25 replies to this topic

[Mr Canterbury]

I came across this website somewhat by accident recently and found your website's focus on Footscray AFL club identity issues interesing. Although my knowledge of AFL is minimal (I live in Sydney and I've only attended one AFL match in my life - a Sydney vs Carlton match at the SCG about 15 years ago), your website reminded me of my dealings with identity issues concerning my local rugby league team that I used to passionately support for about 20 years (late 1974 to very early 1995), Canterbury-Bankstown (which, like the AFL club you support also has the nickname of "Bulldogs"!). So, I thought it might be helpful to share some of my experiences.

OK, lets start at the beginning. In late 1974 I decided to support my local rugby league team, Canterbury-Bankstown. Back then a club's nickname was a trivial part of its identity. When I started suppoting Canterbury-Bankstown there was no Bulldogs nickname (they were then known as the "Berries" - the "Bulldogs" nickname only started in 1977). From 1975 to 1994 I attended about 180 Canterbury-Bankstown games (the majority of them at their home ground, Belmore Sports Ground) and enjoyed myself and have many fond memories of this time. It was also nice to experience 4 premiership wins during the 1980s.

But then came 1995.................

[Mr Canterbury]

In early 1995 it was announced that the club I had passionately supported for over 20 years was going to play its home games at Parramatta Stadium (well outside the Canterbury-Bankstown area) and change its name to "Sydney Bulldogs". Needless to say, this upset and alienated most of the club's fans. Many wrote angry letters of protest to the club and/or the local newspaper (The Torch) and/or spoke on football talkback programs (in fact I did all 3!). On top of this on 1st April 1995 (April Fools Day, appropriately!) "Superleague" was officially launched and the "Superleague-ARL war" started (in which the Sydney Bulldogs management seemed to have a somewhat murky role in Superleague's formation).

Despite the destabilising influences of massive supporter discontent (Parramatta move, Sydney Bulldogs identity change) and the club's involvement in the "Superleague-ARL war" (in which the ARL targeted the club), Sydney Bulldogs somehow won the 1995 premiership. Yet I felt no emotion, as I was so disgusted with the events of 1995 and did not attend any of their matches in 1995 (in fact it would be 2004 before I attended another Bulldogs match).

Yet the supporter protests seemed to have had some positive effect, as at the end of 1995 the club announced that they would go back to being Canterbury-Bankstown and play thier home games at Belmore in 1996.

I'm a bit tired now - I'll post some more tomorrow.

[Mr Canterbury]

OK, I have a rostered day off today, so should be able to finish this off in a couple more posts..........…
…
In 1998 the club played its last match at Belmore (its home ground since its formation in 1935) and moved its home ground to Homebush (Olympic Stadium) in 1999, outside the Canterbury-Bankstown area (although not too far away from it).

2001 was (I think) when the club dropped the Canterbury-Bankstown name and became known as just “Bulldogs” (sole identity a type of animal!).
In August 2002 the club was found to have cheated the salary cap and punished severely with a heavy fine and losing 36 competition points (literally overnight the club went from leading the completion to being in last place!). The club officials involved in this resigned and Steve Mortimer (arguably the club’s greatest ever player who I had seen playing many times when I was younger) became the football club’s CEO.

In February 2004 I had a chance encounter with Steve Mortimer at a restaurant where we talked for about 15 minutes. I was impressed that as football club CEO Steve took the time to talk to a once passionate fan despite difficult circumstances at the club (at the time the club was embroiled in rape allegations from a pre-season match at Coffs Harbour). So when Steve asked me to attend Bulldogs matches again I agreed (out of respect for him).

Therefore, in March 2004 I attended my first Bulldogs game since September 1994. It felt strange as (compared to 1975-1994) there was a new home ground, no Canterbury-Bankstown and all the players were different from when I last attended a Bulldogs match. Nonetheless I ended up going to 8 games in 2004 and joined the Bulldogs internet supporter forum “The Kennel”. 2004 was capped off by a remarkable premiership win by the club which during the year endured a torrid time (Coffs Harbour rape allegations were front page news for weeks on end in the Sydney media, crowd trouble caused by a very small minority hooligan element within its supporter base and resignations/sackings of senior officials including the CEO Steve Mortimer.

