FNWB Clock

1961-09-23 00:00:00 GMT+10:00

1954-09-25 00:00:00 GMT+10:00

FOOTSCRAY BOOKS

There is not a huge amount of books devoted to the Footscray Football Club or its players, but the ones that do are quite good. Below is a listing of the books that I have in my collection.

The Bulldog Book – Sons of the ‘Scray (1883-1983)

This was I believe a club organised publication. The researcher and author was football journalist, Greg Hobbs. It has almost 100 pages and is an excellent read. Made for the club’s Centenary in 1983. The front and back cover consists of Footscray players as they were displayed in football cards. There is an old booklet stapled in the middle, which was a 50 year history of the club. The title of the booklet is –

Fifty Years of Football

Incidents in the Fifty Years History
1883 Of the 1933
Footscray Football Club

In this there is a chapter –‘Membership Exceeds 6,000’. In discussing the clubs high membership the passage reads-“The lay-by system for the purchase of members’ tickets was introduced and was a big factor in augmenting the club’s membership, which totalled 6,031 a record not only for the club but also in the history of the Victorian Football League” So assuming that no Sydney rugby team could boast 6,000 members in 1933, it would be fair to say that in that year Footscray was the biggest sporting club in Australia? The last page of Sons of the Scray describes the four night premierships we had won. Those four night flags were in 1963, 1964,1967 and 1970. Since the night competition was re-introduced in 1977 we have yet to make a Grand Final, let alone win one! Although this book is at least 20 years old, it is well worth buying assuming it is still in good bookstores.

Hawkins my story- Both Sides of the Fence

This autobiography of Doug Hawkins was printed in 1991. The foreword is from David Parkin who never coached Doug except at one off games at state level. His story was told to Michael Stevens the Herald Sun journalist and Footscray supporter. You can easily read this from start to finish in one session. Doug packed so much into his youthful years with his tales of end of season trips and other adventures. This requires a PGR rating as Doug himself suggests on page (viii).

As a junior footballer at Braybrook he was always winning premierships and coming to the Bulldogs for the 1978 season was a big eye opener for Doug. His first match was the opening round of that year at home to North Melbourne. We endured a hiding and this was to be Billy Goggin's final match as coach. He tells us how he and fellow Braybrook comrade Robert Groenewegen were so affected by the loss. These two paragraphs are from page 28.

“We got beaten in that first game and I came back into the clubrooms and started crying.” “Then I looked around at the other blokes and I got the impression they couldn't give a rat's backside.

“Wagon and I were used to success after winning all those premierships at Braybrook. We just didn't know what it was like to lose and we took defeat pretty hard”

He had to become accustomed to losing as when this book came out in 1991, he had played in all of three finals, all from the one season. A year later he was our captain as another three were added. The final tally of finals for Douglas James Hawkins was to stand at half a dozen, for two victories. He was injured and missed the 1994 straight sets campaign in his last season at Footscray.

Very interesting is the last paragraph of this book, on page 224. This is it-

“Above all my biggest wish is a personal one. I hope that someday in the future my daughter, and further on my Grandchildren and their children can watch the Bulldogs play football at the Western Oval as the Footscray Football Club”

Well I don't know about the Western Oval, unfortunately that is probably gone, but the other part of his wish wouldn't be that hard to achieve.


Too Tough To Die- Footscray’s Fightback 1989

The story of our 1989 revival from the infamous organised merger/ takeover with Fitzroy. Written by Alan Dalton and Kerrie Gordon it provides details of the campaign that stopped the emergence of a new team the Fitzroy Bulldogs. Sadly as I mentioned earlier, eight years later we were playing our home games at Carlton, with Fitzroy being replaced with Western.

Many black and white photographs are woven into the 159 pages. Between pages 89 and 116 are some of the letters that were mailed to the club describing their opinions of the issue. On page 146 it is mentioned how Kerrie and Alan came across the same statistic documented in the Centenary History book as described above about Footscray having in 1933 the highest membership in the league at that time.

