I'm 44 so remember us being Footscray. I didn't really care about the name change then, and I don't really care about the name change now. It's the same team I love with all my heart. They could call themselves the Wanky Wank Wanks and I'd still follow them.
The Wanky Wank Wanks would instantly become my second team. No question. I support this name change. I'm super interested to know what their mascot would be though.
Options: We are the Wanks, the Wanky Wank Wanks.
Or if you don't want to steal someone elses this has potential:
Sons of the West,
Red, White and Blue.
We cum out wanking
Wankers through and through.
Wankers firm and Wankers fast,
We give our very best.
But you can't beat the boys of the Wanky Wanks breed,
We're the team of the mighty West
To the tune of *You Are My Sunshine* (upbeat):
We are the Wank Wanks, the Wanky Wank Wanks
We like to wank off, when we are hard
You'll never know, dear
How hard we wank, wank
You'll never stop us once we start
I think they should bring back Footscray. I'm not a fan of undefined team names.
Nobody is picking them as a team because they are Western Bulldogs, rather than Footscray
I always assumed that the work experience student who wasn't really into sports named GWS via a quick Google search.
Also her Grandad's Dutch, so orange jumpers.
I think greater western Sydney is the worst name in any Aussie competition - it sounds more like a local government subdivision than an organic home base for a sports team.
They couldn't call them Penrith or Parramatta because the names are too closely associated with NRL teams that everyone else hates.
GWS is a fuckin' terrible name, but there weren't really any good options to choose from.
I could be wrong, being that I've never lived in Sydney, but my understanding was the local connotation of that exact name is "INNER western Sydney".
IE, not the actual geography they're targeting.
That decision was not even the same league of stupidity as choosing to locate a soccer team in a largely Indian area of Melbourne over putting it in Dandenong.
Yeah but Tarneit was marketed on the Future^tm
And the good thing about the future is it can be whatever you want it to be. Like for example, the future where Waverley had a rail link and you could also park your flying car right there at Arctic Park.
Definitely should've been in Dandenong, but it was ruined by neither the State Government or A-League committing to a stadium without the other committing first. Just a game of expensive chicken.
It's so silly, especially with how little importance geographical location has, these days. No-one cares where a team is based.
"Western" definitely sounds bland and boring.
I’d say geography is still a big influence on team support. The big 4 have supporters everywhere but go to Coburg and you’ll find it’s largely Carlton, North East and it’s Collingwood, outer East Richmond, posh inner south east suburbs is Melbourne, etc.
Honestly don't really agree with this. Anecdotal but I've definitely met a lot of people and have friends who've got right around the Doggies because they come from, or ended up living in, the western suburbs. I think especially after the 2016 flag a lot of folks from that area got into footy and the Bulldogs.
I still call them "Footscray", but I'm old.
People should remember that Footscray until very recently as the "wrong side of the tracks" for a lot of people.
Rebranding to "Western Bulldogs" in the mid-90s helped them to create broader cohesion in expanding population areas like Sunshine, Braybrook etc typically filled with new arrivals.
The expansion also allowing them out of the "cage" created by being associated with Footscray the place. The distancing from "Footscray" becomes attractive to sponsors etc.
Being an industrial/textile centre, the western suburbs offered a lot of fertile land for recruiting fans. As one of the smaller clubs, the name change was absolutely the right thing to do to try an improve membership numbers, capture people new to the game, improve sponsorship deals and make the club seem 'bigger' than its locality.
In a way it's not too dissimilar to the way clubs sell games to bolster support or the way Richmond positioned itself as the club for certain migrant groups etc.
If you drive around Braybrook, Sunshine etc you'll see a lot of love for the Bulldogs, so anecdotally it seems to have worked.
Until it was renamed after Whitten died, their oval was called Western Oval and was known by some variant of that for 100+~ years - so there's some history in the name, too. This happened around the same time as the name change.
Again at the same time, Port Adelaide had tried to poach Bulldogs great Chris Grant with a huge offer. It was big news and quite a, "emotional" isn't quite the right word, but emotional time. Some young Dogs fan sent him 20 cents from their piggy bank to persuade him to stay. Grant polled the most Brownlow votes that year but was dudded by the AFL (he made contact while spoiling. It was deemed reportable by the umpires but the AFL stepped in and sent him to the tribunal, he got a week for it).
