If the AFL ended us...

[bulldogtragic]

Would you continue to pay the FFC for your yearly membership?

Listening to Ross and John talking to the Fitzroy President who was saying Fitzroy FC still have several hundred members pay their dues every year, even though they do not have a team.

Just a shame, they didn't have several thousand like that.

As an aside, there was an interesting and relevant argument made the the roy boy's failure to have a permanent home after leaving Brunswick Street added to their woes, as their supporters didn't really have a 'home ground', they were just renting.

Makes you think we were even more lucky that in our dark days we could still offer the die hards a home ground. Somewhere with spirit and a place to rally from. The redevelopment will hopefully strengthen this for us too.

But to the main point, that's real love and dedication for a club with no team.

[bornadog]

If the Club died, no I wouldn't waste my money.

[GVGjr]

I would give the AFL a miss and go just to the TAC games instead.

[mighty_west]

HELLOOOO Williamstown!

[BulldogBelle]

If the AFL ended us - I would just become a neutral supporter and go and watch whichever AFL game was the most interesting for that week.

[GVGjr]

If the AFL ended us - I would just become a neutral supporter and go and watch whichever AFL game was the most interesting for that week.
I don't think I could go to any AFL game especially if I thought they hadn't done enough to help us survive.

[BulldogBelle]

I don't think I could go to any AFL game especially if I thought they hadn't done enough to help us survive.

A couple of friends of mine who were Fitzroy supporters were so anti AFL when their club went down they vowed never to go to another game for the same reason you have mentioned above - so they stopped going to the footy for a season and got complete footy withdrawel, the following year they decided they wanted back into the footy environment.

So then the hard decision had to be made would they become Bris supporters or Bulldog Supporters - they chose the Dogs. When you speak to them now, they always talk about the Fitzroy days but they love the Bulldogs to death.

[BulldogBelle]

A couple of friends of mine who were Fitzroy supporters were so anti AFL when their club went down they vowed never to go to another game for the same reason you have mentioned above - so they stopped going to the footy for a season and got complete footy withdrawel, the following year they decided they wanted back into the footy environment.

So then the hard decision had to be made would they become Bris supporters or Bulldog Supporters - they chose the Dogs. When you speak to them now, they always talk about the Fitzroy days but they love the Bulldogs to death.

l was ex fitzroy supporter. lt took me until 2001 to buy my first doggies membership.
l started with 1 membership then 2 and now a family membership with reserved seats.

l am more passionate about the dogs than l ever was about the Roys.

[BulldogBelle]

l was ex fitzroy supporter. lt took me until 2001 to buy my first doggies membership.
l started with 1 membership then 2 and now a family membership with reserved seats.

l am more passionate about the dogs than l ever was about the Roys.

That's excellent TBD - I have heard of quite a few Fitz supporters that transferred their affections over to the Bulldogs & I also have heard of some that initially went with Bris but then changed back to be a part of a Melb club Dogs or North Melbourne. I met Dyson Hore Lacy at a function a few years back and I remember him saying that quite a few of the Fitzroy faithful came over to us after Fitzroy's demise.

[craigsahibee]

If the AFL ended us - I would just become a neutral supporter and go and watch whichever AFL game was the most interesting for that week.

Not me. Footy can get $tuffed and I would find a hobby.

[LostDoggy]

If the Bulldogs ever die, I will do everything humanly possible to kill the AFL and all other forms of Australian Rules football.

[Rocket Science]

Interesting if demoralising quandry...while on the death's doorstep more than once we (thankfully) don't actually know what it's like to have the towel finally and utterly thrown in.

Don't actually know what I'd do.

That said, I've personally observed three types from that camp...Have hardcore former Roys supporting mates who've (almost) seamlessly jumped on board the Brissy wagon (3 flags didn't hurt in bringing them 'round, naturally)...have likewise known ex-Roys supporters who've given the game up at the top level altogether, and whose regretful sentiments I find difficult to argue with...but have also known ex-Royboys who've consequently hitched their respective wagons to the red, white and blue, to the point where they habitually buy memberships, for themselves, and family, and carry on with the same heart-on-the-sleeve yearning for success but eternal pride in having done it tough, that characterizes most long-term Dogs supporters.

Quite a lovely thing.

[Bulldog Revolution]

Football would be dead to me. I would cease to pay any attention to the sport, I'd probably watch the Grand Final with friends but that would be about it. As much as I love the game, I love the club far more, and if it goes I go.

[Desipura]

if the AFL ended us......I would no longer have anything to post on this site.

[ledge]

Uk soccer, The victory, Rugby League and cricket.
Seriously though the AFL are destroying the game with stupid rule changes and ridiculous decisions at the tribunal etc.
If it wasnt for the Western Bulldogs i wouldnt follow it anyway.
I also wonder how I will think once we win a premiership, its finally done after all these years, what now?

[LostDoggy]

What now?????????????????????????

10 in a row

[ledge]

Its funny how life pans out, i remember craving a cricket premiership all through my junior years, finally got one in senior cricket and yes i loved it but after that i found my urge wasnt as strong.
I am still involved in cricket but more as a sort of nurturing kids, the win or lose factor is irrelevant.
Its that first one you really really crave and enjoy.

[LostDoggy]

If we got booted out, Im not giving them $400 for nothing.

I would still follow the footy, it runs in my blood and im too obsessed with it to just let it go if my team was to go..

Support the players you love that end up at other clubs..

