Labor promise Western Bulldogs will play two games in Ballarat every season

[boydogs]

For those whinging you could live in Brissy (my choice) and have to wait till round 23 next season at the Gabba for the one and only Dogs game!

Or in Cairns, see them for the first time in 5 years this year and we'll be in Ballarat instead in 2017!

[bornadog]

I don't believe anyone was negative or complaining. The discussion was centred around the weather in Ballarat.

[chef]

I don't believe anyone was negative or complaining. The discussion was centred around the weather in Ballarat.

Yeah, no ones complaining just stating the fact that outside of the snow zone Ballarat is the coldest place in Victoria. I spent my teenage years there and I've never experienced anything as cold as a winter there(I also have lived in Melbourne for about 5 years).

[Maddog37]

Getting a bit soft in your old age Chef! Ballarat is nowhere near as cold as it was 25 years ago.

[chef]

Getting a bit soft in your old age Chef! Ballarat is nowhere near as cold as it was 25 years ago.

The joys of global warming

[Webby]

I don't believe anyone was negative or complaining. The discussion was centred around the weather in Ballarat.

Wasn't narrowing my focus to WOOF alone. Did you see the Facebook posts on the club's site on the announcement? Several were not renewing their memberships, moaning about the drive, the weather, the waste of money etc etc. dig out the WBFC page on Facebook and have a read. It's incredulous!

[bornadog]

Wasn't narrowing my focus to WOOF alone. Did you see the Facebook posts on the club's site on the announcement? Several were not renewing their memberships, moaning about the drive, the weather, the waste of money etc etc. dig out the WBFC page on Facebook and have a read. It's incredulous!

Didn't see that. Those people will complain about anything.

[Eastdog]

Wasn't narrowing my focus to WOOF alone. Did you see the Facebook posts on the club's site on the announcement? Several were not renewing their memberships, moaning about the drive, the weather, the waste of money etc etc. dig out the WBFC page on Facebook and have a read. It's incredulous!

Even if you don't plan to go to Ballarat to watch us there this is a big plus for our club in my opinion. We are only going to play 1-2 home games there so that's hardly that many the rest will still be at Ethiad/MCG. I'm an Eastern Western Bulldog and think this will be good. At least now we don't have to sell games interstate anymore.

[BulldogBelle]

Wasn't narrowing my focus to WOOF alone. Did you see the Facebook posts on the club's site on the announcement? Several were not renewing their memberships, moaning about the drive, the weather, the waste of money etc etc. dig out the WBFC page on Facebook and have a read. It's incredulous!

Some of our supporters are bloody whingers!

[F'scary]

We might attract some new members too.

[bornadog]

Ballarat makes sense: Minson

Will Minson has thrown the playing group’s support behind the Club’s expansion into Ballarat, speaking with ABC Ballarat earlier this week.
“It’s pretty exciting, it makes a lot of sense for us to play some footy out in Ballarat and I know that a lot of Dogs fans out there are excited about it, as the whole club is,” Minson said.

The Bulldogs will play a NAB Challenge match against Melbourne on Saturday 14 March at Ballarat’s Eureka Stadium, where the Club will play up to three home and away games from as early as 2017.

The move follows a commitment from the Labor government to upgrade the stadium and its facilities, with the Bulldogs excited to bring all of the Club’s home matches back to Victoria, after previously adding home games in Cairns and Canberra to their fixtures.
Minson said the Club’s focus on the western region is integral to its future, and extending that to Ballarat was a natural progression.
“It’s an obvious relationship for us given its proximity to the footy club, part of the west (and the) fastest growing corridor in the country.

“We’re wanting to get as many fans as we can in that region and Ballarat’s very much the heartland of that, it seems an obvious place for us to play football.”

Tickets are now on sale for the Western Bulldogs NAB Challenge match at Eureka Stadium on Saturday 14 March. Click here to purchase.

[bornadog]

Locals cold on Eureka Stadium makeover for Western Bulldogs

It was something of a bolt from the blue, or red as the case may be, when Labor's prospective premier Daniel Andrews and Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon made a joint announcement at Ballarat's Eureka Stadium before the election in November.


They announced that North Ballarat's home ground, formerly known as the Northern Oval, would host two Bulldogs games a season in the AFL as part of a $31.5 million redevelopment if Labor were elected. The redevelopment would include work on the main oval as well as work on a secondary oval and the basketball stadium. Facilities would be improved to cater for crowds of up to 20,000.