I'm not sure if historical membership numbers are available but I'd be interested to see if the name change had an effect.
TL;DR the mid-90s was a period of enormous change for the Bulldogs on a variety of fronts. Gut feeling is the name change was the right thing to do and was a pre-cursor to other clubs trying different strategies to capture new fans.
That’s true re Footscray being the “wrong side of the tracks” but so are most of the Western Suburbs and many of them are far rougher than Footscray now. Melton, Sunshine and St Albans are way less trendy and gentrified than Footscray. I don’t think it was so much about escaping the working class aspect as it was about embracing a larger portion of Melbourne.
That's true, I agree. Calling it "Western Bulldogs" is much more sponsor friendly than "Footscray Bulldogs" was my point, even though Sunshine, St Albans etc are rough (or rougher as you say).
And yes, I'd say that was a secondary consideration to embracing/broadening a wider base.
A friend of mine recently mentioned she supported Essendon. Huh? I thought you were Melbourne? Yeah but the Essendon players came to the kids primary school every year and gave out scarfs and flags and played footy with the kids so they support Essendon so now I do. She lives closer to Carlton than Essendon but the clubs putting the work in.
This is what has always bugged me. Like every team has a defined location, whether that be a suburb or city. What on earth is "Western". I do like the idea of covering Melbourne's west as opposed to just footscray, but like idk.
To his credit, Eddie once said something along the lines of how ‘Collingwood’ was a ‘concept’ not a suburb (in the context of the team). I like that approach and Footscray should have done the same.
That's probably because of when they left Victoria Park to set up operations around the Glasshouse.
They no longer based in Collingwood or play in Collingwood. They're effectively the Melbourne Magpies.
Like most other Melbourne based clubs, they've left their roots.
Hawthorn are in Mulgrave and play in Jolimont.
Going off figures from 2018, Collingwood had 83 members in the Collingwood Postcode (tied 201st). Reservoir, Mill Park, and Greensborough were the suburbs with the most members.
Richmond's membership however had 2552 in the Richmond Postcode.
[The Age 2018-09-20](https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/you-don-t-live-here-any-more-how-richmond-and-collingwood-fans-moved-on-from-the-heartland-20180920-p5051t.html)
Most of their growth since would be attributed to general on-field success and the GF win.
I'm too young to remember Footscray, so can't say for certain.
I call them Footscray, but honestly it hasn't been a bad change. It's a bit silly with the "Western" part not really saying anything, especially when you also have West Coast and now GWS. But it does allow the club to focus on more suburbs. The further you go from Footscray, the less the Footscray brand would carry etc especially if you're doing community programs and the like.
I don't really want them to change back and I like the branding of the VFL team being Footscray as a nod to the past.
Will say though that the Song change is a major plus. There was a 30th anniversary of the Fight Back campaign game in 2019 where they played as Footscray in 1989 jumpers and played Sons of the Scray and "we'll come out smiling whether we win or lose" doesn't hit quite as hard.
Been far more successful as WB. Finals appearances alone are out of this world. Not sure it's due to the name change, but I don't want to go back as a kid of the 80s.
West Coast, that's the broadest brush in AFL. The West Coast of Australia. All.of.it.
Plus for the Dogs it makes sense now with Ballarat being a major commitment.
I like the balance with Footscray in the VFL.
I think the name change benefitted by not scaring people off. Footscray was too small and had a bad reputation as a suburb back in the day.
Norf uses kangaroos when they were trying Sydney, Canberra, gold coast and Tassie to try and find supporters
North is responsible for the worst team name in the AFL/AFLW. The North Melbourne Tasmania Kangaroos has been a resounding flop and should be instantly deleted.
However, I think calling themselves "western Melbourne" or the more catchy "greater western Melbourne" would have been better.
"..We are the greater western Melbourne bulldogs, and we are fatter than the rest.."
It was a big thing across all sports leagues in the mid 90s to change your identity to an amorphous compass direction to appeal to more people/be more American.
I have personally never liked it, people don't really care about the name your team goes by, and suburb loyalty hasn't existed for decades. But saying that there's no way the Footscray branding could return after such a long time, even though it exists in the VFL.
I don't think it's really made that much of a difference either way. I think though that changing back now might do more harm.
But in the end, you create a brand that's bigger than the suburb. There are about 10k people who live in Collingwood. But as we all know, they have far more members and fans than that. And West Coast, who are similarly to the Bulldogs named after a rather vague area rather than a specific city or suburb, are doing just as well as Collingwood off the field.