The last paragraph of ‘Too Tough To Die' on page 148 is this-

I well remember Terry Wheeler's words at the Western Oval Rally. ”I believe there's nothing on this earth that we own. All we do is look after it for our children”. It is up to all of us to make sure that the Footscray Football Club is still playing on the Western Oval, proudly representing the western suburbs for many years to come.
Peter Gordon
Footscray Football Club President, 1990


Sons if the ‘Scray Footscray’s Finest 50

The best Footscray players ranked from number one to fifty. This book came out in 1994, on Wednesday 16 th March to be precise, (I know this because I bought it the day it came out.) The cost was $19.54 (does anyone wonder how that price was selected!)

Whenever people rank their best team or players it always create debate over who should or should not have been included. The authors are journalists Mark Buttler (a Richmond fan) and Steven Milne who is well known as a staunch Footscray man.

A very entertaining book which is a must for all Bulldog fans. It contains plenty of interesting anecdotes from the players. The late Wally Donald's opinion that we should have won the premiership a year earlier in 1953 sticks in my mind alongside David Thorpe's reasons for leaving. You can find out what Alby Morrison was doing on Saturday 25 th September 1954. Back to Wally Donald a great trivia question is where did he kick his one and only goal in 207 games? This book will provide the answer.

A very sad part about this book when you read it now, is how so many of the players have died since 1994 when it hit the shelves. Teddy Whitten, Allan Hopkins, Norm Ware, Harry Hickey, Alby Morrison, Wally Donald, John Jillard and maybe one more(I of the 50 are no longer with us.

Southern Sky, Western Oval–A year inside league football

Written by Martin Flanagan, this was his story about the 1993 season. The coach Terry Wheeler and club management gave Flanagan special access for this study of the club from the inside. It is quite interesting, although he seems to enjoy talking about the Eastern Magpies too much for a book about Footscray. Does make one point though that is spot on, that is the nicknames our players have. He questions how and why so many of our players have nicknames attributed to footballers from other clubs? Mark Hunter is Kenny after Kenny Hunter from Carlton, Leon Cameron is baker after Essendon’s Leon Baker and Keenan Reynolds is Crackers after journeyman footballer Peter ‘Crackers’ Keenan .We are not good on nicknames are we? I hate the name given to Rohan Smith, ‘Bubba’ I suppose if he wasn’t the B word he would be Smithy?

BULLDOGS 95- All the action from Footscray Football Club's 1995 season

The front cover shows Scott West with the ball as our Melbourne opponents look on during our round four meeting at Optus Oval. There is a smaller photo introducing the special tribute to Ted Whitten. The back cover has the photograph of Tony Liberatore and Mark Hunter tussling for the ball with some Fitzroy opponents one of whom I'm sure is our old boy Simon Atkins in our ‘away' fixture at ‘home' This book is the review of the 1995 season and the comment on the back cover is-

‘If you're a Footscray fan, you cannot do without Bulldogs 95, the only official club publication that records the 1995 season. All the action- on and off the field- and dozens of sensational photos of your Bulldog heroes in action.'

This was a club publication, from 1995 providing the seasons review of that year. The text is from Herald Sun columnist and lifelong Footscray supporter Ross Brundrett. A fine book of 160 pages, with many large photographs .It was a weird year 1995, some glorious victories in particular our first ever success in Perth against the West Coast and a memorable afternoon at Kardinia Park in the days when we just did not win there. It was the first time that we had defeated Hawthorn twice in the same season since 1962. How about our home game in which we were the away team in this Fitzroy's second and second last year at the Western Oval. Doug Hawkins playing in a Footscray game- ‘for our opponents' Yes it was an unusual year and they were the good points. I have to mention unfortunately the shockers like the maulings at home from Geelong and the home game that we transferred to the MCG that resulted in a 98 point defeat from the eventual premiers Carlton.(there is an error here as our score is recorded as 8.12. 80, when it should read 8.12 .60. This implies the defeat was 78 points rather than the 98 points that it actually was.) Remember our second game in Perth in which the Dockers defeated us, three days after the death of Teddy Whitten? Prior to this game there was the ludicrous draw at Waverley with Collingwood after racing to a lead of 35 points early in the last quarter.

