5 replies to this topic

[Mr Canterbury]

In the sports section of today’s (26/8/19) Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), page 35 was devoted to the AFL. Half of page 35 contained the article “Spirited Dogs set date with Giants as echoes of 2016 sound for finals” which featured a photo of Western Bulldogs player Bailey Dale. The SMH’s sister paper in Melbourne (The Age) probably has the same article in it.

 

In much the same way that a lot of people living in Melbourne (and Adelaide and Perth) are generally ignorant about the NRL, a lot of people living in Sydney (and Brisbane) are generally ignorant about the AFL.

 

Now “AFL ignorant” Sydneysiders (or for that matter people from overseas presently in Sydney on business or holiday who know nothing about AFL) after reading the above mentioned article about the Western Bulldogs in today’s (26/8/19) SMH may be curious and ask “where do the Western Bulldogs come from?” They would not be able to glean anything from the text of the article. Then they would notice on the photo of Bailey Dale the word “BALLARAT” on the right hand side of his shorts and come to the erroneous conclusion that the Western Bulldogs are a club from Ballarat!!!

[Caveman]

Well picked up Mr Canterbury -that sums it up- where does this club/team come from?

 

 Ballarat adds a new dimension to this identity crisis.

 

  Western is apparently to signify the west of Melbourne, but to those not familiar with Melbourne, the word western is just a direction. Yet what has been said for years by myself and others  is that the name Western is superfluous- it's all about the bulldogs.

 

A good example is this - Western is the cricketer who in a test match scores two ducks, doesn't bowl a ball, so thus he can't take a wicket, does NOT take a catch or effect  a run out, he fields in the slips so he never chases a ball to prevent it becoming a boundary. Yet he plays in the win after being carried by the other 10 players (i.e. Mike Atherton when England beat Australia in the MCG test of 1998) In simplistic terms western is carried by the bulldogs- it is the player in the slips whose sum total of tangible contribution is yelling out the moral support   "Well bowled Garry"

 

"We can't change back because we will go bankrupt" that is what the intellectually ungifted "Footscray hater"  believes because they have been told to believe it and they just can't use their lonely brain to work out what a lot of garbage that ludicrous logic is.

 

If they really wanted to appease the whole support, the board could change the name to -

 

 Footscray - Western Bulldogs

 

 just like you have with

 

 Canterbury -Bankstown Bulldogs

 

but those in charge won't do that either because it means adding in Footscray and as we all know the whole name change was about making Footscray invisible. They argue that it will be too long- well really? The FW Bulldogs compared to the GC Suns or better again the GWS Giants. It is unbelievable that some people can be so gullible to fall for this.

 

The club is going well at the moment on the field - Luke Beveridge is a really good bloke and also the best coach the club has had since when we were in the VFA pre 1925. Could possibly win it again this year, it is an even season, done it before from 7th. Most people only care about that at the moment.

 

However should the flag not be achieved this season, then issues like the Footscray name have to be discussed, because the goodwill hangover from that 2016 flag will have run its course and what we are going to do about playing in Ballarat or Docklands etc will be back on the table.

[Mr Canterbury]

 Yet what has been said for years by myself and others  is that the name Western is superfluous- it's all about the bulldogs.

 

 

It appears that Google are aware of this! Type “afl table” (or “afl ladder”) into the Google search function and then open up the table that appears at the top of the screen. This AFL table will show in descending order Geelong, Brisbane, Richmond, Collingwood, West Coast, GWS Giants, BULLDOGS, Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, Adelaide, North Melbourne, Fremantle, St Kilda, Sydney, Carlton, Melbourne and Gold Coast.

 

No prizes for guessing which club has the most childish and most meaningless name! IMHO “Bulldogs” looks worse (and is more childish) than “Western Bulldogs” for an AFL club! I know what it is like as for 9 years (2001-2009) my NRL club was called just “Bulldogs” (sole identity a breed of dog), like AFL's "Kangaroos" (who eventually realised the error of their ways and reverted back to being North Melbourne). I would get irritated when (2001-2009) some NRL tables would show Canberra, Melbourne, Parramatta, BULLDOGS, Brisbane, Penrith, North Queensland etc etc. Thankfully my NRL club is now Canterbury-Bankstown again, although (like all NRL clubs) too much emphasis is placed on the club’s nickname these days.

