Resource History Thread - Footscray Football Club and Western Bulldogs newspaper archive

[scooter600x]

From the Match Details report, the leading 3 goalkickers on the leaderboard were all century makers. Pretty sure Doug Wade finished his career at Norf. Great era for full forwards.

I don't think Wade kicked 100 that year. Certainly Hudson, McKenna and Jesaulenko did in 1970

 

[Mr. Walker]

1971 - Round 14
at Lakeside Oval [3 July 1971]

South Melbourne 18 - 15 - 123
Footscray 19 - 11 - 125



I'm pleased this game has been mentioned. I was too young to remember it but my older brothers often referred to Max Parker with irony right through the 1970s and 1980s during times when we lacked an effective tall forward. His brief stint with my hometown - Leongatha - in the LVFL might have piqued their obsession as much as his (literally) fifteen minutes of fame at the Lakeside Oval.

Max's VFL career was over less than a month later. All five of his games were played in consecutive weeks in the second half of 1971 as a seventeen year old. He carved out a notable SANFL career, mostly with Woodville (301 games in total). I seem to recall there was talk of him returning to Footscray later in the 1970s but that obviously never eventuated.

Pity the reports of this game focussed on South Melbourne's 'one that got away' narrative. [As an aside, check out Collingwood's score in the VFL Match Details report].

The Age - 5 Jul 1971
​

[/QUOTE

Thanks VM I appreciate the effort. My memory was a little confused I thought Max Parker kicked a few more goals but we did think we had found the answer to our forward woes but after 5 more games it was all over.

That game was also a reminder of how good David Darcy was for us. When talking about the best father son combinations David and Luke have to be in the conversation.

I see David Thorpe was also listed in the best players. David was an outstanding centreman in his day but his disposal was not the best. That triggered another memory of mine. One game at (then ) Western Oval Thorpe got the ball in the clear started streaming down the wing and promptly put the ball out of bounds on the full. His reaction was to yell" f***,f***,f***" right in front of my mum. Mum was not impressed. Different times and different social standards nowadays.

Thanks again for chasing up the details

 

[worbod]

Just checking back whether you have any clippings for the round 8 1994 game versus Melbourne?

 

[hoianbulldog]

Round 21 and 22 in 1976.

Footscray 4.11 (35) Fitzroy 3.16 (34) VFL Park

Carlton 15.17 (107) Footscray 15.17 (107) Princes Park


R21 we beat Fitzroy by a point with (from memory) an after the siren goal by Alan Stoneham at Waverley. God it was a horrible game of footy as the scores indicate.

R22 we drew with Carlton. That draw secured of spot in the finals.

Pretty exciting way to make finals.

Id love to read about those last 2 games if you come across them.

TIA

 

[Fossie 32]

Round 21 and 22 in 1976.

Footscray 4.11 (35) Fitzroy 3.16 (34) VFL Park

Carlton 15.17 (107) Footscray 15.17 (107) Princes Park


R21 we beat Fitzroy by a point with (from memory) an after the siren goal by Alan Stoneham at Waverley. God it was a horrible game of footy as the scores indicate.

R22 we drew with Carlton. That draw secured of spot in the finals.

Pretty exciting way to make finals.

Id love to read about those last 2 games if you come across them.

TIA

I remember being at that first one. Didn't he run around the guy on the mark just before the siren? Could be wrong

 

[hoianbulldog]

I remember being at that first one. Didn't he run around the guy on the mark just before the siren? Could be wrong

Perhaps Fossie. It was a long time ago. My memory is a shot from the boundary after the siren but that may have been me replaying it in the back yard the next day.

 

[Vinegar Mess]

Time to revisit a long forgotten thread.

1994 - Round 8
at MCG [15 May 1994]

Melbourne 13 - 13 - 91
Footscray 14 - 10 - 94

Mark Hunter was my favourite player of the early 1990s. Match stats of 35 disposals, 5 tackles plus a goal = three Brownlow votes.


Herald Sun - 16 May 1994


The Age - 16 May 1994


The Age - 16 May 1994


The Age - 16 May 1994


The Age - 16 May 1994

 

[dogwatch]

Lol some scrubber in the twos called Beveridge could only manage one goal. Obviously he'll never amount to much.

 

[Fossie 32]

Time to revisit a long forgotten thread.

1994 - Round 8
at MCG [15 May 1994]

Melbourne 13 - 13 - 91
Footscray 14 - 10 - 94

Mark Hunter was my favourite player of the early 1990s. Match stats of 35 disposals, 5 tackles plus a goal = three Brownlow votes.