Now off the track here but is it just my view or can someone explain how every drawn game we have taken part in, is a win thrown away? Of all the draws I have seen it appears to me that the Steve McPherson goal after the siren against North at the MCG in 1987 is the only drawn game that I haven't walked out feeling like it was a loss. The West Coast in Perth 2003, Western Bombers at the Docklands in 2002, going right back to the Essendon game at home in 1979 when I think it was the Bombers, Peter Besanko, who erased our one point lead by kicking a behind to the Barkly Street end just before the siren? Then came the most frustrating and worst of them all, Round 4 1996 v Hawthorn at home. Yes I know this was nearly a loss as the Hawks missed an easy near open goal that would have won them the game just on the siren, but how did we let them get back in it and surrender so meekly? I will just have to stick with McPherson and 1987 and the Carlton round 22 of 1976 game that ensured our entry into the finals.

Back to the actual book and you may like to read the player profiles. One of the questions asked was ‘Favourite Sporting Identity and Why?' The two most common offerings were Michael Jordan and Trevor Hendy. At least Mark Hunter and Caesar Romero gave different and original answers to this.

With the question about ‘The Song I Sing at Karaoke Nights' the response was mainly ‘Khe Sanh' and ‘American Pie' other than I don't sing. I wonder if any sporting identity would ever answer this question with ‘Macarthur Park' or ‘Don't Cry For Me Argentina?'

Some fine colour photos near the start of the book and well worth obtaining a copy.

Unleashed - A History of the Footscray Football Club

The long awaited club history that became available in December 1996. Written by John Lack, Chris Mc Conville, Michael Small and Damien Wright. The research is from Darren Arthur. If you follow the Dogs you just have to have this in your collection. What I really like about Unleashed is the pre 1925 information. This is another frustration of mine- the situation where some people believe our club came into being in 1925(which is explained in greater detail in ‘The Mission” chapter) There is considerable information about the club’s battle to secure admittance to the VFL competition and how vested interests fought hard to keep Footscray out. Some of those opposed to Footscray were the Essendon and South Melbourne clubs as well as illegal gaming king John Wren. Later you can read of the boardroom turmoil in the mid 1970’s when the club was seemingly becoming a power again after so many years in the wilderness. Not to mention the heroic 1989 revival which prevented us from playing our home games at Carlton’s ground as the merged Fitzroy Bulldogs If you don’t have it, go and buy it. Don’t borrow someone else’s. A real Footscray supporter should have this book already. You have had over 7 years to obtain it!

EJ - Ted Whitten
Close to being Teddy’s autobiography. A book from Jim Main and friends about Teddy Whitten, which came out soon after Ted’s sad death in August 1995. There are plenty of photos and anecdotes from footballers and journalists alike. The statistical section at the end is very impressive. It is hard to believe that Teddy has not been with us for nearly nine years. Enjoyable to read but it is sad.












The Ted Whitten Album


This is a large hardback book that has only been out from mid 2003. The first photograph is of Teddy leading his team onto the MCG for the 1961 Grand Final. It is a great photo showing Teddy racing through the streamers with a football in his left hand followed by John Schultz. There is plenty of previously unseen material and some old photographs from Teddy’s childhood. Written by Paul Harvey and John Ross the front cover contains the same photo as the back cover of the previous book.








LIBBA – LIVING ON THE EDGE- The Tony Liberatore autobiography

This came out in 1998 prior to the finals campaign of that season. Terry Wallace provides the foreword to this Ken Piesse book.

Tony (funny how it seems no ever calls him Tony, like Dipper no one seems to call him Robert either) presents his story in this 200+ page autobiography. Libber is a twin and comes from a very close family. His love of football is obvious throughout. You wonder how he is going today as a non-player because he just loves to compete and watching would not appear to be his forte.
Libber discusses issues such as the sky diving exercise and the sacking of Terry Wheeler. There is an excellent statistical section at the end that provides details of every senior game he had played in up to that point. Starting with his first in the 88 point victory against Fitzroy at home on Saturday 21st June 1986 to his 202nd on the Sydney Cricket Ground against the Swans on 26th April 1998. The next two books are about Footscray the suburb not the football club.

