HS: In 1989, Bulldog people power beat VFL plans to merge Footscray and Fitzroy

This article will be a walk down the memory lane for a lot of our supporters but it's a history lesson for me as a late arrival to Australia in 2000. I am so proud of our club.
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In 1989, Bulldog people power beat VFL plans to merge Footscray and Fitzroy

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Footscray fans protest against the proposed merger

Jamie Duncan, Herald Sun, December 14, 2016 6:39pm

WHEN the Footscray Football Club was on the brink of extinction, it was members that came to the rescue.

The rearguard action by fans, reaching into their own pockets to give what they could, saved the team from a forced marriage with Fitzroy.

It was 1989, and the VFL was on the merge of going national with the Sydney, West Coast and the Brisbane Bears already in the competition, and Adelaide to form in 1990 — the same year as the AFL’s inaugural season — to join the league in 1991.

With 11 out of 14 clubs based in Melbourne, and Adelaide to create an odd number of teams and the necessity for a bye each round, the VFL was keen to cut the number of Victorian teams.

Footscray and Fitzroy were the two obvious candidates.

Both had small supporter bases and were in a world of financial pain at the end of the 1980s.

TELL US: Did you protest against the Fitzroy Bulldogs merger in 1989? Do you recognise anyone in the main image? Let us know in the comments below.

The Fitzroy Bulldogs concept was born, but remained secret until it was leaked on October 2, 1989 by Footscray general manager Dennis Galimberti — a merger he regarded as a Fitzroy takeover.

“The club had only two alternatives — extinction or merger,” VFL boss Ross Oakley said at the time.

While there were elements of the Footscray guernsey design, the colours were Fitzroy’s.

The new entity was to be known as the Fitzroy Football Club, or the Fitzroy Bulldogs.

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Fitzroy's Leon Wiegard, VFL chairman Ross Oakley and Footscray president Nick Columb.

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The sticker said it all.

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Fans were shocked to read this as though it was a fait accompli.

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But they weren’t going down without a fight.

Home games were to be played at Princes Park, then the Lions’ home ground, with training at the Western Oval, and the board was to have had four members from each club, chaired by Fitzroy president Leon Wiegard.

The next day, October 3, shocked fans gathered at the Western Oval while others protested outside VFL House.

“Footscray is being treated like a mangy dog and we are not going to sit down and take it,” former Footscray full-forward Jack Collins said.

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Peter Gordon — later club president — was the organiser of the 'Save The Dogs' committee.

Supporters saw the union in class terms, with inner city toffs taking over a team of battlers from the working class west.

The Save The Dogs Committee was formed that day, with solicitor Peter Gordon as spokesman.

A Supreme Court injunction against the merger was lodged by club supporter Irene Chatfield, claiming the forced merger was outside the VFL’s powers.

In response, the league gave the club three weeks to raise $1.5 million.

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Years on, famous Bulldogs supporter Irene Chatfield is reaping the rewards for her diehard battle to save the club. Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty

A rally for the club on October 8 attracted 10,000 people to Western Oval, and $450,000 was raised as Terry Wheeler was hired to replace outgoing coach Mick Malthouse.

A Footscray Fightback tin-rattling campaign over the next week across the western suburbs raised another $160,000.

Signs and bumper stickers with the evocative slogan “UP YOURS OAKLEY” proliferated all over town as supporter anger focused on the league chief.

The groundswell of support and donation from the fans, led by Peter Gordon, won out.

Only two weeks later, on October 23, the VFL announced the fundraising campaign had succeeded and that Footscray was safe.

The following week, members elected a new board with Peter Gordon as chairman, replacing a VFL-appointed board.

Fans were jubilant. It was not the end of the Doggies’ struggle, but following the club’s stunning premiership win this year, it’s somehow harder to remember the tough times that came before it.

jamie.duncan@news.com.au

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Robert Murphy and Easton Wood hold up the Bulldogs’ 2016 AFL Premiership Cup. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images

Quote:

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Fans were jubilant. It was not the end of the Doggies’ struggle, but following the club’s stunning premiership win this year, it’s somehow harder to remember the tough times that came before it.

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No its not, its what makes it more meaningful and so well deserved.
Eventually they will win a Flag ( I really hope ever not) but the plastic/coke-a-cola clubs players and supporters will never ever have or deserve the feeling that came with this win.

I've mentioned this before in another thread, but I still find it slightly spooky in a great way that there's only one possible score that can be kicked in AFL football that can land on a date that falls precisely in Spring, 1989.

13.11.89


The fact that we kicked EXACTLY that scoreline successively in THE TWO GREATEST GAMES I've ever attended is just surreal. Some part of me can't help but think that's more than coincidence.. Just fantastic!

I remember door knocking and collecting money in tins as a teenager. I was surprised how people were actually waiting for the door knockers to come to give money. People that didn't even barrack for the doggies were giving generously.

The satisfaction I have today that I helped save the club back then is something I am very proud of. It was only small but it all helped.

This year's premiership was for all the long suffering supporters and next year's premiership will be for the players to just show off how good they are ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Webby

I've mentioned this before in another thread, but I still find it slightly spooky in a great way that there's only one possible score that can be kicked in AFL football that can land on a date that falls precisely in Spring, 1989.

13.11.89


The fact that we kicked EXACTLY that scoreline successively in THE TWO GREATEST GAMES I've ever attended is just surreal. Some part of me can't help but think that's more than coincidence.. Just fantastic!

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Amazing stat Webby. Spooky.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Webby

I've mentioned this before in another thread, but I still find it slightly spooky in a great way that there's only one possible score that can be kicked in AFL football that can land on a date that falls precisely in Spring, 1989.

13.11.89


The fact that we kicked EXACTLY that scoreline successively in THE TWO GREATEST GAMES I've ever attended is just surreal. Some part of me can't help but think that's more than coincidence.. Just fantastic!

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That is just surreal. I am a numbers person, but it never occurred to me.

This past week I have replayed the finals and it did stand out to me that we had kicked the exact score in both the PF and GF.

I hadn't connected to the fightback but on 13 11 89 we were right in the midst of it.

And we had a shot after the siren in the PF and GF and missed them both.

I was born in early 1989 the year our club was saved.