweights like Geelong, South Melbourne and Carlton.

The VFA introduced a 'final four' system in 1903, but by this time the Tricolours, undermined by the loss interstate and abroad of a number of key players, were no longer a force (see footnote 6).  A combination of careful recruiting and the emergence of a group of talented local juniors gradually turned the tide, however, and in 1906 the side made it through to its first premiership play-off, only to lose by 11 points to West Melbourne despite hurtling out of the blocks early on.

The 1908 season was noteworthy in bringing the defection of Richmond to league ranks, with West Melbourne also disappearing after an aborted attempt to follow suit by means of a merger with North Melbourne.  Brighton and Northcote were admitted to the competition as replacements.  Changes were afoot at Footscray too, with a new administration, and the arrival of some half a dozen high quality players, including Jim Neylan from West Melbourne, Johnny Lauder from Yarraville, and former Port Melbourne and Richmond goalsneak Jack Hutchinson, who had already topped the VFA's annual list of goal kickers on three occasions, and would do so again in 1908 with 68 goals for the year.

The new look Tricolours were a power to be reckoned with in 1908, losing only 3 home and away matches for the year to qualify for the finals as minor premiers before seeing off Williamstown's premiership challenge in a semi final to reach the flag decider against Brunswick.  The VFA, in an astute move, scheduled the final for the MCG on a public holiday, aware that the United States Navy, which was in Melbourne as part of its 'good will' world tour, was conducting a range of festivities that morning, with the likelihood that many of the spectators would regard the prospect of an afternoon at the football, to round off the day, appealing.  So it proved, with a huge crowd, estimated to be in the region of 44,000 (only 9,000 fewer than attended that year's VFL final), rolling up.

The game was closely fought for three quarters, with Brunswick leading by 4 points at quarter time and 2 points at the long break, and Footscray in front by 8 points at the last change.  However, the 'Wicks had been forced to play a man short since losing Harold Balfe with a broken arm in the opening term, and the longer the game went on, the harder they found it to maintain the pressure.  In the final quarter Footscray totally dominated the play, adding 3.5 to 1.1 to win 'pulling away' by 24 points, 9.10 (64) to 6.4 (40).  'Scray wingman Fred Hansen, who wore a claret cap when playing, was best afield, ably abetted by centreman Archie 'Driver' Clarke, rover Roy Cotton, and 3 goal half forward John Lauder.  Each of the Footscray players received a sovereign for his efforts from club president James Cumming.

Footscray's fall from grace after its 1908 premiership success was marked, but mercifully brief.  By 1912, the season after the VFA openly accepted that professionalism existed, and could not be fought, Footscray again emerged as the team to beat, finishing the home and away season in pole position, only to succumb comparatively meekly on two occasions to Essendon Association in the finals.

When the VFA resumed after a two year break in 1918, Footscray was one of half a dozen clubs to take part, albeit somewhat half heartedly.  The side finished last.  However, when things resumed in earnest the following year, Footscray, which had recruited ruckman Jack 'Chooka' Howell and forward Harry Morgan from South Melbourne, once again proved itself the team to beat.  After Brunswick had upset minor premiers North Melbourne in a semi final the Tricolours showed great fortitude to win the final against the 'Wicks by 13 points after allowing their opponents to kick the first 4 goals of the game.  This set up a challenge final meeting with the Shinboners, who surprisingly, apart from a period during the 2nd term, failed to put up much of a challenge.  Footscray's eventual 22 point victory, in which rover-cum-half forward Aubrey McKenzie, full back John Meuleman, centre half back Norman Ford, and 4 goal full forward Johnny Craddock excelled, would have been substantially more emphatic had it kicked straighter, but the formidable overall nature of the team's performance left no one in any doubt that the gauntlet had been well and truly thrown down to the other nine Association clubs.

By contrast with 1919, Footscray's 1920 flag win owed almost everything to steadiness in front of goal, for despite managing only 19 scoring shots to opponent Brunswick's 26, the Tricolours emerged victorious from a tempestuous final encounter by 3 points.  Footscray won 10.9 (69) to 8.18 (66), with future Test cricketing rover Roy Park vying for best afield honours with ruckman Jack 'Chooka' Howell.