 

Why can’t the Western Bulldogs management realise how childish and stupid “Bulldogs” or “Western Bulldogs” looks when compared to the other AFL clubs?

[Caveman]

That is right Mr Canterbury and there was something today on a news website today about the bulldogs and it was your bulldogs, not the south of the border bulldogs.

 

The nickname has taken over- it is thus no longer a nickname.

 

So confusion reigns supreme - (as it has for years) 

 

Possibly the worst part is that its not just childish, its actually infantile. Some supporters cannot engage their brain long enough just even to think about how ludicrous it looks. For me calling the club "The Bulldogs" is worse than calling them "Western", because it just so explains the rationale for the name change- just make Footscray invisible, we cant use that word it has negative connotations. Though the club for the last 22 years has no problem using the suburb for its administrative headquarters and still training there. The word using has two meanings in that case.  Yet there is no negative connotations in training there and using Footscray as the mailing address. Just pretend that it isn't Footscray- you didn't go to watch the club train in Footscray, you went to watch them train at - "The Bulldogs"  this fictitious place- its like 'Tigerland" it just doesn't exist.Yet people know that Tigerland is mythical and a play on words, for dramatic effect- Tigerland is in Richmond its their nickname. Whereas "The Bulldogs" is the substitute expression- there is no dramatic effect here. 

 

It is actually dishonest as well as bad mannered in not using the Footscray word. You could put a case forward that its trading by deception.

 

One day people will wake up to it. You can only hope, but if not then the "dumbing down of society" will have succeeded. 

[Mr Canterbury]

Last week on Foxtel I saw a bit of the Sydney Swans versus Western Bulldogs game. I was surprised when I noticed that the Western Bulldogs club STILL has “BALLARAT” on the players’ shorts! Apparently (according to a Google search I did) the club has had “BALLARAT” on the players’ shorts since 2016! I guess that AFL people think that this is normal because it has been the status quo for so long. To use an analogy all I can say is that I would find it bizarre if my NRL club Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (which represents a large chunk of south-western Sydney) had on their players’ shorts the name of a NSW regional city like “DUBBO” or “GOULBURN”! There surely MUST be some people who think the Western Bulldogs club comes from Ballarat in regional Victoria (particularly in “non-AFL” Australian cities like Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Newcastle etc) because of the “BALLARAT” on the players’ shorts (although I think this would be only a small fraction of the number of people who think that the Western Bulldogs come from Western Australia).

 

What is it about clubs with West and Western in their name and ambiguous/meaningless identities in Australian sport? We have of course Western Bulldogs AFL club of which much has been said about their identity problems on this forum.

 

Then there is the recently formed A league soccer club Western United (started playing in 2019). For the first 2 years or so of their existence I thought they were from Perth (Western Australia) until I was made aware that they (like Western Bulldogs AFL club) apparently represent western Melbourne!

 

We have the defunct ARL club (the ARL is the predecessor of the NRL) Western Reds and the Rugby Union side Western Force. At least these 2 clubs come from Western Australia (Perth).

 

There is the West Coast Eagles AFL club. OK at least they are based in Western Australia. But they occupy only a small fraction of Australia’s 3000 km west coast (Cape Leeuwin to Cape Leveque). As I understand it West Coast and Fremantle AFL clubs are divided by the Swan river in Perth (with West Coast north of the Swan river) so West Coast Eagles would have only northern Perth beachside suburbs like Cottesloe and Scarborough as actual west coast. Maybe it is just me (or my non-AFL background) but when I hear “West Coast Eagles” what first comes to mind for me is California beaches (eg Malibu and Venice Beach), the rock band The Eagles (who were formed in Los Angeles in 1971 and whose style of music is often described as “West Coast”) and The Eagles’ classic 1977 song Hotel California! I am sure I am not the only Sydneysider who thinks this way! If a worldwide opinion poll were done of “where does the sporting team West Coast Eagles come from” (and no mention of giveaway clues like “AFL club” in the question) I am certain the vast majority of people would say California!

