How Susan Alberti helped save the Western Bulldogs from extinction and turn the club into a success

[Axe Man]

How Susan Alberti helped save the Western Bulldogs from extinction and turn the club into a success



FORMER Western Bulldogs boss Campbell Rose has spoken of the dire state of the club 15 years ago and Susan Alberti’s role in keeping it alive.

Rose revealed the Dogs’ finances and decaying Whitten Oval facility were literally on the nose in late 2002.

“Every night the gas would build up in both sets of toilets, and the vents were blocked so all of the toilets would blow out overnight,” Rose said.

“There would be no water in the S-bend, so every morning the whole place stank of s---.

“People would get sick. You’d bring files home and they’d smell, they’d make the room smell.

“The place had no asset maintenance, no investment. It wasn’t a matter of making ends meet. They were too far apart. These days were very dark, very dark indeed.”

In a book on the life of Alberti, The Footy Lady, Rose reveals how the trailblazing businesswoman agreed to stump up $1 million of her own money to kickstart an emergency club fundraiser.

“I had a concept that involved lining up all the dominoes to materialise $20 million in a short space of time,” Rose said in the book.

“She came back within a few hours and said yes, she was with me. If Sue hadn’t of done that, my plan wouldn’t have worked. If I hadn’t had a leadership gift, a leader within the Bulldogs community, putting their faith in me, the whole concept would have failed.

“By believing in me and what I was aiming for, Sue gave me the ability to look other high-net-worth individuals in the eye and ask for their commitment.

“We raised $32 million. We shifted it from hopless, hapless and helpless to an environment of pride, success and excellence. On that journey, I cannot acknowledge, recognise and thank Sue Alberti enough for what she did.”

The book reveals Alberti donated more than $4 million to the Bulldogs over a dozen years, serving as a club director and vice-president.

Her lifelong love affair with the Dogs culminated in last year’s Grand Final triumph over Sydney.

Rose also details a conversation with the late Collingwood board member Nuno D’Aquino after accepting the Bulldogs’ top job.

“We talked over coffee and he (D’Aquino) asked, ‘Why did you take that job Campbell? It is a road to nowhere ... you will leave that club, with it in a pine box. The AFL will relocate it to Queensland.”

Former Bulldogs director George Pappas said Alberti’s appointment as one of footy’s first female board members was initially met with cynicism.

“There was concern she might want to run things, get involved in the colour of the jumpers ... because she likes to go into detail,” Pappas said.

“(But) Sue was a network in her own right ... and to be quite blunt, we needed people on there who had money.”

Rose added: “I could see there was something special about Sue. I said to (president) David Smorgon that we needed diversity around the board table.

“In no way do I mean our board was anti-woman, but if you swim around in the fish bowl long enough after a while you end up drinking your own shit.

“You don’t understand the environment you’re creating. And anything that challenges that is a shock. You don’t necessarily ask if maybe there’s a different way of doing things. And I could see that Sue could bring that dimension.”

Alberti, 70, was a major driver behind the establishment of the AFLW women’s league and famously took on and beat The Footy Show in a 2009 defamation case.

She was made a life member of the Western Bulldogs two years ago.

The Footy Lady: The Trailblazing Story of Susan Alberti by Stephanie Asher (Melbourne University Publishing, out 1 November)

RRP $29.99

Preorder now at mup.com.au