The process towards fulfilling this promise is under way. The City of Ballarat chief executive, Anthony Schinck, said the state government has allocated $15 million for the first stage of the project. He said the project would be going ahead after five years of planning for AFL games at the Eureka Stadium.


But while Schinck said there had been much consultation about the project, some people in Ballarat are scratching their heads. They wonder whether the money could be better spent on a more agreeable venue.


Nobody doubts that North Ballarat is a wonderful club; its recent record includes a hat-trick of premierships in the VFL, from 2008-20010. It is well coached and administered. Arguably, it punches above its weight more than any club at state level around the nation.


But many football people at the local level in Ballarat have no great affinity for it. North Ballarat is not considered the club of the town; it is simply a club from the northern part of town, which plays at a high level at an unloved venue.


If you ask anyone in Ballarat to describe Eureka Stadium, the first word mentioned is "windswept". "A cold hole" is a more bracing description. Ballarat people wonder whether AFL fans would turn their noses up at the ground, which sits on an unattractive expanse of land just off the Western Highway.


Its location is a bonus for motorists; besides accessibility, there is plenty of parking. But the obvious question is how you get there from the train station, which, according to Google Maps, is 2.7 kilometres from the ground. It's a long walk along a tedious road. Buses would have to be organised.


The more central ground is the Eastern Oval, which is just 400 metres from the train station. The Eastern Oval is the ground most loved by Ballarat people. Since its redevelopment more than a decade ago, it has hosted the Ballarat Football League's preliminary final and grand final to great acclaim. About 4000 spectators cram in on grand final day. The atmosphere is humming. Unfortunately, there is just no room to develop the ground as an AFL venue.


The East Point Football Club is the home tenant. The club's president, Maurice O'Keefe (yes, the St Kilda wingman from the late 1970s), is proud of the fact that the Eastern Oval is so well loved. But he acknowledges that it is too small for redevelopment. And, besides, he fears for his club if the Bulldogs move in.


"We'd be kicked off, for sure," he said.


O'Keefe suggested that Victoria Park, to the west of the town centre, would be ripe for a boutique stadium. It features plenty of space, but no senior club is based there. It would be a neutral venue, making it more likely to be embraced.


The other main ground in town is the City Oval, which is two kilometres from the train station. Like the Eastern Oval, the City Oval has hosted footy and cricket matches since the 19th century. Like the Eastern Oval, it has an historic grandstand, but it's not really considered a candidate for redevelopment as a boutique stadium because there would be so much to do.


Redan, famously coached to success by John Northey in the early 1980s, is the home club at the City Oval. The Redan president, Peter Britt, wondered why there would be a ground redevelopment in the northern part of town given that the population is burgeoning on the southern and western outskirts.


Yes, parochialism is at issue here. Many Ballarat footy people find it hard to throw their weight behind North Ballarat because the Roosters bullied the local competition before moving into the VFL in 1996. And local footy fans' unease towards North Ballarat has been refuelled since the club was allowed to re-enter senior and reserves teams in the Ballarat Football League seven years ago.


The worst fears have been realised as the North Ballarat off-shoot, known as North Ballarat City, has won the past two flags. City would almost inevitably achieve more success in the Ballarat league if their facilities were further improved.


North Ballarat chief executive Mark Patterson knows the entire town is unlikely to agree with the ground's redevelopment, but he is confident that the majority can be persuaded of the benefits. The Roosters believe they are the best placed to host the biggest show in town.

[F'scary]

Very interesting article, thanks BAD. The lesson to be taken home from it is that if our Ballarat venture is to succeed we (and the State government, who is bank rolling the venture) need to make sure local sensibilities are carefully handled. Although, I have to say, Ballarat is so relatively small it is funny to encounter in this age of globalism such a purported degree of tribalism from one street to the next.

For those wondering, I love Ballarat & district, have holidayed there a number of times in recent years and am supportive in principle of the move to play 2 games a season there on the grounds that it will help focus and grow our brand as the team of the west and will provide a venue our opponents will dread playing at - an old fashioned, home ground advantage - the deal should be that interstate sides have to play us there :-) ;-).

[Maddog37]

Would love to have a ground at Victoria park as I could take a short walk to the game. Alas it is not a reality.

[GVGjr]

Money spent at the Eastern Oval could be the better option but highly unlikely. I just think Eureka is a harder venue to get to. Eureka needs a lot of work.