[Mr Canterbury]

During 2005 I found myself asking the same sorts of questions about the club’s identity that I had in 1995. During the year I posted on The Kennel website forum ( www.thekennel.net.au ) under the username “Prodigal Son” issues about the club’s identity.

In December 2005 I decided to write a letter to each Director of the Bulldogs football club which I posted on the Kennel. Here it is http://www.thekennel...ead.php?t=12816 (hope this link to my 2005 letter on the Kennel works!). This letter is also pretty much a neat summary and amalgamation of posts I had made earlier in 2005 on The Kennel. Perhaps FNWB members may be able to use some of the ideas expressed for your own worthy FNWB cause? What do FNWB members think?

I attended 5 matches in 2005 and 2 matches in 2006 and then pretty much lost interest. I have not attended a Bulldogs match since 2006 and these days I have little interest in rugby league (eg I might watch 10 minutes or so of it ion the TV and then switch over to something else.

To my surprise in late 2009 the club announced that from the start of the 2010 season the club would go back to being Canterbury-Bankstown again, and from 2010 onwards the club has been known as Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (although sadly there is little chance of the club returning to its spiritual Belmore home). It is possible that my 2005 posts on The Kennel and my letters to the Directors created the momentum for this change to eventually occur (eg pricked the conscience of some of the Directors and/or persuaded influential Bulldogs supporters to lobby behind the scenes) but of course one cannot say for sure.

[Caveman]

Great to hear from you Mr Canterbury- and the topic is a very interesting one. The whole story is a worth telling and I am glad that you have been happy to give us a very clear insight into the goings on at your local club.

We share a lot in common- one of which is how that 'bulldogs' is not the original nickname of our clubs- yet the 'Johnny Come Lately' that it is (which cannot be ignored or whitewashed - as inconvenient a truth that it is) has evolved to the level where it now 'Runs The Show'

There is an article in todays Herald Sun which the internet rss feed has it labelled as-

1961 Grand Final - Hawthorn v The Bulldogs.

How about we write it as -

1961 Grand Final - The Hawks v Footscray?

Please keep the Canterbury information coming - I have enjoyed reading it- although 'enjoy' for the wrong reasons-

[Mr Canterbury]

Hi Caveman

Good point about the nicknames "running the show". In rugby league in the 1970s I remember nicknames being of little relevance, yet today they seem to be more important than the area of the club's origins! Seems like AFL and rugby league are very similar in this regard, although rugby union (or more precisely the Super 15) is a lot worse where absolutely everything is in nicknames (eg instead of say NSW versus Johannesburg we have Waratahs versus Lions!).

A lot of the origin of club (AFL and rugby league) nicknames bear little resemblance to current realities. I remember reading somewhere recently that the reason South Melbourne were originally called the Swans was because about 80 years ago a large percentage of their players came from Western Australia. Therefore, what relevance is “Swans” to the Sydney AFL team (which has only been in existence since 1982)?

Good to see that the link that I provided (post #4 in this thread) to my post on The Kennel website (December 2005 letter to Bulldogs Directors) was successful (this is and the subsequent responses in that thread are what I consider would be of most use/relevance to the FNWB cause).

If any “new” Canterbury information comes to mind I will let you know.

[Caveman]

It could surely be argued Mr Canterbury / Prodigal Son that we live in a parallel universe. I feel every bit of your pain and understand it so pefectly.

I went out last night so this evening was my first opportunity to have a proper look at that link you provided. So I have just read through that topic on the KENNEL which ran for 8 pages and everything you presented is what I would argue here about Footscray and Western Bulldogs



Whilst I try not to generalise or stereotype people- I have to say that people who use in their 'argument' lines such as

"get over it"
'"its not gonna happen"
"don't know what your problem is -we are still the same club- no matter what the name is"


tend to not be intellectual giants. These people often tend to have usernames along the lines of-

iluvdoggies
doggies4u
dogsrcool


I totally agree about the use of text message talk such as:

r for are,
4 for for/four,

It really is for teenage children - I don't believe that there are that many 50 year old and over 'Joe Cools' out there.


We should never underestimate how the 'dumbing down' of mainstream Australian society has been so successfully accomplished.

[Caveman]

Hi Caveman

Good point about the nicknames "running the show". In rugby league in the 1970s I remember nicknames being of little relevance, yet today they seem to be more important than the area of the club's origins! Seems like AFL and rugby league are very similar in this regard, although rugby union (or more precisely the Super 15) is a lot worse where absolutely everything is in nicknames (eg instead of say NSW versus Johannesburg we have Waratahs versus Lions!).

