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Club legend outlines why Bulldogs should go back to original name
Matt Balmer from Fox Sports
@mattbalmer7
February 11th, 2021 12:18 pm


Former club captain Bob Murphy believes it is time the Western Bulldogs changed their name back to Footscray.

Murphy played 312 games in the red, white and blue across his career and suggested it was time the Dogs went back to where the heart of the club was, by returning the name back to Footscray.

The Dogs changed the name at the end of 1996 in order to market the club more broadly in the western suburbs of Melbourne.

The Western Bulldogs title is the only club in Victoria not to be directly named after a suburb.

“I have long held the thought that I would love the Western Bulldogs to go back to being the Footscray Bulldogs,” he told SEN’s Bob and Andy.

“This is just me speaking for me. I understand why it was done in the first place, they were bleak times at the end of ’96, the club was on its knees.

“I think enough time now has gone past and we still are in Footscray and I actually don’t think going back to (being called) Footscray leaves anyone out.

“I don’t really buy the theory that calling ourselves the Western Bulldogs opens ourselves up to including more and getting more people in.

“Footscray is a tangible feeling as much as it is a place of geography. That’s where the heart of the football club is, that’s where the football ground is, that’s where the players and fans congregate.”

Speaking on SEN Breakfast, Melbourne great Garry Lyon didn’t share Murphy’s view, believing it was a “backwards step” and “real vision stuff”.

Colleague Tim Watson suggested the club’s association with the west wouldn’t suddenly stop if the name was flipped back to Footscray.

“It was an idea at the time and it hasn’t been a failure,” he said.

“The Western Bulldogs means the west, but I don’t think if they returned to being Footscray it means they are going to disassociate themselves with the Western Suburbs.”