FOOTSCRAY'S FIRST 100 YEARS- The story of a great Australian City

This publication was produced to mark the City of Footscray's 100 th year. According to this book – Footscray, then a settlement of tents and rude shacks, was created on 10 th June 1859; proclaimed a borough in 1863 and a town on 25 th January 1887; a city on 23 rd January 1891 .It was redefined in 1892 by the handing over of the then Swamp Road territory to Melbourne City Council. The jubilee of the municipality was celebrated in June 1909.

In 1959 Footscray turned 100 years of age and there is an introduction from both, the Premier of Victoria, Henry E. Bolte and the Mayor of Footscray, Councillor Walter E. Richards. The last few pages discuss the various sporting organizations within the area and right at the end the football club with photos of the Premiership team and on the opposite page the unveiling of the 1954 Premiership flag.

“Unfortunately 1959, the Centenary Year was not a successful one for the Bulldogs” as quoted from the back page. “For the first time in its V.F.L. history the club finished last on the premiership ladder, with only 3 wins in 18 games” That was a terrible conclusion to a great story, 100 years and a wooden spoon for its football team.

In 2009 Footscray will be celebrating 150 years. Let us hope that common sense finally prevails and the football club that sprung from this traditional suburb, would have Footscray as its name again.


A History of Footscray
Published in1991, this book is from John Lack who was one of the authors of Unleashed. A concise over 400 page history of Footscray the suburb. When reading through this book, you can learn how and where some of Footscray's streets got their names from.

Pages 36 and 37 will inform you how Footscray was named. It had begun from a village in the English county of Kent, Foots Cray. Over time the name would alter as its origins can be traced back to William the Conqueror's Doomsday book of 1086. There are many photographs and one on page 388 displays the enormity of the Coode Island fire of August 1991.

When you read a book like this and take in how old and traditional Footscray the suburb is, can you really look yourself in the mirror and say you prefer the title ‘Western Bulldogs?'

Charlie Lovett’s Footscray

Another book edited and introduced by John Lack that was published in 1993. It is primarily about local identity and football club life member Charlie Lovett (1863-1939) and his memories and reminisces. Interestingly Charlie was against Footscray leaving the VFA for the VFL. There is a chapter that deals with the Sunshine Railway Disaster of Easter Monday 1908 where 43 people lost their lives. That was Australia’s biggest train disaster in terms of lives lost until 1977 at Granville.

FOOTSCRAY VIDEOS

Today football enjoys saturation coverage. Every game of the round will be shown in its entirety and a video of that game can be purchased within hours of the final siren.

You can buy the whole season if you like, I imagine a few Western Bombers fans may have done this in 2000, the season in which they only lost one game, (and who was it against again?)

It was not always this convenient though. To buy football videos that showed the entire match, was almost exclusively restricted to Grand Finals. Today almost all Grand Finals from 1961 onwards can be bought and in DVD as well. The only missing ones are 1962,1963 and 1964. This is a most unfortunate situation especially the latter two as 1963 and 1964 are both Geelong and Melbourne's last premierships. It would still be annoying for Essendon fans that 1962 is not around, but at least with 1965 being amongst the mix, this may ease the frustration somewhat for all you Western Bombers fans.

I have purchased many football videos (both Footscray ones and non-Footscray) with this now progressing into DVD'S. Prior to 1997, a Footscray victory meant, I would ring up the ‘Name A Game' company early the next week and purchase the video of that game (should it have been available of course) Even after 1996 I have still bought a few individual games in particular the last game at home against the West Coast in 1997.

However for non-full game videos about us the material is rather sparse. Below is a listing of the Footscray videos that I have in my collection.

HISTORY OF FOOTSCRAY VIDEO

Well sorry to disappoint but there is no such video. There is a history video for Collingwood, Essendon, Geelong, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Richmond and St Kilda.

However Carlton, North Melbourne and us are yet to have this honour bestowed upon us. I believe that a Carlton history video may be in the pipeline but I can be reasonably confident that one for us is light years away.

I have in my collection, the history videos of all the above clubs and this has now extended to the history DVD (with the exception of Melboune as I am yet to see their history offered in DVD as is the case with the others.) I should point out that these histories are often from the war onwards so they are strictly speaking not complete history videos at all.