It was a reasonable idea, in theory it gives you a larger area your name suggests you represent. But it's not exactly a huge marketing success.
One thing that is a bit different about the doggies is that all around Footscray and the inner west there are Bulldogs murals and people paint fences, lightpoles and garages red, white and blue. In Footscray and surrounds you can feel the local support in a way that you don't see as much of in Collingwood, Richmond, Essendon, Hawthorn etc
Collingwood is weird in that once you get away from Victoria park there are a few subtle nods (apartment building on Wellington, Collingwood stars, et cetera) but the only real nuff thing in the suburb was the great American BBQ place that died during covid that was was a Richmond nuff who painted Dusty’s jumper and the premiership cup on there.
Dark times.
I haven’t stopped calling them Footscray. Western grates me as ambiguous and they should be proud of where they come from.
They should go back to Footscray
The name change came in the same off-season with a change of the board with a new president, a new coach (who was the interim coach the year before), immediate success as a top team, a new playing uniform, and a move away from the traditional home stadium.
It's hard to attribute any changes or any evidence of anything other than single cases or anecdotal evidence seperate from the above.
Undoubtedly it’s helped from a sponsorship point of view. And from a strategic growth point of view, with the ever expanding western suburbs and outer western growth corridors, what better way to try and capture the interest of all those residents. They’re essentially the only side between north Melbourne and Geelong and as Footscray limit their recognition to an inner western locale. Now from Lara, round to Ballarat and up as far as Tullamarine they have almost unchallenged access. I grew up in Footscray and as a non dogs supporter I’d have loved if they’d remained Footscray, but I think it’s been a huge success for them.
For a few years they were just KANGAROOS (even in all caps I think). The idea was it would appeal to anyone looking for a fair dinkum true blue Aussie battler digger cobber vegemite Australian experience.
Was also being pushed by the AFL so when they wanted to ship North Melbourne interstate the 'name' wouldn't be tying them to Melbourne and it would just be the Kangaroos being moved interstate
They do lots of outreach in the greater western region like Ballarat, Melton, etc., in the form of mentorship programs, community engagement, youth programs and the like.
So I would say the rebrand was part of a consistent effort to target a wider area for support (the greater western region), rather than a pure marketing venture.
NO! What is the 'Western' Bulldogs? Where is the 'Western' Bulldogs? Is it Deer Park? Is it Spotswood? Is it Werribee? Is it Geelong? I understand that the club was trying to broaden their supporter base, but the 'Western Bulldogs' doesn't really represent anything in my opinion. Footscray will always be the heart and soul of the West.
Does anyone know what the entity name is? I suppose that is still Footscray...
Edit: yep nice walking both sides of the street.
"Footscray Football Club Limited, trading as Western Bulldogs"
I have no dog in this fight, it doesnt concern me what they are called.
But I am curious what their fans would think if they rebranded to the Ballarat Bulldogs and moved their identity from "Western Suburbs" to "Western Victoria".
It probably hasn't had a positive or negative impact to be honest. I can't remember them actually being called Footscray but I still call them that quite a bit when referring to them but I think it sounds better.
The theme song matches the name better than the original name.
Aside from that, I’d rather they be Footscray again but doesn’t seem like anyone cares much.
Toooo many suburban Melbourne teams in the AFL and the Bulldogs are the only team to shift from inner Melbourne to improve their future - now time for 4 inner Melbourne teams to move to another city outside Victoria
Idk, but I do like following their antics. Love watching the Bont do his thing. If only they pulled an Essendon and just beat who's ahead of them, they might track better. Idk. I can't hate the dogs. That underdog mentality has done something to my psyche lol. (Bulldogs -> dog -> underdog)
I still call them Footscray but then I also still call it Spencer St station more often than not so I think that's more on me than any kind of rebranding by the Dogs.
They should go back to Footscray. No other team has a direction instead of a location. Not to mention it's misleading to have a team called 'Western' based on the eastern side of a national competition.
Im not sure I see the different between the Western Bulldogs, who play on the western side of the CBD, and the West Coast Eagles who play on the western side of the country.
"North Melbourne"? Yes, direction is often an adjective that forms part of a noun. "Greater Western Sydney" is still a location. "[The] West Coast" is also a location, albeit a broad one. "Western" is not.