A lot of the origin of club (AFL and rugby league) nicknames bear little resemblance to current realities. I remember reading somewhere recently that the reason South Melbourne were originally called the Swans was because about 80 years ago a large percentage of their players came from Western Australia. Therefore, what relevance is “Swans” to the Sydney AFL team (which has only been in existence since 1982)?

Good to see that the link that I provided (post #4 in this thread) to my post on The Kennel website (December 2005 letter to Bulldogs Directors) was successful (this is and the subsequent responses in that thread are what I consider would be of most use/relevance to the FNWB cause).

If any “new” Canterbury information comes to mind I will let you know.

I understand that to be true- South Melbourne had the nickname of 'the Bloods' - this being an abbreviation of 'Blood Stained Angels' due to their guernsey being of predominantly white- with a red v. Before the red v they wore a red sash. So there was initially three teams with a sash- Essendon, Richmond and South Melbourne.

(I can't see the yellow font for the Richmond sash unlike the red for Essendon and South Melbourne so I had to use black!)

As a kid in the late 1970's and up to 1981(their last season as South Melbourne before the move to Sydney) I clearly remember at matches old South Melbourne fans yelling out 'come on bloods' as opposed to 'come than Swans' although that wasn't 100% universal. So a 60 year old South Melbourne fan in 1981 would have known them as the Blood Stained Angels/bloods from when they began following them.

Anyway the nickname of Swans supposedly originating from the Swan River in Perth as a reverance to their West Australian recruits is indeed a quirky one. South Melbourne was a marvellous team in the 1930's they were also known as the 'Foreign Legion' due to the many recruits from far way that they enticed to their club. Yet they only won the one Premiership in 1933, it is widely believed that they really should have won two more at the least.

As for 1933, it was this year that Western Australia held their referendum on seceeding from Australia and becoming their own seperate country. The vote was in favour of going their own way, but it never happened for some reason. So it would have been amusing if they succeeded and became a nation of their own whilst a football club in Melbourne was paying homage to a city that has seceeded from this country! It would be like a Czechoslovakian soccer team from Prague giving themselves a nickname of a river in Slovakia as a tribute to where some of their newly recruited players came from- just before Czechoslovakia decided to split up and become two seperate nations! So a Czech Republic soccer club would have as a nickname that of a river in a 'now foreign country' that had just voted to give them the boot!

As for Swans being found in the Albert Park Lake- where South Melbourne played its home games at the Lakeside Oval- sometimes just called the Lake Oval- you could theoretically give South Melbourne the nickname of 'The Ducks' because there would be just as many ducks as swans in that Albert Park Lane. So the Sydney Swans could have become the Sydney Ducks in 1982?!

Waratahs v Lions- it just doesn't sound right- it would be like a soccer match being written up officially as it been between

Yanks v Socceroos

Year ago (early 1996 for memory) a few mates and myself went to the old Casino in Melbourne to watch a soccer match from England in their sportsbar. They had different events on the screens and one was promoting a match of Rugby (Union?) from overseas and where one of the teams was know as- the 'Golden Cats'. My three mates and I were just laughing for around 15 minutes -offering comments such- as who in their right mind would support a team that was the Golden Cats? Some of our satire was- maybe their name should be the 'Golden Mile' or the 'Golden Sphinx', the 'Golden Egg', the 'Diamond Cats' the 'Opal Cats', the 'Top Cats' etc Yet later in this the same year my club was to change its name to something nearly as ludicrous as the Golden Cats.

Nicknames are fine as long as that is the role that they play and that role only. When they go beyond being a nickname- then a club has lost sight of its history, what is stands for and the club just become a meaningless sideshow that fans from other clubs just laugh at and ridicule.

[Mr Canterbury]

Interesting comments and insights into the South Melbourne/Sydney (Swans/Bloods) nicknames.

The Golden Cats is the former name of the Super 15 Rugby Union side presently known as the Lions which is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. I've always thought of "Cats" as a strange nickname for a football club of any code (I don't know why Geelong AFL club persist with it), although the "Golden" in Golden Cats has some logic when one considers that Johannesburg is a city literally founded on gold.