Funnily enough I am not completely distraught about a history of Footscray Football Club Video/DVD not being produced. My reason for this is that I don't think it would be much chop anyway. I envisage a history of us going for around 60 minutes and the content containing nothing rare, new, exciting or interesting. In a nutshell the producers would only trot out the usual Footscray stuff.

There is so little video footage of Teddy Whitten, so to reach the 60 minutes or so, I envisage that everything possible they can find connected to Teddy will be included. I have no problem with that except for these two reasons. Firstly they will only trot out all the material we have seen before, such as highlights from Teddy s 300 th game against Fitzroy in 1969, his final stand against Hawthorn a year later with his famous ‘You've got to inspire me with this last quarter effort” speech, the whacking of Rod Olsson of Hawthorn (who later got revenge on us as Geelong coach in the 1976 Elimination Final.) Teddy's sad final farewell at the MCG in 1995 (which was for a Victorian game NOT a Footscray one) would probably also find its way in. Secondly because with all the Teddy footage (guessing at 15 minutes) will mean that only 45 minutes now needs to be researched for, which can easily be made up from the last ten years. They would probably also spend 10 minutes of the 60 going into all the gory details of the infamous 1985 Qantas flight. Throw in also lengthy detail about the Brad Hardie / Mick Malthouse saga.

Hopefully though a history video is compiled and I am happily misguided in my beliefs on what content (or lack of content) would be in it. I do really want a history of Footscray, I just hope there is new content and doesn't harp or needlessly mention irrelevant action. Do we need reminding of a certain Geelong player who has got the ‘monkey off his back' and then showing Geelong's coach Malcolm Blight jumping all over his charges after that defeat? I bet Rohan Smith punching the ground after the other that defeat will be in there. Add Lee Matthews two goals', during the final quarter of the original that defeat in 1985 . I would accept them showing the Geelong final of 1976 because at least it is rare. This is the main reason I bought the history of Geelong video “Cats 50 Years” and then the DVD of it when it came out later on. There are a couple of highlights from it, so the $60 or so it cost me to view Larry Donahue, Bryan Cousins and others is I guess worth it.

However should anyone decide to produce a Footscray history video/DVD, just show Richard Osborne's goal that put us in front, then let the narrator (what odds it will be the President of the Eastern Magpies as the narrator?) mention how Geelong kicked a goal after the siren to defeat us. No need to hear for the millionth time Sandy Roberts talking about ‘getting the monkey off the back' On any other video, be it a Geelong one or a general one- fair enough, but with ours, no need- been there, seen that.

Now here is the real list of videos in which we are the subject matter. These are genuine because I have them in my collection. Should you know of one or more that I have not included, please either e-mail or write to this site. It clearly means that I don't have it.

Footscray Premiers 1954


Under an hour or so look at the 1954 Grand Final. This is in colour and although only going for around 45 minutes it is well worth getting hold of. There is cohesion, in the sense that although not a full match, the highlights are in chronological order. The great asset of this video is that it is in colour (yes I did write COLOUR, buy it and see for yourself) despite television arriving in Australia just in time for the 1956 Olympics and it wasn't until 1975 that colour television actually came in. Yet the 1974 Richmond v North Melbourne Grand Final is in colour, funny how different it is to the 1973 G.F. that looks completely different despite being only one year apart. You can be amazed at the crowd, 80,000 jam packed into the MCG with its reduced capacity with people inside the fence and up to the actual boundary line. If the Olympic Stand had of been completed before this game, the crowd would easily topped the 100,000 mark. The presentation and narration of the game is from the late Ted Whitten senior and the conclusion to his introduction is magnificent. You will laugh at that, well I definitely did. Yes Teddy on that day we certainly did.

Every Dog Has Its Day

Dealing with the 1989 Footscray Fightback. Has an interesting scene where Simon Beasley has an argument with a couple of aggrieved fans. Narrated by Kevin Hillier.



















The Hawk

A player profile of Doug Hawkins was made in 1991. Very enjoyable has many interviews and would be interesting to non-Footscray fans. Happily has a fair amount of football action. The narration is from the current President of the Eastern Magpies Football Club.















Diamond Dogs

This is a review of our 1992 season. Doug Hawkins taking us through the campaign. Towards the end Doug announces how Chris Grant is a Rolls Royce.





