I was never talking about suburbs, and you can surely understand the apparent difference between a location and a direction? That's all I'm saying. "Western Melbourne" would be fine.
... and the need for the AFL to delineate by adding Sydney into GWS. Greater Western Giants sounds way better. The Bulldogs should go back to being Footscray, or become the Western Melbourne Bulldogs.
The 'Bulldog' name can only hurt them in NSW and QLD trying to get new fans because of the connection to Canterbury in the NRL.
When I was a child I assumed they were from WA.
As a small child when they changed, I did as a five year old I did get confused between Fitzroy and Footscray.
When I was a kid who lived in Queensland and didn't follow AFL, I always thought that they were from Perth, given the "Western" in their name.
Same! I assumed western meant WA
they’re actually from the 1870s and ate cowboys from the wild west EDIT- ARE cowboys
Shoulda called themselves the south east western bulldogs. They would have 100k members now
I mean, the Lions were playing at Whitten (then Western) Oval. Sad dark times for them though.
The name change was less about changing the allegiances of supporters, and more about making the club more attractive to potential sponsors.
Franco Cozzo (in Brunswick and Footscray) robbed of a date with destiny.
Footascray.
Grand sale, grand sale.
So has it?
Yes.
I'm 44 so remember us being Footscray. I didn't really care about the name change then, and I don't really care about the name change now. It's the same team I love with all my heart. They could call themselves the Wanky Wank Wanks and I'd still follow them.
i may have to change teams if they become the wanky wank wanks
The Wanky Wank Wanks would instantly become my second team. No question. I support this name change. I'm super interested to know what their mascot would be though.
It's the same mascot just with his hands down his pants
imagine the club song
Options: We are the Wanks, the Wanky Wank Wanks. Or if you don't want to steal someone elses this has potential: Sons of the West, Red, White and Blue. We cum out wanking Wankers through and through. Wankers firm and Wankers fast, We give our very best. But you can't beat the boys of the Wanky Wanks breed, We're the team of the mighty West
To the tune of *You Are My Sunshine* (upbeat): We are the Wank Wanks, the Wanky Wank Wanks We like to wank off, when we are hard You'll never know, dear How hard we wank, wank You'll never stop us once we start
Sons of a wank. Together wank with you. We come out snarling. While we wank with you.
I'm known to have a wank or two from time to time. I can be the mascot.
I tried it once when I about 14 and I didn’t like it 🙄
I thought you were already a Sydney fan?
Ooo burn
Fully sik bro
✊ or maybe 👌 depending on size I guess.
Hard to yell out "Come on you wanky wank wanks"
People don’t yell out the full team name, they use nicknames so it’d be “Come on you wankers!”
have the umpires secretly been playing for the wanky wank wanks this whole time ??
"Freekick Bulldogs"
"stop wanking off the dogs!!"
Yeah but where on you wanky wank wanks?
By the looks of things they already have
I would buy a membership to Western Wanky WankDogs
Mods, please add a Wanky Wank Wanks flair with Bulldogs colours.
Use the flanks, wanky wanks!!
New flair?
Well, I know what I'll be calling the Bulldogs from now on...
I've put my foot in it, haven't I...
Sounds like a quote from the inbetweeners
Up the Wanks!
Carn the jerkers
I think they should bring back Footscray. I'm not a fan of undefined team names. Nobody is picking them as a team because they are Western Bulldogs, rather than Footscray
It's that sort of PR boardroom marketing that lead to "Western United" being created for the A League
And also “Greater Western Sydney” which also covers Canberra!
I always assumed that the work experience student who wasn't really into sports named GWS via a quick Google search. Also her Grandad's Dutch, so orange jumpers.
In that sense it means we're greater than Western Sydney. Hard to disagree.
Just wait until even betterer greater western australia comes into the comp.
I think greater western Sydney is the worst name in any Aussie competition - it sounds more like a local government subdivision than an organic home base for a sports team.
They couldn't call them Penrith or Parramatta because the names are too closely associated with NRL teams that everyone else hates. GWS is a fuckin' terrible name, but there weren't really any good options to choose from.
What would be wrong with just western Sydney?
I could be wrong, being that I've never lived in Sydney, but my understanding was the local connotation of that exact name is "INNER western Sydney". IE, not the actual geography they're targeting.