The Tricolours' consummate dominance of the competition continued in 1921 - except when it really counted, in the finals.  Not only was Footscray bested by Williamstown in both the final replay and the challenge final, it was forced to surrender to the elements when an enormous hailstorm during the 3rd quarter of the 1st attempt to play the final forced its abandonment.

Footscray finished runners up again in 1922 after a controversial 2 point challenge final loss to Port Melbourne which produced allegations that four Borough players had been offered bribes to 'lie down'.  The allegations were never proved, but left a sour taste which was still evident twelve months later when the same two clubs played off once more for the title.  This time around the 'Scray proved too strong, leading at every change by 22, 9 and 29 points before running out 7.10 (52) to 5.8 (38) winners.  More notable than the scoreline, however, was the rough, uninhibited nature of the play which saw four Port Melbourne and three Footscray players reported.  Somewhat controversially, the Borough players were all severely punished, while none of the Footscray trio received anything worse than a caution.

In all points of the game Footscray were the better side.  They were fitter, faster, cleverer........electrifying.  they worked together like a well-oiled machine, and their handball - if not always in strict conformity with the rules and often overdone - was bewildering.  (See footnote 8)

The reference to illegal handball concerns Footscray's use of the flick pass, which was permitted in the Association, and which indeed had been one of the primary foundations of the Tricolours' supremacy in that competition, but which was not allowed in the League.  

'The Australasian' added further salt to Essendon's wounds:

What capped Footscray's exhibition and made it a joy, was the absolute fairness of their methods, and (the) manliness displayed by every member of the team.  League football was humiliated and trampled under foot when Footscray made hacks of mighty Essendon.  (See footnote 9)

Prominent Essendon player Tom Fitzmaurice later poured scorn on these reactions.  "The game," he declared, "was a frame up.  Some Essendon players were offered money to let Footscray win and they refused it; a few others sold Essendon and the League without compunction."  (See footnote 10)  These are serious allegations, but they might have carried more weight had they been ventured in the immediate wake of the game, and not more than a decade later.  As such they cannot help but be regarded as sour grapes of the meanest, most reprehensible kind.  When all is said and done, the only objective measure of the respective strengths of two football teams is the score on the board at the conclusion of the game; if Essendon's approach to the historic championship match was inadequate or flawed, that is merely another way of declaring that its team was inferior to Footscray on the day.

It is therefore perhaps a trifle ironic that the Tricolours should have provided the VFA with arguably its most noteworthy achievement of the twentieth century in what was effectively their last game under the Association banner.  In 1925, after a forty-one season stint in the Association which had yielded a record nine premierships (see footnote 11), Footscray, along with Hawthorn and North Melbourne, left its roots behind and embarked on a new era in the VFL.  Since the schism of 1897, the Tricolours had only failed to contest the finals on seven occasions, and had managed the highly commendable success rate of 70.6%.  However, things were about to get considerably tougher.

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Footnotes

1. In opting for the name 'Western Bulldogs' the club demonstrated an interesting - some would say disturbing - refusal to accept that the days of the AFL as a suburban Melbourne competition were over. Either that, or a move to Perth is in the offing.  Return to Main Text

2. Although it could be argued that the name change coupled with the relocation to, first, Optus Oval and then Colonial Stadium (latterly known as the Telstra Dome) constituted an attempt to re-invent the club and distance itself from its origins.  Return to Main Text

3.  The other clubs were St Kilda, which was being re-admitted, Port Melbourne, Prahran and South Williamstown.  Return to Main Text

4. This development is explored in greater detail in, for example, the entries on Carlton, Essendon and St Kilda.  Return to Main Text

5.  The premiership at this time was still awarded to the team with the best overall record during the home and away season.  Return to Main Text

6.  During the 1902 season, for example, the 'Scray suffered the indignity of being held scoreless in a match by a Port Melbourne side which itself kicked 9.23 (77).  Return to Main Text

7.  The Roar of the Crowd: a History of VFA Grand Finals by Marc Fiddian, page 25.  Return to Main Text

8.  From 'The Argus', 6 October 1924, and quoted in Unleashed: a History of the Footscray Football Club by John Lack, Chris McConville, Michael Small and Damien Wright, page 89.  Return to Main Text

9.  From 'The Australasian, 11 October 1924', quoted ibid, page 89.  Return to Main Text

10.  'Sporting Globe', 3 June 1935.  Return to Main Text

11.  Subsequently superceded by both Williamstown and Port Melbourne.  Return to Main Text