Aswell as supporting Williamstown and giving them some dosh :)

[Bulldog4life]

I don't think I could go to any AFL game especially if I thought they hadn't done enough to help us survive.

Ditto.

[Sockeye Salmon]

I'm so disillusioned with the rules committee and the way the AFL run things that without the Dogs I'd simply give it away.

[Happy Days]

I'd join the Anti-Football League.

[LostDoggy]

Simple, I support, barrack, follow (,etc) the Footscray Football Club trading as the Western Bulldogs :), not the AFL. :mad:

I'd tell em to Get Stuffed. :)

[Twodogs]

I'd be a 24/7/364 cricket-a-phile. My interest in the EPL would increase and I'd still be a Port Melbourne fan.



I'd also do my utmost to carry on the FFC/WB name by starting up a club to play in a lower league.

[Dancin' Douggy]

Ummm. I would have to follow Browny and Wallet to the Tigers......................NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Scraggers]

If we moved as an entity to Darwin / Canberra / Tasmania (ala South Melbourne) I would continue to follow my beloved dogs ...

However, if we merged with another exsisting team North Melbourne / Melbourne (for example) I would give up my membership.

If we ceased to exsist I would not support any team, just follow football in general ... possibly watch a bit more of East Fremantle if anything.

I would probably add an epitaph to my Bulldog tattoo ... something like "Here lies my much loved Bulldog, mortally wounded by Oakley, but bounced back with vivacity only to be killed off by globalization and the search for the eternal buck !" R.I.P.

[The Underdog]

Like The Dogs Bollocks I was a Fitzroy supporter and member. I still have a little flutter when I see the jumper and plan on going down to Brunswick St sometime and checking out the new entity. Conversely I went to one Brisbane Lions pre-season game in 97, felt nothing but contempt and sadness and vowed never to follow them. I don't have much truck with the people who jumped back on when they had their success but hey, each to their own I guess.
I spent 97 not really following football but sat by the radio for the Dogs prelim and rode the last quarter out and was gutted when they lost. That was probably the seed of my interest in jumping on. I spent 98 o/s and was started to tak an interest in the Dogs more than any other team when I checked in on what was going on.
In 99 I started going to games, in 2000 I became a member. I love the Dogs fiercely now. As much as I loved Fitzroy? I don't know.
If the Dogs were to cease to exist, well somewhat like Sockeye I'm less than impressed with much of what the games becoming despite the AFL hyperbole, so I would probably give it away and take more of an interest in local sport.
As Anthony Morgan said about the death of his team in 96 "it's like losing a family member but worse", I certainly wouldn't be coming back to the AFL if I had to go through it again.

[SonofScray]

I'd chuck it in. The only reason I follow football is because of the Dog's, I have come to hate the game in many respects but I still love my Club. and that is what keeps me coming back.

I'd spend more time contributing to my local soccer club and help build that into somewhere you could spend a Saturday watching people from the community having a go at something they do for the love of it.

[westdog54]

I'd be a 24/7/364 cricket-a-phile. My interest in the EPL would increase and I'd still be a Port Melbourne fan.



I'd also do my utmost to carry on the FFC/WB name by starting up a club to play in a lower league.

What are your plans for the other day?

If you need a treasurer or secretary for that new club let me know. I'm in.

I'll have little to no interest in an AFL without my club.

[strebla]

I really don't think this is something i could contemplate my whole family (like many of yours I expect )follows the doggies if we were to pass the AFL would not exist to me exept on tv and we all know tv is a poor substitute

[LostDoggy]

I love the footy too much to give it away entirely but I would lose the intensity of interest and heart palpatations around being a dogs supporter.

I would go to a few more Centrals SANFL games where my colours were still valid.

I would only watch the better games and may start gravitating towards maybe Hawthorn as I always had a soft spot for them in the 80s. I would support anyone on the day playing against Port, Crows or Richmond.

[GVGjr]

I love the footy too much to give it away entirely but I would lose the intensity of interest and heart palpatations around being a dogs supporter.

I would go to a few more Centrals SANFL games where my colours were still valid.

I would only watch the better games and may start gravitating towards maybe Hawthorn as I always had a soft spot for them in the 80s. I would support anyone on the day playing against Port, Crows or Richmond.

I guess I would follow the likes of Centrals as well but there is no way I would be too bothered with the AFL at all. I respect those who made the switch to the Dogs and even the Lions after Fitzroy were finished up but I strongly doubt if I could emotionally support another side. I would probably contribute something financially to North to hopefully keep them afloat but going to any games wouldn't be an option.

[dadsgirl16]

No way I could follow another afl club,I guess I would have to spend my weekends yelling for Willy
but god forbid that happens before I see us win a flag...pleeeeze!!

[LostDoggy]

Apart from world football, AFL is the greatest game on earth.

However, It's my bond to the club and not the game of AFL that keeps me coming back year after year, a bond so deep it's borderline neurotic. Personal acheivements never feel as good as watching this mob get up when it counts. I've felt tears well up over this club, a sense of tribalism that can't be replicated by anything else in my life

The game resembles very little to the one I fell in love with.

Having played world football for most of my childhood I have a bond with that game more so than AFL and would probably become involved with the domestic league(s)

[LostDoggy]

It would confirm to me the joke that AFL has become and I would walk away without a second thought.

As it is $500 a year is a lot of money to piss away for the dubious privilege of sitting in a soulless stadium that is screwing over our club. The AFL are not a charity. They are a business. There's absolutely no reason to keep giving them money to keep pissing us off.

Them and Connex.