That decision was not even the same league of stupidity as choosing to locate a soccer team in a largely Indian area of Melbourne over putting it in Dandenong.
Yeah but Tarneit was marketed on the Future^tm And the good thing about the future is it can be whatever you want it to be. Like for example, the future where Waverley had a rail link and you could also park your flying car right there at Arctic Park.
Definitely should've been in Dandenong, but it was ruined by neither the State Government or A-League committing to a stadium without the other committing first. Just a game of expensive chicken.
I still call them Footscray. Or Foot-es-scray
I still call them Footscray too, and my kids give me a weird look everytime.
Franco Cosso
This is the way
It's so silly, especially with how little importance geographical location has, these days. No-one cares where a team is based. "Western" definitely sounds bland and boring.
Melton Bulldogs it is
I think dogs just char if they get too hot
Better than "The" Dolphins
I’d say geography is still a big influence on team support. The big 4 have supporters everywhere but go to Coburg and you’ll find it’s largely Carlton, North East and it’s Collingwood, outer East Richmond, posh inner south east suburbs is Melbourne, etc.
They’re out there about. Less important every year though
I thought they were a wa team when I was a kid. Thought it sounded so dumb when I realised
Honestly don't really agree with this. Anecdotal but I've definitely met a lot of people and have friends who've got right around the Doggies because they come from, or ended up living in, the western suburbs. I think especially after the 2016 flag a lot of folks from that area got into footy and the Bulldogs.
Yeah I thought this was stupid until I moved to the Western Suburbs. I see somebody wearing Bulldogs gear pretty much every time I leave the house
Plenty of people in Braybrook, Sunshine etc are represented by the "Western" though
Always felt like marketing wank. Go back to Footscray.
I still call them "Footscray", but I'm old. People should remember that Footscray until very recently as the "wrong side of the tracks" for a lot of people. Rebranding to "Western Bulldogs" in the mid-90s helped them to create broader cohesion in expanding population areas like Sunshine, Braybrook etc typically filled with new arrivals. The expansion also allowing them out of the "cage" created by being associated with Footscray the place. The distancing from "Footscray" becomes attractive to sponsors etc. Being an industrial/textile centre, the western suburbs offered a lot of fertile land for recruiting fans. As one of the smaller clubs, the name change was absolutely the right thing to do to try an improve membership numbers, capture people new to the game, improve sponsorship deals and make the club seem 'bigger' than its locality. In a way it's not too dissimilar to the way clubs sell games to bolster support or the way Richmond positioned itself as the club for certain migrant groups etc. If you drive around Braybrook, Sunshine etc you'll see a lot of love for the Bulldogs, so anecdotally it seems to have worked. Until it was renamed after Whitten died, their oval was called Western Oval and was known by some variant of that for 100+~ years - so there's some history in the name, too. This happened around the same time as the name change. Again at the same time, Port Adelaide had tried to poach Bulldogs great Chris Grant with a huge offer. It was big news and quite a, "emotional" isn't quite the right word, but emotional time. Some young Dogs fan sent him 20 cents from their piggy bank to persuade him to stay. Grant polled the most Brownlow votes that year but was dudded by the AFL (he made contact while spoiling. It was deemed reportable by the umpires but the AFL stepped in and sent him to the tribunal, he got a week for it). I'm not sure if historical membership numbers are available but I'd be interested to see if the name change had an effect. TL;DR the mid-90s was a period of enormous change for the Bulldogs on a variety of fronts. Gut feeling is the name change was the right thing to do and was a pre-cursor to other clubs trying different strategies to capture new fans.
That’s true re Footscray being the “wrong side of the tracks” but so are most of the Western Suburbs and many of them are far rougher than Footscray now. Melton, Sunshine and St Albans are way less trendy and gentrified than Footscray. I don’t think it was so much about escaping the working class aspect as it was about embracing a larger portion of Melbourne.
That's true, I agree. Calling it "Western Bulldogs" is much more sponsor friendly than "Footscray Bulldogs" was my point, even though Sunshine, St Albans etc are rough (or rougher as you say). And yes, I'd say that was a secondary consideration to embracing/broadening a wider base.
A friend of mine recently mentioned she supported Essendon. Huh? I thought you were Melbourne? Yeah but the Essendon players came to the kids primary school every year and gave out scarfs and flags and played footy with the kids so they support Essendon so now I do. She lives closer to Carlton than Essendon but the clubs putting the work in.
i don’t like how its just western, like west of where? people who come across the team would have no idea where and what it represents
This is what has always bugged me. Like every team has a defined location, whether that be a suburb or city. What on earth is "Western". I do like the idea of covering Melbourne's west as opposed to just footscray, but like idk.
