Getting to the Whitten Oval on matchdays in the VFL days and Early AFL days

[Eastdog]

I played footy for flem/ken at the old Holland park and it was all north supporters back then.
Through my experiences , braybrook all the way to Melton are very bulldog owned and I think out Werribee way we are getting a lot of Sudanese etc coming on board.
Tarniet, hoppers seem to be growing as a bulldog heartland too.

The premiership for sure would have helped that - hopefully soon we can get another one so it can help it even more.

[ledge]

North are in the game for Sudanese too, a person I work with also works at north as a Sudanese intergrater, ( that's the best word I could think of) he is Sudanese and I work with a few and they are very nice and relaxed happy race , I would love them to support is despite the medias write ups on the bad ones.

[Twodogs]

North are in the game for Sudanese too, a person I work with also works at north as a Sudanese intergrater, ( that's the best word I could think of) he is Sudanese and I work with a few and they are very nice and relaxed happy race , I would love them to support is despite the medias write ups on the bad ones.

North are working very hard with the Sudanese community running leadership and social programs. They are doing a good job. I do a but of work at a Neighbourhood house over that way that helps with the programs do I've seen a bit of it in action.

[Twodogs]

Yeah that does give the mind a workout. Anyway back to Port Melbourne the suburb being part of the western suburbs I believe the Port Melbourne Colts did play in the Western Region Football League along with a few teams from the Flemington/Kensington area.

You're quite right, port colts do play in the WFRL. It still doesn't mean that Port Melbourne is in the western suburbs.

Maribyrnong is though.

[Twodogs]

I played footy for flem/ken at the old Holland park and it was all north supporters back then.
Through my experiences , braybrook all the way to Melton are very bulldog owned and I think out Werribee way we are getting a lot of Sudanese etc coming on board.
Tarniet, hoppers seem to be growing as a bulldog heartland too.

Some tough boys playing in those Fleming/Ken teams ledge.

[Eastdog]

Really good to hear ledge and Twodogs a greater insight into some of the community work we do and some other clubs do that doesn't often get much coverage.

[Eastdog]

You're quite right, port colts do play in the WFRL. It still doesn't mean that Port Melbourne is in the western suburbs.

Maribyrnong is though.

I think the suburb that is West of the Melbourne CBD but east of the Maribyrnong river that in my opinion we can claim as Bulldog territory would be West Melbourne despite North Melbounrne Station being in West Melbourne. In the future North Melbourne station will be called West Melbourne station which makes more sense give its actually in West Melbourne after the whole metro rail tunnel development is completed.

[Twodogs]

I think the suburb that is West of the Melbourne CBD but east of the Maribyrnong river that in my opinion we can claim as Bulldog territory would be West Melbourne despite North Melbounrne Station being in West Melbourne. In the future North Melbourne station will be called West Melbourne station which makes more sense give its actually in West Melbourne after the whole metro rail tunnel development is completed.

True story. Back in the 1890s Footscray was sick of being called Footscray. The name Footscray was associated with factorys and smells and industry and council wanted to escape the association. So they applied to the state government to change the name to West Footscray.

The State refused the request on the grounds that there already was a suburb called West Melbourne and having two suburbs with the same name was more trouble than it was worth.

[ledge]

Some tough boys playing in those Fleming/Ken teams ledge.

Early to mid 80s, spent our time winning flags and getting booted out of competitions every second year .
Amazing footballers in that team, could have played in the VFL no problem but they had other things they enjoyed that weren't exactly legal.
Awesome blokes to play with but not against, I did both.

[Eastdog]

Love this ground.

A few photos I took from the practice game/family day at Whitten Oval.

[Eastdog]

[Twodogs]

Early to mid 80s, spent our time winning flags and getting booted out of competitions every second year .
Amazing footballers in that team, could have played in the VFL no problem but they had other things they enjoyed that weren't exactly legal.
Awesome blokes to play with but not against, I did both.

Wa John Sharp playing for Fleming/Ken back then?

He was a lunatic fast bowler I used to play cricket with. He was a champion footballer who could have played VFL but decided to concentrate on cricket.

So he gets invited to Victorian state practice squad. It had been raining and the practice wickets were in a terrible state and very dangerous to bat on. The team manager asked the quicks not to bowl short and everyone agreed but not everyone's remembered, Sharpie forgot while he was bowling to Bill Lawry not once but twice, and was removed from practice early and never invited bac. That's the legend anyway.

[Eastdog]

More pics I took yesterday from up in the EJ Whitten Stand:

[Eastdog]

Crowds over recents at Whitten Oval note not including the VFL games. AFLW and NAB AFL pre season games included.

http://m.austadiums.com/stadium_events.php?id=137

PAST EVENTS
AFLW: Western Bulldogs d Melbourne
Sat 17th March 2018. Crowd: 7,593
AFLW: Western Bulldogs d Carlton
Fri 23rd February 2018. Crowd: 8,987
AFLW: Western Bulldogs d Fremantle
Sun 4th February 2018. Crowd: 8,500
AFLW: Collingwood d Western Bulldogs
Sat 25th February 2017. Crowd: 6,733
AFLW: Melbourne d Western Bulldogs
Sat 18th February 2017. Crowd: 8,000
JLT Series: Melbourne d Western Bulldogs
Sat 18th February 2017. Crowd: 7,581

HIGHEST ATTENDANCES*
AFLW: Western Bulldogs v Fremantle
Sat 4th February 2017. Crowd: 10,100
NAB Challenge: Western Bulldogs v Richmond
Sat 28th February 2015. Crowd: 9,513
AFLW: Western Bulldogs v Carlton
Fri 23rd February 2018. Crowd: 8,987
AFLW: Western Bulldogs v Fremantle
Sun 4th February 2018. Crowd: 8,500
AFLW: Western Bulldogs v Melbourne
Sat 18th February 2017. Crowd: 8,000
AFLW: Western Bulldogs v Adelaide Crows
Fri 10th February 2017. Crowd: 7,669
*CROWD DATA SINCE 2003

[Eastdog]

Another Whitten Oval experience missed the training today so hopefully when I’m next there I catch that. Will endeavour to drive there one day as I’ve taken the train all the times I’ve been but probably better with the train to not worry about a park. It’s a special place!