Herald Sun - 16 May 1994
View attachment 633608

The Age - 16 May 1994
View attachment 633610

The Age - 16 May 1994
View attachment 633611

The Age - 16 May 1994
View attachment 633612

The Age - 16 May 1994
View attachment 633609

Any Bulldogs win is a victory for natural justice

 

[footscray1973]

Time to revisit a long forgotten thread.

1994 - Round 8
at MCG [15 May 1994]

Melbourne 13 - 13 - 91
Footscray 14 - 10 - 94

Mark Hunter was my favourite player of the early 1990s. Match stats of 35 disposals, 5 tackles plus a goal = three Brownlow votes.


Herald Sun - 16 May 1994
View attachment 633608

The Age - 16 May 1994
View attachment 633610

The Age - 16 May 1994
View attachment 633611

The Age - 16 May 1994
View attachment 633612

The Age - 16 May 1994
View attachment 633609

Ah, the good old days. 15 teams, with a final 8(!), but even better, we're sitting 8th in the twos (VSFL),
also with a final 8 - 4 spots above bottom-placed Cats in 12th!

 

[Fossie 32]

Ah, the good old days. 15 teams, with a final 8(!), but even better, we're sitting 8th in the twos (VSFL),
also with a final 8 - 4 spots above bottom-placed Cats in 12th!

Imagine how much we would have won by if Jason Watts had played full forward!

 

[dogwatch]

Ah, the good old days. 15 teams, with a final 8(!), but even better, we're sitting 8th in the twos (VSFL),
also with a final 8 - 4 spots above bottom-placed Cats in 12th!

Goalkickers were worth checking out that week. Modra kicked 6, not bad in a losing score against reigning premiers Essendon, but a bloke named Dunstall kicked 10 against Brisbane.

But even Dunstall's 10 wasn't the biggest bag of the round. Gary Ablett kicked 14 against Sydney!

FMD. Will we ever see individual scores like that again? Or has the flood finished it forever?

 

[footscray1973]

Goalkickers were worth checking out that week. Modra kicked 6, not bad in a losing score against reigning premiers Essendon, but a bloke named Dunstall kicked 10 against Brisbane.

But even Dunstall's 10 wasn't the biggest bag of the round. Gary Ablett kicked 14 against Sydney!

FMD. Will we ever see individual scores like that again? Or has the flood finished it forever?

Double figures seemed relatively common from the late 60s to the late 90s, but dropped off in the 2000s. Blethyn, Conlan and Osborne all kicked double figures, but don’t even feature in discussions about the best forwards. In recent years I can only recall J Riewoldt, Buddy, Brown and Eagle Kennedy kicking double figures. Yet late 60s/early 70s had Hudson, McKenna, Wade do it relatively often, then 80s/90s with Lockett, Ablett, Beasley, Quinlan, Dunstall, Roach.

Interesting thread here discussing the 10+ goal trend:

10 goals in a game

No one kicked 10 or more goals in a game in either 2008 or 2009. Last player to do it was Jonathon Brown in Rd 16 2007. Previous season it didn’t happen was 2002 (best was Neitz kicking 9). I think you have to go back to 1965 for the previous no ‘10-goal game’ season – and I’m prepared to...

www.bigfooty.com

 

[Fossie 32]

It's way better when full forwards are kicking bags - especially ours!

 

[footscray1973]

Hopefully Ron the Bear doesn't mind, but I've tweaked his table to make it slightly clearer, and included up to Ben Brown's 10 in R22 last year.
I've highlighted years where there were 5 or more bags of double figures. Interestingly 1991 and 1993 had double figure bags of double figures!
Bulldogs highlighted in red text as well.

 

[Fossie 32]

Hopefully Ron the Bear doesn't mind, but I've tweaked his table to make it slightly clearer, and included up to Ben Brown's 10 in R22 last year.
I've highlighted years where there were 5 or more bags of double figures. Interestingly 1991 and 1993 had double figure bags of double figures!
Bulldogs highlighted in red text as well.