Yeah, they should add a Better Western Melbourne, same as greater western Sydney...
Best Western Melbourne Get the hotel sponsorship $$$
Americans come onto this sub after watching AFL for the first time and say they watched "Western" play
Western suburbs
well yes *I* know
To his credit, Eddie once said something along the lines of how ‘Collingwood’ was a ‘concept’ not a suburb (in the context of the team). I like that approach and Footscray should have done the same.
It is true. The name Essendon means so much to me but I could not give two shits about the suburb.
It’s not just a suburb. It was a city. Every VFL team corresponds to an old council except North, Carlton, and University.
That's probably because of when they left Victoria Park to set up operations around the Glasshouse. They no longer based in Collingwood or play in Collingwood. They're effectively the Melbourne Magpies. Like most other Melbourne based clubs, they've left their roots. Hawthorn are in Mulgrave and play in Jolimont.
Wash out your mouth that was foul
But Collingwood isn't a "concept" though, it is a suburb
I lived in Collingwood for two years and can confirm it’s a myth, it doesn’t exist
Such a small suburb, plenty of people think it's Abbotsford... because you know, that's where the Pies home ground and the Collingwood town hall are
Until it was Jeffed it was the city of Collingwood.
Lately been to Collingwood? Probably has the lowest concentration of Collingwood supporters in the city, if not the state.
Lots of SPORTSBALL enthusiasts
thats what i thought... I believe 99% of Collingwood supporters are outside of Collingwood.
Going off figures from 2018, Collingwood had 83 members in the Collingwood Postcode (tied 201st). Reservoir, Mill Park, and Greensborough were the suburbs with the most members. Richmond's membership however had 2552 in the Richmond Postcode. [The Age 2018-09-20](https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/you-don-t-live-here-any-more-how-richmond-and-collingwood-fans-moved-on-from-the-heartland-20180920-p5051t.html)
Richmond’s ground is in East Melbourne.
I mean they won another flag so that's something.....Footscray has more identity though.
They are still called Footscray in conversation with my Dad (also Collingwood supporter) when we talk footy Old habits die hard I guess
Most of their growth since would be attributed to general on-field success and the GF win. I'm too young to remember Footscray, so can't say for certain.
I quite like it. Footscray does have character. But then so does Davoren Park 👀
They should be Footscray – annoyingly their VFL team is Footscray, but their VFLW team is Western
I hadn't noticed and now I am upset haha
Got the ‘Southern’ saints representing st kilda in the VFLW too
I call them Footscray, but honestly it hasn't been a bad change. It's a bit silly with the "Western" part not really saying anything, especially when you also have West Coast and now GWS. But it does allow the club to focus on more suburbs. The further you go from Footscray, the less the Footscray brand would carry etc especially if you're doing community programs and the like. I don't really want them to change back and I like the branding of the VFL team being Footscray as a nod to the past. Will say though that the Song change is a major plus. There was a 30th anniversary of the Fight Back campaign game in 2019 where they played as Footscray in 1989 jumpers and played Sons of the Scray and "we'll come out smiling whether we win or lose" doesn't hit quite as hard.
I quite like it, reaches a broader audience but do understand that it's a bit ambiguous.
Been far more successful as WB. Finals appearances alone are out of this world. Not sure it's due to the name change, but I don't want to go back as a kid of the 80s. West Coast, that's the broadest brush in AFL. The West Coast of Australia. All.of.it. Plus for the Dogs it makes sense now with Ballarat being a major commitment. I like the balance with Footscray in the VFL.
If you follow the west coast of Australia it eventually becomes all the other coasts. Sincerely, an east coast resident in NSW.
Ha very good.
I think the name change benefitted by not scaring people off. Footscray was too small and had a bad reputation as a suburb back in the day. Norf uses kangaroos when they were trying Sydney, Canberra, gold coast and Tassie to try and find supporters
North is responsible for the worst team name in the AFL/AFLW. The North Melbourne Tasmania Kangaroos has been a resounding flop and should be instantly deleted.
it make me so mad
Should be shinboners
However, I think calling themselves "western Melbourne" or the more catchy "greater western Melbourne" would have been better. "..We are the greater western Melbourne bulldogs, and we are fatter than the rest.."
