Some great stories of how we came to support the Bulldogs.
Some great stories of how we came to support the Bulldogs.
Lived in Sunshine growing up in the 80's. No one in my family really cared for football. My grandfather had an interest in the Bulldogs living in Braybrook. I had free choice and liked the colours of Fitzroy and Footscray. I was young when I chose but i think it went like this
- Mack trucks are represented by the Bulldog(I loved trucks as a kid, western suburbs upbringing I guess you can't miss them)
- The Western Oval was 10 minutes by car so I thought at least I'll get to go because it was close.
-My grandparents were my carers while mum and dad worked before I was old enough to goto school and then during school holidays, so therefore I spent a large percentage of my youth shopping in Footscray. Remember when Coles had a foodcourt upsatirs accessed by escalator (I think). The plaza was a carpark and I sat with my Grandfather in His EK Holden at Sims on Barkly Street while grandma shopped and we listened to horseracing.
- I was a confirmed Bulldogs supporter before this, but I played for Footscray Hockey Club when i was young with the mascot and colours being the same. Close as I came to playing in the Red, white and blue.
I've got a couple of cousins to follow because I'm a supporter and definately influenced my niece. Her dad doesn't care for footy, so I got to pick for her.
Took me a while to get the nerve to do this but what the heck: I moved to Footscray in 2000 after getting divorced (no kids so no big deal in the end, I suppose). I moved to Footscray because I wanted to find a place in Melbourne where I wouldn't run into my ex, her friends and her family. Didn't know much about the western suburbs, except I went to the Whitten Oval for the away matches. I came from the SE suburbs and barracked for St K - all my family are St K. I moved in a stones throw from the Whitten Oval. I thought "this is crazy, living so close to one of the other AFL clubs bases and not following them." I also had some other reasons to ditch St K including friends who let me down badly. So I thought stuff this I'm going to follow WB from now on. And that's that. I still live in Footscray, got another wife and we are happy and have 3 young children. They are WB supporters, naturally.
Dad went for Fitzroy
Mother went for Geelong
My older brother went for St. Kilda
I chose The Bulldogs quite simply because I loved Bulldogs.
My younger daughter thinks she is a puppy, so it was a natural choice
thanks mate, I'm just another refugee I suppose. Anyway, I'm really getting keyed up about the season. It's going to be an interesting year, sort of like Eade's first year a bit, perhaps, although we are nowhere near the depths of the end of the Rohde era (and not meaning to criticise him by saying that, it was a tough gig for whoever was WB coach at that time). But there's another thread for that conversation...I'm heading there for a read now.
cheers
Grew-up in Footscray and just did what everyone else should do in the western suburbs and follow the local team.
My Dad is a Carlton supporter, even drove the supporters bus around picking up all the Carlton granies to take them to each game.
My Mum and all her side of the family is bulldogs they grew up in Tottenham and mum was a good Sunshine Tech girl. (oxymoron?)
Anyway up until I was 12 I went for the blues, I idolised Mike Fitzpatrick.
in 1985 My mum and I made a bet, that if the dogs beat carlton twice that year i would barrack for the dogs. As this was incredibly unlikely given the dogs of '84 (although the dogs did beat the blues at PP in 1984) i made the bet so i would have settled it once and for all.
Needless to say, Round 1 at Princess Park, sitting in the Heatley stand with my old man, the bulldogs won 22.10 to 17.10 with none other than Simon Beasley kicking 9 goals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paJyB...layer_embedded
(It was also the debut game for David Rhys-Jones)
Mum as soon as we got home had bought me a new duffelcoat in preparation for the win again later in the year. she asked me if I wanted number 18 on it. I was not impressed but was confident gven it was only footscray we were talking about.
Round 12 At the western oval, went with my mum and 2 uncles this time, standing on a milk crate at the scoreboard end , the bulldogs were yet again triumphant, 13.8 to 5.9
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WguSB..._embedded#t=6s
So true to my word i have been both a member and lover of all things Footscray/Western bulldogs since.
For those that wanted to know, I did end up wearing that duffle coat and had 18 on the back.
My Wife and twin boys on the other hand, are all Hawthorn, as my wife and i had a bet in 2008 (the year they were born) that whatever team won the flag first our two children would follow that team. - Sigh.
Like many others, I had no choice in the matter.
My grandfather on my mother's side played for Footscray and Carlton, and both her family and my fathers grew up in Altona and Kingsville respectively.
My father migrated to Australia in the early 50's as a six year old, and followed Geelong initially. Having had that beaten out of him at school he quickly turned to following Footscray.
My mother's family split in terms of support, with my grandfather aligning himself with the Blues as that's where he finished his career, and his son followed him. My grandmother on that side, and my mothers younger sister stayed with the Bulldogs, as my grandmother was from the Sandilands family (related to Laurie, though not closely).
So, my brother and I ended up following the Bulldogs. Though, only one of us stuck true. After losing a practice match between the the '86-'87 seasons to an interstate side my brother changed over to Carlton. As a ten year old, he saw his first premiership. Apparently, we were at our grandmother's place at the start of that preseason game and things were going OK. By the time we'd crossed the Westgate and gotten home to Wheelers Hill we were copping a spanking. That was enough for my brother, he folded.
I followed my brother into many situations blindly, being two years younger than he. This is one time I didn't, and it was particularly common for me to do so at that age. I'll let you decide whether I've made the right choice. I've made peace with my decision.
Good stories on how we started supporting the Bulldogs. Hopefully the pain now will be in a couple of years gone and we are finals bound again.
I can't recall a time in my life when I didn't follow Footscray, and I also can't remember ever when the single moment was where I made the conscious decision to follow the Dogs. I just always have and I guess it must have been a subconscious choice, or osmosis due to my Mum.
She and her family moved from England at the end of WW2, and settled in the Western Suburbs, building a house in Brooklyn. I must've recalled when I was very little my Mum mentioning that she went to the 1954 Grand Final with her friends, and perhaps that's how I chose them.
My earliest Footscray related memory was my Gran knitting me a red White and Blue jumper when I was about 3 or 4, and then I remember at 6 years of age getting my first proper guernsey and getting Kelvin Templeton's number put on the back.
My two sisters followed Carlton and Collingwood. My Dad who was an American detested footy, and my Mum notionally followed Footscray although wasn't a big footy fan. However her attendance at the 1954 GF has become like a family heirloom passed down the line.
I just live in hope that one day I can see a Dogs GF so I don't have to live vicariously through my Mum's experience.
As my wife and I get ready for our first child to be born in April next year, I am already planning to make sure he/she is suitably indoctrinated to support the Dogs in the same manner as I was. Already planning to make sure there is plenty of Dogs themed merchandise around the baby right from the get go just to help the process along some.