For Friday night’s game against Collingwood, my beloved football club temporarily resumed its actual and traditional name, Footscray.
The reason for this was to mark 100 years since the Footscray Football Club (Western Bulldogs since 1997) entered the AFL’s predecessor league, the Victorian Football League.
At the time, in 1925, the entry of Footscray, the reigning VFA Premier and Champion of Victoria (having defeated the reigning VFL Premier Essendon in a post season match), along with North Melbourne and Hawthorn, made the VFL the undisputed top football competition in Australia.
Sadly, success has come slowly and rarely, compared with North Melbourne and its two golden ages with 4 premierships, and Hawthorn, with its 13 premierships. But at least, with 2016 (what we Footscray supporters call the Wink From The Universe) and the grand final appearance in 2021, we have had some success in recent years.
Indeed, much as I would like to see another premiership, after seeing 2016, I am well content for the rest of my lifetime, if I am being honest.
Given that the club resumed its old name for this one round, there is some discussion on social media this weekend about how it would be better if the Western Bulldogs were to permanently resume the traditional name, Footscray.
There are pros and cons to that.
The big con is the geographic marketing rationale. When David Smorgon drove the name change on assuming the presidency of the Club, it was because Footscray was no longer the major part of the Western Suburbs of Melbourne. The Western Suburbs now stretch out towards Rockbank and soon will meet up with Melton in the west, and are growing far past Werribee in the south west – those areas all, until recently, small villages or townships outside of Greater Melbourne. With several games being played in Ballarat each year, even further west, there is even greater cause to support the Western Bulldogs name.
But then there are the pros. Traditional and sentimentality are amongst the factors which bind people to their football teams. Many people are from families with deep intergenerational links to Footscray, even if they no longer live there (I am proud that the place of birth recorded on my passport is Footscray). The Club itself is still based at its historic home ground on the corner of Barkly and Gordon Streets, unlike Collingwood, St Kilda, Hawthorn, and (very soon) Richmond. People love their home town, and they love their home town team.
I remember that a few years ago the Club offered members a chance to actually vote on what design the club jumper should have, going forward. The options were the historic pre 1975 jumper (royal blue with separate single red and white hoops), or a more ornate modern jumper, with a bulldog’s head on some more elaborate hoops. Members voted to return to the old jumper, and so it has been for several years, including in 2016.
I think perhaps it is time that members had a chance to vote on whether to retain the Western Bulldogs name, or to return to the tradition Club name, Footscray.
I for one would vote for Footscray.
Lost For Words! 