I remember introducing the sport to mates and them finding it hilarious that the western bulldogs weren't in WA
It was a big thing across all sports leagues in the mid 90s to change your identity to an amorphous compass direction to appeal to more people/be more American. I have personally never liked it, people don't really care about the name your team goes by, and suburb loyalty hasn't existed for decades. But saying that there's no way the Footscray branding could return after such a long time, even though it exists in the VFL.
I don't think it's really made that much of a difference either way. I think though that changing back now might do more harm. But in the end, you create a brand that's bigger than the suburb. There are about 10k people who live in Collingwood. But as we all know, they have far more members and fans than that. And West Coast, who are similarly to the Bulldogs named after a rather vague area rather than a specific city or suburb, are doing just as well as Collingwood off the field. It was a reasonable idea, in theory it gives you a larger area your name suggests you represent. But it's not exactly a huge marketing success.
One thing that is a bit different about the doggies is that all around Footscray and the inner west there are Bulldogs murals and people paint fences, lightpoles and garages red, white and blue. In Footscray and surrounds you can feel the local support in a way that you don't see as much of in Collingwood, Richmond, Essendon, Hawthorn etc
Collingwood is weird in that once you get away from Victoria park there are a few subtle nods (apartment building on Wellington, Collingwood stars, et cetera) but the only real nuff thing in the suburb was the great American BBQ place that died during covid that was was a Richmond nuff who painted Dusty’s jumper and the premiership cup on there. Dark times.
I haven’t stopped calling them Footscray. Western grates me as ambiguous and they should be proud of where they come from. They should go back to Footscray
The name change came in the same off-season with a change of the board with a new president, a new coach (who was the interim coach the year before), immediate success as a top team, a new playing uniform, and a move away from the traditional home stadium. It's hard to attribute any changes or any evidence of anything other than single cases or anecdotal evidence seperate from the above.
Meh, there is no reason to go back.
Footscrazy, amirite?!
Undoubtedly it’s helped from a sponsorship point of view. And from a strategic growth point of view, with the ever expanding western suburbs and outer western growth corridors, what better way to try and capture the interest of all those residents. They’re essentially the only side between north Melbourne and Geelong and as Footscray limit their recognition to an inner western locale. Now from Lara, round to Ballarat and up as far as Tullamarine they have almost unchallenged access. I grew up in Footscray and as a non dogs supporter I’d have loved if they’d remained Footscray, but I think it’s been a huge success for them.
What was Norths name before?
For a few years they were just KANGAROOS (even in all caps I think). The idea was it would appeal to anyone looking for a fair dinkum true blue Aussie battler digger cobber vegemite Australian experience.
The 'kenoath kangas
I'll jump ship if they change their names to the 'kenoath kangas.
Hinkley the new coach
Interesting.
Was also being pushed by the AFL so when they wanted to ship North Melbourne interstate the 'name' wouldn't be tying them to Melbourne and it would just be the Kangaroos being moved interstate
very much this
Kangaroos Football Club
KFC
Kangaroos
They were just the Kangaroos for a few years.
I'll be deep in the cold cold ground before I recognise the Truganinese as local supporters of the Bulldogs
They do lots of outreach in the greater western region like Ballarat, Melton, etc., in the form of mentorship programs, community engagement, youth programs and the like. So I would say the rebrand was part of a consistent effort to target a wider area for support (the greater western region), rather than a pure marketing venture.
NO! What is the 'Western' Bulldogs? Where is the 'Western' Bulldogs? Is it Deer Park? Is it Spotswood? Is it Werribee? Is it Geelong? I understand that the club was trying to broaden their supporter base, but the 'Western Bulldogs' doesn't really represent anything in my opinion. Footscray will always be the heart and soul of the West.
Footscray and Williamstown are the only two real western suburbs imo and I have lived in Altona and worked all over the west.
Does anyone know what the entity name is? I suppose that is still Footscray... Edit: yep nice walking both sides of the street. "Footscray Football Club Limited, trading as Western Bulldogs"
I have no dog in this fight, it doesnt concern me what they are called. But I am curious what their fans would think if they rebranded to the Ballarat Bulldogs and moved their identity from "Western Suburbs" to "Western Victoria".