Nicknames are fine as long as that is the role that they play and that role only. When they go beyond being a nickname- then a club has lost sight of its history, what is stands for and the club just become a meaningless sideshow that fans from other clubs just laugh at and ridicule.

I agree. Another point worth noting is that if a club has just solely a nickname for identity (as Canterbury-Bansktown rugby league club did until recently) is that it does not matter where it has its home ground as there is no identity. The former Bulldogs rugby league club could theoretically have had its home in Brisbane, Melbourne or Perth!

Similarly "Western Bulldogs" AFL club could theoretically move its home base to anywhere linked to anything west or western (eg western suburbs of Sydney, Western Australia etc).

A club with no geographical identity (eg Bulldogs rugby league club) or an ambiguous geographical identity (eg Western Bulldogs AFL club) would be much easier to relocate to another city than one with an identity. Don't think that this can't happen - look at the USA where over the years baseball and gridiron "franchises" have moved from city to city.

[Mr Canterbury]

Something that FNWB readers will likely find humourous................

During last weekend I was watching my Foxtel Pay TV doing a bit of channel surfing, before settling down to watch a few minutes of Fox Sports News (Channel 513).

At the bottom of the screen a headline flashed by along the lines of "Bulldogs beat Gold Coast by 22 points at Gold Coast Stadium". I thought to myself, "that's strange, I thought Canterbury (rugby league team) were playing Wests Tigers this weekend and that Gold Coast were playing Cronulla. Oh well, maybe my memory is playing tricks on me and perhaps what I thought was this week's matches were really last week's or next week's matches. Anyway, a convincing 22 point win for Canterbury over the Gold Coast".

Then a few minutes later all became clear when in the bottom right hand corner of my TV screen I saw "WBD 110 SUN 88" and it became clear that in AFL the Western Bulldogs had beaten Gold Coast Suns by 110 to 88 (margin of 22 points)!

[Lisbon]

A club with no geographical identity (eg Bulldogs rugby league club) or an ambiguous geographical identity (eg Western Bulldogs AFL club) would be much easier to relocate to another city than one with an identity. Don't think that this can't happen - look at the USA where over the years baseball and gridiron "franchises" have moved from city to city.

I agree completely. North Melbourne is a good example of that, they became "the Kangaroos" when the League was trying to sell them to seemingly every city in Australia, and reverted to "North Melbourne" once they elected a board that made it clear that the club was going nowhere.

Sporting club's nicknames are meant to be a lesser part of their identity. That's why most clubs have a bunch of them! For instance, in New York the Yankees are also known as the Bronx Bombers and the Mets as the Amazings. In Johannesburg the Orlando Pirates soccer club are also known as the Bucs, my own club, Sporting, have a heap of nicknames, the Lions, the Green and Whites, the "Leonine Team", the Lizards, etc.

So calling a team "the Bulldogs" or "the Western Bulldogs" as opposed to Canterbury-Bankstown or Footscray is simply denying their identity. There are endless teams called "the Bulldogs", there's the Mississippi State Bulldogs, the Georgia Bulldogs, the Frederikshavn Bulldogs Floorball Klub (whatever they may play), google Bulldogs Club, Bulddogs FC or something like that and you get no end of results.

The problem is that people that start to follow the club under their new and bland name may not see why other, older fans want the older, true, name reinstated. I remember reading the other day about Cincinnati Reds fans that started following the club in the 50's while it was briefly known as the Redlegs (with Senator MacCarthy around, "Reds" was not a good name to go by) and that still call their team "the Redlegs", even though the club switched back to reds after half a dozen years.

Canterbury - Bankstown had the good sense to switch back, and if Footscray are to follow suit than I suppose they need to get the younger fans on board, those who always followed a club named after a movie genre...

[Caveman]

Something that FNWB readers will likely find humourous................

During last weekend I was watching my Foxtel Pay TV doing a bit of channel surfing, before settling down to watch a few minutes of Fox Sports News (Channel 513).

At the bottom of the screen a headline flashed by along the lines of "Bulldogs beat Gold Coast by 22 points at Gold Coast Stadium". I thought to myself, "that's strange, I thought Canterbury (rugby league team) were playing Wests Tigers this weekend and that Gold Coast were playing Cronulla. Oh well, maybe my memory is playing tricks on me and perhaps what I thought was this week's matches were really last week's or next week's matches. Anyway, a convincing 22 point win for Canterbury over the Gold Coast".

