Why I want a Western Bulldogs win

[GVGjr]

I've been following the Bulldogs for all of my life. I've previously mentioned that my grandparents would never have tolerated grandchildren not supporting Footscray and I'm very serious in saying that I doubt I would have been allowed in the house had I chosen another side. I'm proud that they instilled in me a non wavering passion for the club.

Times have changed though and parents now aren't too fused who their children follow and I've even read where some of our supporters have said they don't want their children to go through the same frustration and struggles they have endured as lifelong Footscray/Western Bulldogs supporters.

I've seen many people drop off with their support after a favourite player or other had departed and I've also seen our supporters back away from the club after a few hard seasons. I sort of understand that but it's not me.

I've always seen things a lot differently to that. Sure the hard times test us but I'd like to think that so many others supporters have never really contemplated chucking in the towel.

So through all the hard times and some of the more enjoyable ones we find the club that so many of us love playing for the greatest prize of them all. There is no question in my mind that this is what going through all those tough times is all about. It's the ultimate payback for maintaining the faith.

Now I've had a long think about this and I'm not necessarily wanting the win just for me. I want the win for all those who have stayed the journey and maintained the faith.

I want it for the likes of Peter Gordon and Susan Alberti who have been terrific ambassadors for our great club.
I want it for all the players and coaches that represented us in 7 preliminary finals and 1 grand final since the last flag.
I want it for all the players that have missed their chance to play tomorrow because of injury or suspension.
And I want it for all of our supporters who have stayed the journey and invested so much emotion and passion over the years.

A win tomorrow will be a great thing for me but tomorrow I'll hopefully get the chance to sit back and silently thank all the people I have mentioned above.

Right now I'm very proud to be one of the many Western Bulldogs supporters.

I'd love to hear what a win tomorrow would mean to you?

[bornadog]

Great stuff GVGjr, I was only saying the same thing to my wife tonight. It would be great to win for all of the Western Suburbs for all the people who have been life long supporters.

Gut Feel - we will win.

[Daughter of the West]

This is going to sound a bit backward - but so the 1954 team is no longer considered "special".

So that ultimate success becomes so commonplace to us that we can't reel the name of every player to have played in a dogs premiership without thinking. So that we become so much more than the tragic "one flag" side. So that we're not everyone's second best team. So that other supporters fear and loathe our club.

Success breeds success, and it begins tomorrow.

#inbevowetrust

[Funke disco]

Im 31, and live in west Footscray, a short walk to the WO. This finals series has turned this place around. Houses are dressed up in red white and blue. It is beautiful. A win to me would permanently stamp the club into the consciousness of Victorian's. No longer the little club that could, more the club that did! The western suburbs would explode in elation, unseen in a footy mad city that for all its madness has been unable to translate it into dollars for our great club. A premiership would guarantee that.
personally It would be fantastic to enjoy the win with my girlfriend (she was in tears last week) and my brothers who are both dog-crazy

[Eastdog]

For me it would be huge.

I'm only in my late 20s but the last few weeks have been the biggest for me in my time as a Doggies supporter starting in around the early 2000s. Been a member of the Dogs for the last few years and feel so much closer to the club and gotten to know all the people around me (I'm a silver reserve member Level 1 at Etihad great seat) at the games going most weeks during the home and away season. I know the history and know what it would mean for all of us if we win tomorrow.

My generation are very fortunate in that in our shorter time of support of the Dogs we could see a flag as the previous generations before that didn't have that same chance before so we will all be so happy. So lucky to add the SC club this year and we play in a Grand Final.

I'm the only Bulldog in my immediate family but the family has been behind me in recent weeks. I have 2 cousins who are also Doggies supporters and the only ones in their families as well who are both very happy.

[DOG GOD]

For me, it will be a defying moment in my life. I've been a follower since I was 11 (1983), and I never ever thought I'd see us in a GF let alone win one. As a huge KISS fan to see the original band on stage in makeup..in Australia in 1996 was the greatest moment of my life....but I'm just as passionate about the dogs as I am my music. It's heartbreaking that I'm in the u.s at this point (a trip I booked in June '15) but will be watching live.

If the dogs can bring home the big one then that would be right up there as one of the greatest moments in my life....I want that feeling.

[LostDoggy]

My first memory of a game was the '85' Prelim with my Dad. He took me every week, my cousin and I had our spot on the fence at the Western Oval a couple of rows or steps in front of him and my uncle. We have seen the highs and the very lows since them times and I feel it has all lead to this day. He was born in '53' and he doesn't miss anything even makes a couple of interstate games a year. I have my own boys now and we go when we can but 'Football Day' always supersedes everything else.

Watching the GWS game with him was just incredible to share the tears with him and my boys after it I will never forget. He kept asking before the game what I thought and I just kept saying we have to believe, this time is different and he just can't let the past go, there was too many scars. So to see and share the absolute euphoria at the siren was unforgettable.

To have witnessed the coming together of not just one town but a state, strangers just nodding and speaking and sharing thoughts and stories it makes it all worthwhile!

Today I will be there with my Dad and my Boys and it will be a day we will never forget.

We are undefeated this year me and my dad 5 for 5. Dare 2 Dream.

[aker39]

The one word most people associate with the Bulldogs is underdogs.