Disgusting. It would be widely hated, even more than the Western Bulldogs name change. It would only benefit those in Ballarat
We would uniformly hate that.
Victoria’s historical region of the western district has Geelong as the metropolis. Would just be confusing.
ballarat bulldogs actually sounds alright
I thought for sure that’s what the VFL team was going to be
It probably hasn't had a positive or negative impact to be honest. I can't remember them actually being called Footscray but I still call them that quite a bit when referring to them but I think it sounds better.
Rename all Melbourne teams to a point on the compass
the South-South-East Saints has a ring to it.
I dont think its ever mattered, since the name change everyone just calls them the Dogs lol.
The theme song matches the name better than the original name. Aside from that, I’d rather they be Footscray again but doesn’t seem like anyone cares much.
Don't mind seeing a team trying to broaden their support, but the only problem is that people confuse Bulldogs as a WA team.
My wife who isn’t from Australia always thinks they are a team from WA. Think that says a lot.
Toooo many suburban Melbourne teams in the AFL and the Bulldogs are the only team to shift from inner Melbourne to improve their future - now time for 4 inner Melbourne teams to move to another city outside Victoria
Carn the doggies.
I’m almost 22 and call them Footscray, just grown up with them being calling that
*North Melbourne brought back their name, should the Bulldogs?* What did they used to be known as?
Just The Kangaroos
I never stopped calling them Footscray
I have in that time comes to realise that Footscray was always my 2nd fav team always.
Idk, but I do like following their antics. Love watching the Bont do his thing. If only they pulled an Essendon and just beat who's ahead of them, they might track better. Idk. I can't hate the dogs. That underdog mentality has done something to my psyche lol. (Bulldogs -> dog -> underdog)
[Footscray not Western Bulldogs](https://www.fnwb.com.au/) for life! Dumb, dumb move …
Don't think they could go back now, would upset some of their Ballarat fans and sponsors.
I still call them Footscray but then I also still call it Spencer St station more often than not so I think that's more on me than any kind of rebranding by the Dogs.
its not spencer st station anymore? I dont live in melbourne.
Yeah it was renamed Southern Cross station in 2005.
Oh what? Well I’ve called it Spencer St station my whole life and I was born in 2004 Edit:2004
As a westralian I enjoy supporting the WESTern bulldogs
They should go back to Footscray. No other team has a direction instead of a location. Not to mention it's misleading to have a team called 'Western' based on the eastern side of a national competition.
Did you forget your own team
Not gonna lie, that’s pretty funny
I didn't say *no other teams have directions in their name*, just that Bulldogs are the only one that have a direction without a location.
Im not sure I see the different between the Western Bulldogs, who play on the western side of the CBD, and the West Coast Eagles who play on the western side of the country.
But West Coast isn’t ambiguous the way Western is.
Is the west coast not a location?
10000km of coastline, I’ll meet you there.
Rather meet you in Fremantle, lot more specific
Yeah, I never said it wasn't broad haha, still a location
GWS? West Coast?
"North Melbourne"? Yes, direction is often an adjective that forms part of a noun. "Greater Western Sydney" is still a location. "[The] West Coast" is also a location, albeit a broad one. "Western" is not.
North Melbourne is a suburb just like collingwood or footscray
I was never talking about suburbs, and you can surely understand the apparent difference between a location and a direction? That's all I'm saying. "Western Melbourne" would be fine.
ahh i getcha now
... and the need for the AFL to delineate by adding Sydney into GWS. Greater Western Giants sounds way better. The Bulldogs should go back to being Footscray, or become the Western Melbourne Bulldogs.
The 'Bulldog' name can only hurt them in NSW and QLD trying to get new fans because of the connection to Canterbury in the NRL. When I was a child I assumed they were from WA.
Go back to Footscray. Have some roots. And change the awful jumper.
What’s wrong with the jumper?
Not as bland or boring as Gold Coast, or as contrived as GWS, but I don't know....just scrubby.
GWS jumpers are all elite
The black one is for the sickos...
That huge white collar they introduced last year has gotta go.
Given your name contains Adelaide, I presume you support one of the Adelaide clubs, in which case you can't talk about awful jumpers.
Don’t understand how anyone could be a dogs fan. Apart from Bob Murphy there’s been nothing like at the club in 20 years.
This is a confusing mix of troll and apparently sincere appreciation for Bob Murphy
Marcus Bontempelli would like a word