 

Lastly we have the Wests Tigers NRL club (arguably the most meaningless club in Australian sport). I wonder how many “NRL ignorant Melbournians” think that Wests Tigers come from Western Australia? IMO the answer to this question is “probably about the same as the number of AFL ignorant Sydneysiders who think that the Western Bulldogs come from Western Australia”!

 

Have I missed any West/Western clubs in Australian sport with an ambiguous/meaningless identity? Let me know (I have a feeling I have overlooked at least one West/Western sporting club in this category)!

[Caveman]

Yes the Ballarat chestnut, it has the three points of view, those that are all for it, those who are rigorously against it and the usual ignorant and apathetic- "the I don't know and I don't care" brigade.

 

Ballarat had been after an AFL presence in their city for years. Ballarat has the third biggest population in Victoria, following Melbourne and Geelong. They are not far ahead of Bendigo which is the 4^th largest. 

 

They were courting North Melbourne years ago to play there, but due to a combination of reasons- (one being that North were apparently "asleep at the wheel") so the Western Bulldogs administration in 2016 managed to cut a deal and grasped it from them. 

 

Ballarat have shown some ability in clever marketing. When the Adelaide Crows began to make the AFL finals from 1993 onwards Ballarat declared themselves a "Crow Friendly City" and welcomed them into their town as the Adelaide fans flooded into Melbourne. They were encouraged to stop there in Ballarat this would later amount to providing areas for the Adelaide contingent to camp overnight in Ballarat itself before, after (or both) the games they would come to Melbourne for. 

 

  Now this is the main point about the Ballarat scenario- it is not really that they specifically want the Western Bulldogs or North Melbourne playing there, it is more about the opposition that will play against the Bulldogs or Kangaroos. The two teams they want most are the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide for the South Australian invasion. Fair enough why not they help the Ballarat economy, why wouldn't they? 

   

Anyhow Ballarat give money to the Western Bulldogs to play a few home game there each season, a few do travel up from Melbourne to watch them play there, along with a few locals who want to see games played at the highest level . So, it is a mutually exploitive deal,  Ballarat want the tourist dollar from the out of towner, the Bulldogs are hoping to widen their supporter base by latching onto those from Ballarat.

 

The problem is this- how far do you want to expand to bring more supporters to the club? The club changed the name to Western because it was going to bring in more fans- the name Footscray (apparently) meant nothing to those in the Western Suburbs out of Footscray. Yet it hasn't happened, we still have the 2^nd smallest supporter base in Victoria (North Melbourne have the smallest) so the idea of we want to cosy up to Ballarat to widen our brand is just laughable to those of us who knew that changing the name from Footscray to Westen was never going to pay dividends. People in Ballarat who already follow a club are hardly going to change to us because we are Western playing two games a season there for money.  

 

We seem to have this fascination with directions in Melbourne especially west.  Everything in Footscray needs to be changed to Western. The Western General Hospital, was formerly the Footscray and District Hospital, the local football league was the Footscray District Football League- then after Footscray became the Western Bulldogs it changed to the Western Region Football League. There are other examples as well.  

 

However Ballarat don't consider themselves as "Western Suburbs" they are their own town- they are not "westies" they are Ballarat a famous old place where the Eureka Stockade occurred in 1854- nearly 170 years ago, before Aussie Rules football was invented. 

 

Calling football clubs after any of the 4 cardinal directions (north, south, east and west) is pointless- especially when there is no place after or before it. West Tigers- what does that mean? West Coast Eagles they have a ludicrous name- would someone from Kalgoorlie feel invested in that? Then at least that was their name from inception in 1986 for their first season in 1987, we changed from a real name to a directional name.    

 

The fight to change the name back to Footscray continues, it has its lulls and is usually dormant however it is still there- it hasn't gone away. The will to continue it will strengthen soon