Hot Dogs

This is a review of the 1994 season with Rolls Royce answering the questions. The narration is from Craig Willis. Sadly my video of this is on the blink.





















Year Of The Dogs

Made as a motion picture, shown at the cinema originally. I saw it at Highpoint the day it came out on its second showing. You can't really go wrong with fly on the wall type productions. A review of the eventful1996 season, featuring two loyal fans Pat and her daughter Jenny. As we are all aware 1996 was a disaster for us and this movie reinforces the frustration, anxiety, annoyance and disappointment of a season to remember with disdain.

There is though also humour, warmth, happiness and the odd angry shout. Listening to the Coach and President of the time namely Alan Joyce and Peter Gordon dropping the magical word adds to its drama. I feel sad when I see Terry Wallace in this video his enthusiasm and passion were great. When you watch this now considering the acrimonious way he and the club parted company you don't know what emotion you should feel.

The story is not 100% correct as in the Collingwood game at the MCG, our heroes (which are Pat and Jenny not the players) are shown sitting in the Whitten Stand, not at the MCG where the game was played. You will also note the scene where Pat and Jenny are filling out a questionnaire and interestingly both mother and daughter place the name Footscray as being of number one importance. I wonder what their opinion is now, considering that their wishes were not adhered to?

I still love Terry Wallace's comment about an injured Rohan Smith- “Tell Bubba to stay on, he's got 6 months to get over it”

Unfortunately it has an unhappy ending. Steve Wallis last match ends in a defeat by less than a kick and the final scene describes the new boards introduction of Western Bulldogs and Optus Oval at a family day. On a large noticeboard the benefits of us moving home to help the Northern Blues pay off their new Legends Stand is stated (although they don't word it that way)

Fabulous Footy Flashbacks- Western Bulldogs

This was one of the footy flashback series. There were two videos, the first hosted by Rex Hunt and the second by Leigh Matthews. Not all clubs had two made though and yes that applies to us. We have only the first one, no seconds for us. Why I don't know? Was it believed that Footscray fans wouldn't buy nostalgia videos to sufficiently demand a sequel? Or was it because they don't have enough Footscray material safely recorded in their vaults? You can have your own guess.

Anyway this video is in some ways disappointing. There are 3 games shown and they are-

Essendon v Footscray	Round 9 1964 from Windy Hill
Richmond v Footscray	Round 5 1983 from MCG
Footscray v North Melbourne	First Semi- Final 1985 from MCG

The first game against Essendon commences at the start of the last quarter with us 30 behind. We are kicking to the right hand end in this featured last quarter with Don Hyde and Jim Taylor commentating and the special remarks from Keith Drinan. The coverage continues for a while as we bridge the gap to 12 points.

Then Rex Hunt returns and interrupts the action. However I have used the wrong word in this case. Replace interrupt with conclude the action from Windy Hill as he moves along to the second game. I am left wondering as to whether we got up and won, or whether Essendon hold on and claim the points. There is no mention of the result at all after this. If you can take the suspense no longer, well I will tell you now what happened. We did NOT win or draw, which begs to ask why this game was figured in OUR video. If it was in Essendon's series, fair enough as they won. Surely there must have been some other Footscray game from the 1960's somewhere in the vaults that could have been selected instead of a run of the mill loss?

The second game is from 1983 against the previous years' Grand Finalist Richmond. It was on an Anzac Day Monday with the commentators Bobby Skilton and Sandy Roberts. This time happily we went on and won. As is with the previous game the last stanza is shown. In that quarter we kick two goals and they kick four. The last quarter is exciting but I wish they could have shown the first quarter. For those too young, ie born after 1978, were not there or who have forgotten, the quarter time score was-

Richmond 0 .3.3
Footscray 10.3.63.

Why couldn't they have whacked that on instead? Do you remember Jimmy Edmond kicking five goals in that first quarter to the Punt Road end?