We have all wanted to make a GF for a very long time. We'll not only have we made the GF, but a win today would be the ultimate rags to riches story.
No team has ever won from 7th, no Victorian team has ever won 2 interstate finals and no team has ever won 4 finals. The ultimate fairytale.
So not only would a win be the crowning glory, it will put this club in the history books and all of the hurt along the way will be well and truly worth it.

I will be at the game today with 18 of my family members.
We have supported the club through the good times and the bad. I still remember my brothers 21st birthday 2 weeks after the 97 prelim. It was the most sombre 21st I've ever been too. We were still in mourning.
They have their 40th birthday next Saturday and I am very confident it will be the happiest party I have ever been at.

So today is the culmination of many many years of tears being wiped away and being replaced by the most joyous tears of all shared with my family and friends.

Why Not Us!!!!!!

[LostDoggy]

I want this for the boys, I just feel like they deserve it so much. I guess it feels like how I want life success for my own three sons.

[Bulldog Joe]

Growing up in Tasmania, it seemed that only my family were Bulldog supporters. I remember the euphoria of the 61 PF over Melbourne, where we listened on radio.

Despite plenty of derision over the journey, we have stuck through it all as Bulldogs.

I didn't get to see us play live until 1991 when I took my children to a game at the Western Oval. As an intermittent traveller through the 90's and early 2000's I saw occasional victories.

Since 2007 I have been a semi-permanent weekend resident in Melbourne and now hardly miss a game.

I want a flag for all those heroes I have seen don the jumper. I know my family and friends now seem to want a flag for me.

[1eyedog]

I want one for the supporters. We were on the corner of Summerhill and Barkly for a week at a donation table in 1989 and we saw first hand what this club meant to so many people. The amount of hours, blood, sweat and tears people shed for this club during that time was frankly astounding.

Gordo was massive during that time, I remember it well, but no one was more tireless than Social Club President Bob Moody. He was our inspiration during that time, constantly inspiring us to keep at it, organising food for everyone rattling tins on the streets and everyone at a donation table. He organised all the tin save the Bulldogs signs around Footscray (I still have a couple), he lobbied other clubs for donations and his face was the guiding light through our most challenging time.

Bob's no longer with us so won't see us today, but the club owes Bob a debt of gratitude as it does so many others because it simply wouldn't be here without the contribution of those people, and I want this for them.

[Jeanette54]

I was born in 1954, so sadly I don't actually remember the flag winning Grand Final.

My first memory of a trip to Western Oval was 1959, not a great year to be a Bulldog supporter. We finished stone, motherless last.

I do remember '61, when the Hawks, led onfield by Brendan Edwards, muscled aside our mosquito fleet; thus consigning us to a an eternity spent in the football wilderness. About the only consolation was four premierships in the old night series, held post season between the non final qualifiers. In our last Grand Final between Footscray and the Swans we finished in a canter, which is hopefully an omen for today.

As an aside I distinctly remember a certain swan king hitting David Thorpe from behind, in one of the dimly lit forward pockets of the Lakeside Oval. That man may, or may not, be at the 'G today.

Today will be full of memories of family who are no longer here, memories of the wind driven rain and mud of the freezing Western Oval of my childhood. Standing, hoping my tears could be mistaken for the drizzle, when Ted said goodbye in his last game as a player.

My Grandfather, who took me to so many 'Dogs games, saw the '54 Premiership, and the 1924 Victorian Champions game. Hopefully today I can square some of the ledger with him, it is just a shame that he won't be here to share it with.

Go 'Dogs !!!

[westbulldog]

An excerpt from a Greg Baum article in the Age 29/9 kinda sums it up for many:-

"It's undeniable," Gordon says. "Most Bulldogs supporters have never seen a grand final, including me. Yet people continue to support them passionately. It demonstrates a certain nobility, a dignity. It's different in that way."

Make a roar at the G today woofers, a roar so loud it has never been heard before. Inspire these boys to lift the cup for us !

[Ghost Dog]

Good thread GVGjr and excellent reading.
George Miller ( Mad Max director ) commented on the death of local storytelling and how dangerous it is for our society.

Finally! AFL fans have some kind of narrative they can celebrate and enjoy.
In the age of pokies, drugs in sport ( Essendon ), club expansion, under the table deals with players and TV rights, people want clubs to have a fair go, and there is a sense of justice about all this.
It's always interested me, following our club, especially the excellent and wonderful characters around the place. Dough Hawkins, Brad Johnson, Peter Smorgon - I've never met these people , only in passing, but they are so likeable and obviously 'good people'. I've seen Irene Chatfield and games with her precious scarf.
It would just be great to punctuate the narrative of our club by underlining the modern Bulldog era highlighting the change we all know has taken place. To be able to wave it around above our heads. We have arrived.

Today my Dad ( Bombers) sent me a picture of himself in this sort of 'Bulldog for a Day' jumper he must have got in the Herald. This is great for footy after a very dark period in the modern era. It's a party!

[hujsh]

I was born 3 years after the fight back in 89. The thought that this club and this day might not have existed is truely frightening. Therefore I'd like to thank every single person involved in the organising, fundraising or even if you gave 50 cents. If we ever meet I'll happily shout you a drink for what you did to save this club.

[Eastdog]

I'm out in the eastern suburbs. I can here celebrations from my house. Doggies song I can here being sung. Probably a few who have had some drinks. What a win! Will post more later.