Then a few minutes later all became clear when in the bottom right hand corner of my TV screen I saw "WBD 110 SUN 88" and it became clear that in AFL the Western Bulldogs had beaten Gold Coast Suns by 110 to 88 (margin of 22 points)!

I have had that happen to me many a time in recent years. With the salary cap issue- I couldn't believe that at first as I knew that the bulldogs(the western ones from the southern most mainland state) would never have salary cap issues! We struggle to pay amount!

How do the media refer to the team these days in quick news breaks? Are they back with Canterbury- Bankstown or do they still run with the nickname? Prior to 1987 the using of nicknames wouldn't have been a massive problem because the the tv news networking hadn't taken place until that year- this was the first year than Victorians got to see Clive Robertson. It was a massive culture shock at the time- some bloke reading the late news- then giving a comment about each said story he had read! I didn't mind him actually- his irascibilty was quite amusing.

One day a bloke got arrested for setting fire to churches. He wasn't the full quid but he managed to damage or attempt to burn a few churches all of different christian persuasions. He was led away ranting about how 'Jesus never took any money from the poor- not one sheckel(spelling) Clive Robertson considering the variety of faiths targeted said at the end "Oh well at least he was ecumenical!"

Again though with 2 bulldogs as leading teams in the two main domestic sporting competitions(well three if we want to include the Sheffield Shield) it would be sensible to use both club's genuine name. Especially as that is what Canterbury-Bankstown have made a statement about their name- so it should be followed.

[Mr Canterbury]

How do the media refer to the team these days in quick news breaks? Are they back with Canterbury- Bankstown or do they still run with the nickname?

My perception is that the Sydney media usually describe the club as either "Bulldogs" or "Canterbury" (with "Bulldogs" being used slightly more than "Canterbury"). "Canterbury Bulldogs" and "Dogs" are sometimes used. The "Bankstown" in the name is rarely mentioned by the media, but on rare occasions the media use either "Canterbury-Bankstown" or "Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs".

Again though with 2 bulldogs as leading teams in the two main domestic sporting competitions(well three if we want to include the Sheffield Shield) it would be sensible to use both club's genuine name. Especially as that is what Canterbury-Bankstown have made a statement about their name- so it should be followed.

Agreed

[Mr Canterbury]

I came across something that annoyed me recently. Last week I was in my local shopping centre and one of the stores had prominently displayed (presumably on some type of sale) a lot of NRL club merchandise (mostly Bulldogs stuff). Among these was a pillow/cushion in the Bulldogs colours (blue and white) which had on it nothing more than the latest logo and stating underneath in very big capital letters "BULLDOGS EST 1935" (and no mention of Canterbury-Bankstown at all, even though the club reverted back to being Canterbury-Bankstown at the start of the 2010 season)!

Now, the Canterbury-Bankstown rugby league club was established in 1935. Back in 1935 there was no such thing as the Bulldogs nickname (that only started in 1977, and it was 1978 when a Bulldogs logo/emblem was first used on the guernseys). Prior to 1977 the club's nickname was the Berries (and before that CB's, Cantabs and even Country Bumpkins).

The latest logo (while a big improvement on the previous cartoon type Bulldog) makes no direct reference to Canterbury-Bankstown, although there is the letters "CB" in fancy script (as per the 1935 to 1977 emblem/logo). In my opinion the 1978 to 1997 logo was far superior to not only the cartoon bulldog (1998-2009), but also the current logo (2010 to present). Refer to attached link for the club's logos/emblems over the years and FNWB members can decide for themselves! http://en.wikipedia....Name_and_emblem

Seems to me like this pillow/cushion is another case of (albeit probably unintentional) rewriting of a football club's history! While reading through the wikipedia article from which the above link is referenced http://en.wikipedia....kstown_Bulldogs it seems to me that this article was originally written by someone directly connected with the club and therefore a bit biassed (it seems to me that it has since been edited by someone from Wikipedia to make it in more neutral terms, although to me some bias has crept through from the original author). While this Wikipedia article seems to me to be substantially correct, I think it needs a few "touch-ups" which I plan to take up with Wikipedia when I get a bit of time.

[Caveman]

That drives me nuts too Mr Canterbury- the 'Bulldogs established 1935" when the 'Bulldogs' nickname took over in 1977.