Nevertheless there is one other point worth noticing from this game. If you have a reasonable attention to detail, you will witness a girl in the crowd wearing a Footscray jumper receiving a vicious punch to the head. It occurs in the ground floor area of the old Southern Stand, in the forward pocket to which Richmond was kicking. Simon Beasley kicks the first of our two goals for the quarter from a strong mark. Straight from the restart the Tigers go forward and Michael Rolfe(he later played with us in season 1986) of Richmond kicks the ball to a leading Brian Taylor the Richmond full forward. Taylor marks Rolfe's kick on the outer side and subsequently goals. As he is walking back his opponent our Chris Hansen joins him strolling back to the left of the picture. You will then see a girl wearing a Footscray jumper cop a punch from someone wearing a white top, (possibly a male person) which knocks this girl over and also out of the picture. It happens right in front of the MITSUBISHI sign (the word Mitsubishi was in capital letters) and the Footscray girl was standing up from her seat right behind the letter I (the second I). Her attacker was in front of the letter S (the second S). Oh well this poor girl could at least say her team won as Mervyn Keane of Richmond kicked a long goal after the siren to reduce the margin from eight points to two.

Another way to search for this incident is by listening to the commentators. It happened whilst Bobby Skilton was speaking. It occured during this passage of play, just after the score appears on the screen

Final Quarter
RICHMOND	15	12	102
FOOTSCRAY	18	6	114

Bobby Skilton As usual Purser and Lee. Both players must be superbly fit because they have not been off the ball all day. Lee up high gets it down, knocked on by Weightman across to Rowlings out to Rolfe. Rolfe goes for the short pass Taylor a lovely pass from young Rolfe and Brian Taylor the opportunity of kicking his third goal and making the margin between the sides one goal again. Twelve points at the present moment where 14 minutes almost 15 minutes into the final term. Taylor, 25 metres out, his kick goes forward and there’s Taylor’s third goal so once again it’s only one straight kick between the sides, 108 to 114 Sandy Roberts Goal for goal and it has been really since quarter time after Footscray shot away to that ten goal lead.

The assault happened as Bob Skilton says between the sides 108 to 114

The next game was our first win in a final since the 1961 Preliminary Final triumph over Melbourne. Again the last quarter is on display in this 1985 First Semi Final against North Melbourne. Perhaps I am being a little picky here, but I wish they could have shown the third quarter. If they had then you would have seen Simon Beasley's 100th goal and the devastating burst we put on just after it. Remember Allen Daniels smother and goal straight after the re-start from the slight delay after Beasley's 100 th goal celebrations?

Well the last quarter was pretty good and Brian Royal chops North up. This game was the best of the three displayed on this tape.

1997 WOOF:
(The Year That Put The Bite Back In The Bulldogs) The 1997 season’s review

 

 

Doggies 98

(Western Bulldogs 1998 Season Highlights) This is review of our 1998 season. The front cover shows Tony Liberatore being chaired off our feared Optus Oval home ground by Caesar (sorry Jose) Romero and Paul Dimattina.

 

Best of the Bulldogs 1983

This video came out in 1984 and showed selected highlights from games in 1983. It was more than likely not sold in general retail outlets. It is a rare video and I doubt whether many people have actually seen it. I have just recently learned what its title is.

What makes the situation worse is that we bought it as a BETA tape. Now remember when VCR players came out in over 20 years ago? Well there was two brands to select from, either VHS or Beta. Our household bought a Beta as my father had heard on good authority that Beta was the better one. Supposedly Hollywood directors and producers preferred Beta to its alternative. Well we all know that VHS went on to corner the market and so many people have never heard of Beta these days! So everything we taped or hired up till late 1989(when I bought my first VCR) was in Beta. I was always taping the football from 1984 onwards (that is when we bought the video recorder) We got the video cassette recorder in June of that year just after the game against Carlton at Princes Park as Optus Oval was known then. This was the Vas Vassilou game, for those ignorant of what this means- he was one of the field umpires in this game and I will leave it at that till I introduce a chapter about umpires that crucified us in games.

After that never ending build up I should finally mention what it was like I will confirm that it was magnificent. The first game shown was extended highlights from the round two victory over reigning premiers Carlton. The commentary was from Peter Mc Kenna and Jack Edwards. The majority of the action was from the second quarter where we are kicking to the Barkly Street end. For those who don't know their Barkly Streets it is the left hand end on the television.

