Opinion The Dogs are the only 'local' club left in Melbourne

[Wayne Dwop]

.....There's Lin Jong too, and it would seem apt if the first Vietnamese player debuts for the Bulldogs...../QUOTE]

Lin Jong is of Taiwanese-Timorese descent.

 

[Wayne Dwop]

Perth Boy: "....There's Lin Jong too, and it would seem apt if the first Vietnamese player debuts for the Bulldogs....."


Lin Jong is of Taiwanese-Timorese descent.

 

[bontshow]

Yes WB support is concentrated in the west but we still lag behind collingwood and essendon even in our heartland

 

[Bombermania]

I would disagree with the OP, the Hawks have a very strong supporter base in Melbourne's inner East and Essendon very much dominate Melbourne's North-West, I think you could argue that there are other suburbs that don't have has strong a connection to the local AFL side, however whenever the AFL releases membership data, there is still a very strong correlation with the old zones.

 

[Bombermania]

West - Footscray, North West - Essendon, North - Collingwood, North East - Richmond, East - Hawthorn, South East - St. Kilda. Carlton fans are scattered everywhere and North Melb fans scattered usually throughout the north. Demons? stuffed if I know, never met a genuine Melbourne supporter. Just from my expereince growing up through school.

Pretty much spot on, I find most Melbourne supporters along the Sandringham trainline and the northern end of the Frankston trainline, whilst you are right about Carlton, they do seem to have a strong supporter base around Brunswick and Preston.

 

[David Schwarz]

I live in Footscray, and as anyone who lives in the Western suburbs knows, the Dogs and the western suburbs are inseparable. There are several permanent murals, paintings etc of the Bulldogs here. Today I was walking in central Footscray, as i often do, and going through West Footscray, Braybrook, Sunshine etc I lost count of all the Dogs posters, banners, paintings, decorations etc. They painted all the posts in Footscray white, red and blue. Nowhere else in Melbourne is the presence so strong. Also it just seems to me almost everyone I know who lives in Maribyrnong and Brimbank at least goes for the Dogs, though not all are necessarily big footy fans. It's almost like going for the Bulldogs goes hand in hand with representing the Western suburbs. On Saturday night after beating the Giants, people were going crazy in Footscray like they'd already won the GF.

I haven't found this to me the case regarding any of the other Melbourne clubs regarding this. Most of their supporters are relatively scattered, although supporters do tend to be more concentrated in some areas (I made a thread about this awhile back). St. Kilda, Melbourne and North are also small 'underdog' clubs now but going to St. Kilda or North Melbourne, there isn't quite the same feeling. Going to Richmond, Collingwood, Carlton, Hawthorn etc it's not quite the same. You do see signs here and there, but I don't get the feeling the majority of people who live their support those teams. In fact in Collingwood I don't get the impression most people care that much about footy, haha jk.

So in that sense the Western Bulldogs are still very much linked in a very real sense with Footscray and the West. Couldn't tell you the exact boundaries, if there are any, but Footscray down to Williamstown, probably out to St. Albans...the Maribyrnong River is probably the dividing line between Dogs and Dons/Roos territory. But in that sense they're more like Geelong, or the clubs in Perth and Adelaide. I feel with the other clubs they're too split up and supporters are too scattered to have any real meaningful connection with the suburb that bears their name.

I'll never forget the swell of pride that I felt when we used to park at either the Holden dealer on Barkly St or some blokes front yard for two-bob to walk to Whitten Oval

Seeing the houses littered with tricolour in the windows, old ladies waving at passers by with more 'Scray merch than trees in the Amazon, flags waving seemingly at every point imaginable

So happy that feeling is still there - seeing the #paintthetown movement has been a hark back to my younger days

 

[PerthBoy86]

Perth Boy: "....There's Lin Jong too, and it would seem apt if the first Vietnamese player debuts for the Bulldogs....."


Lin Jong is of Taiwanese-Timorese descent.

I know he isn't Vietnamese, but I mean it would be apt if the first Vietnamese player did debut for them. I probably didn't word that well.

 

[Some Idiot]

Valid point, in a lot of ways, we are the true suburban club.
Geelong representing a city that isn't the capital city is the only one that comes close.

 

[PerthBoy86]

Valid point, in a lot of ways, we are the true suburban club.
Geelong representing a city that isn't the capital city is the only one that comes close.

Yes, as far as Victorian teams go. During the 2005 and 2006 GF I was still in Perth, I just remember how deserted the roads were as I drove to Burswood (now Crown) casino around the 2nd quarter to watch it on the big screen, they were having an event, and how the whole city was in the grip of Eagles-mania when we did win.

 

[ThirdLegUp]

That's pretty cool to here. Isn't Ballarat part of the Geelong recruiting 'region'?

I'm not sure about recruiting zones, but one thing i have picked up on during my shortish stay down geelong way, there seems to be a very strong rivalry between Geelong and Ballarat. The way the older and home grown locals speak about each other seems strange that home grown Ratters would support Geelong... in anythig really lol.

 

[PerthBoy86]

I'm not sure about recruiting zones, but one thing i have picked up on during my shortish stay down geelong way, there seems to be a very strong rivalry between Geelong and Ballarat. The way the older and home grown locals speak about each other seems strange that home grown Ratters would support Geelong... in anythig really lol.

Thanks, interesting insight. I wonder about the idea of a Ballarat AFL team? haha. Probably more grass-roots footy support than the whole of western Sydney.

 

[David Schwarz]

Ballarat - Geelong goes back to the gold rush days where the former felt they were getting ripped off from their exploits in the mines from the latter who shipped them - who funnily enough felt likewise

 

[David Schwarz]

Thanks, interesting insight. I wonder about the idea of a Ballarat AFL team? haha. Probably more grass-roots footy support than the whole of western Sydney.

Ballarat is very parochial. North is in the VFL but I would not be surprised if I found more people that hated them than loved them

 

[PerthBoy86]

Ballarat is very parochial. North is in the VFL but I would not be surprised if I found more people that hated them than loved them

Why the hate?

 

[David Schwarz]

Why the hate?

That I don't know - I just recall an old friend and his family from Ballarst that went to my school that seemed to want to kill anyone they mentioned North Ballarat, as I found out the hard way when I "congratulated" him on making the VFA as it was back then

Ah primary school, memories

 

[David Schwarz]

Why the hate?

There was a club in the VFA called "Ballarat Gold" that everyone hated as well - they didn't last long

No idea why, maybe someone from there can shed more light than me from the far north-east of Melbourne

 

[David Schwarz]

Why the hate?

Sorry, correction - I'm thinking of Bendigo

However, Ballarat FC and Redan never got along well, and definitely not with North Ballarat