Introduction

THE MISSION

The mission of Footscray Not Western Bulldogs is to see Footscray re-introduced as the name of the Australian Football League team now known as the Western Bulldogs. This is the primary motive and the site contains many reasons as to why the change has not improved the club, both economically and on the football field seven years after this controversial decision. If you backed or tolerated the name change in 1996, then this site presents the case that we have gained no advantage from dumping our identity. The main issue is our name, however other claims are as follows.

The current jumper design to be ditched for either of the two previous which is displayed underneath. The present Guernsey looks childish, it just not present right for a club playing in the country’s premier sporting competition. What we wore prior to 1975 was excellent and the 1975-1996 uniform was outstanding also. I don’t mind whichever as they are both fine with me, as long as one of them replaces what we wear now.

Combine this with re-introducing the old style socks. Pictured here is our sock design from the mid 1970’s. The socks contain a better spread of our three colours. The current hose (that is the old word for socks) is preferable to the all blue of the 1980’s&1990’s(I thought that looked terrible), but I would prefer the 1976 style.

Another task is to see the re-introduction of the more traditional Bulldog emblem. Footscray Not Western Bulldogs requests that the ‘Bulldog Statant’ bulldog featured below to be re-introduced and the incumbent design (which is also pictured below) discarded along with the name Western Bulldogs. The current Bulldogs emblem has a strong similarity with the Holden insignia, the aerial view of a golf course or an annoyed cat eagerly awaiting a tin of whiskas.

The Bulldog Statant to the left is an excellent portrayal of what our Bulldog emblem should be. It is fantastic, as a child I always looked at it with great pride and explains why it is featured so prominently throughout. Please dump the yawning cat on the right and re-commission the Bulldog Statant on the left.

Thanks to Rob Meredith for these pictures. I recommend his website to all football fans and if you go to the Links of FNWB you will find it. This site provides team Guernseys from the past and the present. So if you would like to know what the Northern Blues, Eastern Magpies etc wore back in 1906 or 1954 then make sure you visit ‘Mero’s Jumper Madness’

WE HAVE EXISTED AS A CLUB PRIOR TO 1925

The recognition that the Footscray Football Club was formed in the 1880’s and not 1925 as so many would appear to believe. This oversight is not necessarily a criticism of the current Western Bulldogs board, as this has been a concern for many years prior to 1996. The Premiers and Placegetters chapter is organised in a way as to indicate that our club was alive and kicking way back in the 1880’s. The format describes the final four in the competition that we played in.

The Victorian Football League era of 1897 till 1924 has not been recorded here, as Footscray didn’t play in the VFL during those years. The 1897-1924 VFL competition means precisely nothing to us, just as those years would also be of only academic interest to Hawthorn and North Melbourne. Richmond was still in the Victorian Football Association up to 1908, so the VFL seasons from 1897-1907 would not be important to them. As this website is at pains to point out, we have won 10 Premierships rather than the one that most people believe. Other clubs could and should recognise their VFA Premierships alongside their post 1896 flags. So in reality Richmond have won 12 flags and Collingwood 15 titles. The same logic applies to all other Victorian teams that won a VFA Premiership during their time in that competition.

I often wonder why teams refrain from including their VFA Premierships alongside their VFL and AFL triumphs? It would seem that the world commenced in 1897.

Maybe there is a historic precedent here as the last of England’s monarchs with the name Edward was Edward VIII. The much documented Edward the Eighth, the king who abdicated the throne in 1936 for Mrs Simpson. Yet he was not the eighth Edward to rule England, he was indeed the eleventh! There were three kings before the Battle of Hastings who were Edward’s. They were

Edward the Elder 899-924
Edward the Martyr 975-978
Edward the Confessor 1042- 1066

The successor to Edward the Confessor was Harold who was killed at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066. So Edward VIII should really be Edward X1. For some reason the numbering of Kings therefore commences after the Norman Conquest, it seems that the pre-Battle of Hastings monarchs are not worth recording, which I have always felt was strange. One of England’s most celebrated rulers was Alfred the Great who reigned as one of the Saxon kings from 871-879 Alfred often remembering for burning the cakes. Therefore should a future King be an Alfred, he would be Alfred I rather than Alfred the second? The same would apply with Harold, as there is yet to be a Harold since 1066, though the next Harold (assuming there will be another one) should be a Harold the third. However by following precedent the next Harold would be Harold1.

So 1897 in Victoria football is our reflection of 1066 in England and it appears that we want pre-1897 to be completely disregarded.

It is not my place to campaign for other Victorian clubs although I have made some suggestions. Nonetheless I am pushing for our history prior to 1925 to be given proper acknowledgement. Why are we so indifferent to that period? We won 9 premierships in that time yes nine! What is the point of pretending it never happened? Then again the post 1996 administration would like to pretend that Footscray was never our name anyway, so if we can disown our name, which was as recent as 1996, then 1924 and before is somewhat easier to conveniently forget.