They move on to small highlights from the following weeks victory over Melbourne. Brian Royal kicks the sealer in the last quarter to the Barkly Street end. In this match Doug Hawkins was reported near the first bounce and subsequently suspended for three weeks for whacking Chris Connolly the present coach of the Fremantle Dockers. So Doug was to miss our stirring wins over Hawthorn and Richmond in the next two rounds This match was the first time that the then Melbourne coach Ron Barassi lost in a game at our home since 1970.

Now it is over to round four and Hawthorn at Princes Park. This was just brilliant with most of the final quarter being covered

This fixture saw us defeat the team who would go on and claim the 1983 premiership and the last quarter was Robert Groenewegen's finest hour. We kick to the Robert Heatley stand end and he boots 3 goals for the quarter all from distance and one a snap with his left foot. The goal that clinched the match for us came from Terry Love. The commentators were Lou Richards and Peter Landy calling from the old press box wing at Carlton. I was standing there that day and a big contingent of boisterous Footscray fans were directly in front of the platform where they and the Channel 2 blokes were perched. These noisy Footscray fans frequently broke into the theme song during this last quarter that was drowning out Peter Landy and Lou Richards' commentary. This prompted Peter Landy to remark that it was like Liverpool at F A Cup time, (This was not a good comparison because the FA Cup was in those times the trophy Liverpool found the most difficult to win despite winning the League title regularly) Later these blokes started singing some song to the tune of ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home Today' It was a brilliant victory and a sensational atmosphere.

The next game was the following week against Richmond that is discussed above in the Fantastic Footy Flashbacks.

Fitzroy at Waverley follows this some weeks later in a game with no commentary just vision. Simon Beasley had a picnic this day yet was still reported. He was to receive no suspension though happily.

The final game is away at Moorabbin and like the Fitzroy match above has no audio. It is the game where we get up by 6 points after St Kilda led at three quarter time by 39 points and they were coming home with the breeze!

It was a great finish with defender Chris Hansen levelling the scores from a long way out and the winner scored by Ian (Racoon) Williams just on the siren kicking to the Nepean Highway goal which is to the right hand end. I didn't go to this match unfortunately, at home listening on the radio. This was the last time that I missed a game of ours till the 1987 season (excepting the Swans in Sydney.) Very similar this game to the Saturday May 01st 2004 victory over the Universal Kangaroos in Canberra.

Ted Whitten Special

This was a television special, which was shown on Channel Nine a few weeks before Ted's death. The presenter was Lou Richards (or should it be Lew Richards as I ask in another chapter?) who anchored this show. It contained interviews with Dr Allen Aylett, Ernie Sigley, Jack Collins, Don Whitten and Ted junior with some rare footage. One of the games was a match at home with South Melbourne in 1963 and the action from this match is at the scoreboard end (never liked referring to it as the Geelong Road end) I'm sure I read somewhere that Teddy had the tape of this game at his house. Evidently it was discovered many years later, I wonder if this tape is still around and if so if it can be reproduced?

Michael Williamson also is interviewed and he talks of Whitten as a humanitarian recording Teddy's presence in times of need. Featured is the famous car ride around the MCG with Ted junior and his 3 grandchildren driven by former Footscray Football Club administration employee Stephen Smith.

As it was a Television special, you would have to have taped this off the telly. We did at my place but missed the start, how much was missed I don't know for sure. You can see Teddy advertising Jonco footy shorts and describing how comfy they are.

If you can get hold of this I am sure you would enjoy it.

Premiers 1961 – Hawthorn Hawks

I have both this as a video and later as a DVD and this is the DVD picture. It is the full game of the 1961 Grand Final, our last and Hawthorn's first. This is the first Grand Final shown in its entirety and we are fortunate that it is around when considering how the 1962,1963 and 1964 Grand Finals are not available. The commentators are Michael Williamson, Bert Deacon, Geoff Raymond and Reg Hickey. It is in Black and White with the exception of the old style Channel 7 colour insignia in the bottom right hand corner, which was added to the original film some years later. The game is only of academic interest to us basically after the first quarter, as Hawthorn wrest control. You will notice how Ted Whitten is described as a ‘Mr Football.' I often wondered what year he was given this tribute. I therefore find out that it was sometime before the 1961 Grand Final.