They are trying that with us- "Western Bulldogs since 1883"- on a new logo that will probably replace the 'Yawning Cat'

It is such garbage because as most people who follow the club SHOULD KNOW (but probably don't) is that 'bulldogs' didn't become the nickname until over 30 years later.

[Mr Canterbury]

Canterbury-Bankstown will be playing a NRL game next year at Belmore, based on an article I recently read in the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) which also appeared on the SMH website recently (I can't seem to be able to copy and paste the link, but anyone interested can look at the article "Canterbury Bulldogs head back to Belmore, where it all began" of 28 September 2014 on the SMH website). 

 

As you may be aware, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs rugby league club are playing in the NRL Grand Final this Sunday (5/10/14) against South Sydney. I imagine most FNWB members would want Canterbury to win, as you could then truthfully say to supporters of other AFL clubs that "The Bulldogs are the Premiers!"

[Caveman]

http://www.smh.com.a...928-10n82u.html

 

 

I think this could be the article Mr Canterbury

 

Regardless of what the result will be for tonight's Grand Final, the dream that will be reality of playing one game for Premiership points at Belmore in 2015, must give you a great feeling of satisfaction, since you have fought for this for so long.

 

I will look forward to watching this tonight- two fair dinkum traditional Sydney clubs tasking part as opposed to the "Johnny Come Lately franchise mobs" like the Broncos (and the Storm- it has to be said) 

 

The Rabbitohs have a really distinctive nickname and colours- the red and green is largerly unique to them in Australian sport. Canterbury being the bulldogs (although only since the late 1970's) will have a few Footscray fans wanting them to win.

 

See where Mike Whitney is a South Sydney supporter along with Ray Martin and Andrew Denton. Canterbury have the Waugh brothers and the great Doug Walters among their fan base- wonder if Doug will be there at the game or the Waugh twins? 

 

Anyway good luck Mr Canterbury tonight, if you are going to the match have a good time at the Olympic Stadium, where hopefully in the future you will only be playing finals games there as your home and away fixtures are back at Belmore where they belong.

[Mr Canterbury]

Should have posted this positive news about Canterbury's return to Belmore earlier in the year, but better late than never. Anyway, here goes........................

 

Canterbury played 2 matches at their true home of Belmore Sports Ground earlier this year, on June 29 (a 20-4 win over Melbourne Storm) and on July 26 (a narrow 18-16 loss against Cronulla). More details about these matches (and Canterbury's homecoming) can be found on the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) website (just type in search parameters on the SMH website along the lines of "Canterbury Bulldogs Belmore return" and/or similar and look at articles on or around 29/6/15 and 26/7/15). These were the first NRL matches at Belmore since 1998 (if my memory is correct), although there have been some trial matches played at Belmore in recent years.

 

Sorry to hear about the Western Bulldogs' narrow elimination semi-final loss to Adelaide Crows yesterday (I saw the last 2 quarters of it on Foxtel last night and thought the result could easily have gone either way). Anyway, some consolation for those Western Bulldogs / Footscray fans who have a soft spot for Canterbury (due to the "Bulldogs" connection) is that Canterbury beat St George 11-10 in their rugby league elimination semi-final last night (like the Footscray-Adelaide match, the Canterbury-St George game could have easily gone either way).

[Caveman]

That is great news Mr Canterbury that your team the mighty Canterbury returned to playing for Premiership points to the real home at Belmore. Its been a long journey but you have got there.

 

Lets hope that all Canterbury games can be played back at Belmore.

 

That is one of the things what I prefer about NSW to Melbourne-  you fight & fight for your genuine home . we here in Melbourne have all moved into the sum total of two grounds

 

as Princess Diana would say- "it gets a bit crowded"  

[Mr Canterbury]

Like the Western Bulldogs, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs also finsihed 7th in the minor premiership! However, Canterbury were eliminated in the first round of the semi-finals, whereas the Western Bulldogs somehow managed to go all the way and win in 2016!

As you can see from my post last year, in 2015 Canterbury played 2 NRL matches at their true home of Belmore. This sems to be getting to be a permanent thing, as in 2016 the club also played 2 NRL matches at Belmore (against Canberra on 4 April and Nth Qld on 25 August). Hopefully something similar will one day happen to Footscray (although a lot of money would need to be spent on Whitten Oval to enable it to hold a decent sized crowd for an AFL match).