View attachment 890178
View attachment 890179
View attachment 890181
View attachment 890183

Excellent Didnt know about Grove, Rait and Morrison. Those were the days hey

 

[footscray1973]

Excellent Didnt know about Grove, Rait and Morrison. Those were the days hey

I remember them being mentioned in articles in 1978 when Templeton kicked his 15. At that stage they had been our only double figure goalkickers. Morrison started as a forward, and finished his career as a defender, at the age of 38, in 1946! Played everywhere, captain-coach at one stage, club legend. Rait was a gun forward from Tassie in the early 30s when Vic sides were raiding every state for talent. His 1933 was good, got injured mid-34 and went back home to recuperate and never returned. In Tassie, is considered the second best full forward after Hudson. If only he'd stayed longer! Grove was a 'utility' who never kicked more than 3 goals in a game, until one of his last games, in 1946, when he snagged 10 in a huge win at the G over the Dees. Mossrison actually played in that game, and also kicked a goal, as well as playing in Rait's 10-goal game in defence! So he participated in all our 10+ individual performances - his own in 28, Rait in 33, and Grove in 46. They should have snuck him on the ground as Kelvin lined up in the last quarter with fans everywhere, then he could have been on the ground for that one too. He actually passed away in 97, so was alive for every double-figure performance by a Bulldog with Beasley's ones in the 80s, plus Del-re's 8 in the 92 prelim, and Jack Collins 9 before half-time v Carlton in 54, as well as playing in the 46 game where Alan Collins kicked 9 as well. (Sorry, got carried away there.)

 

[Vinegar Mess]

1980 - Round 12
at Junction Oval [14 June 1980]

Fitzroy 18 - 15 - 123
Footscray 25 - 17 - 167

The State Library has reopened! It was amusing to see this infamous victory being the subject of reminiscence in the trade thread recently. Those of us who are Gen X and above will recall that season 1980 was sheer misery. This was our first win under new coach He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Our playing list was a ragtag of battlers bravely led by Geoff Jennings. Half of our Round 12 team had played less than a dozen games in the red, white and blue (including debuts for Brian Perrin and Terry De Koning). And then... there's Shane 'Pinhead' Loveless.


The Age - 16 Jun 1980



Sun News-Pictorial - 16 Jun 1980



Sun News-Pictorial - 16 Jun 1980



Sun News-Pictorial - 16 Jun 1980



Sun News-Pictorial - 16 Jun 1980



Sun News-Pictorial - 17 Jun 1980

 

[Brian Perrin]

1980 - Round 12
at Junction Oval [14 June 1980]

Fitzroy 18 - 15 - 123
Footscray 25 - 17 - 167

The State Library has reopened! It was amusing to see this infamous victory being the subject of reminiscence in the trade thread recently. Those of us who are Gen X and above will recall that season 1980 was sheer misery. This was our first win under new coach He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Our playing list was a ragtag of battlers bravely led by Geoff Jennings. Half of our Round 12 team had played less than a dozen games in the red, white and blue (including debuts for Brian Perrin and Terry De Koning). And then... there's Shane 'Pinhead' Loveless.


The Age - 16 Jun 1980
View attachment 1021754


Sun News-Pictorial - 16 Jun 1980
View attachment 1021756


Sun News-Pictorial - 16 Jun 1980
View attachment 1021757


Sun News-Pictorial - 16 Jun 1980
View attachment 1021760


Sun News-Pictorial - 16 Jun 1980
View attachment 1021761


Sun News-Pictorial - 17 Jun 1980
View attachment 1021762

I hasten to note that those 7 possessions were PURE quality


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[gordo2016]

I hasten to note that those 7 possessions were PURE quality


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

I was at that game against Fitzroy. The week after that, if my memory serves me correct, I remember Templeton snapping this goal on his left foot with a greasy ball from about 40m out, at the Western Oval. Only champions kick goals like that. While other players fumbled and fell over all the time, Templeton hardly made a mistake all day and was BOG by the length of the Flemington straight. Would have liked to see him play with Beasley in the same forward line. Kelvin would have only been 28 in 1985. Fully fit and alongside Beasley and Edmond, with Bamblett mopping up the crumbs, Dogs could have been unstoppable.

 

[worbod]

Another interesting thing about this victory on June 14, 1980, was that Footscray, also known as the Bulldogs, had their first win for the season when they defeated Fitzroy by 44 points: 25.17 (167) to 18.15 (123).
In the NWFU on June 14, 1980, Cooee, also known as the Bulldogs, had their first win for the season when they defeated Devonport by 44 points: 19.19 (133) to 12.17 (89).

 

[dogwatch]

Another interesting thing about this victory on June 14, 1980, was that Footscray, also known as the Bulldogs, had their first win for the season when they defeated Fitzroy by 44 points: 25.17 (167) to 18.15 (123).
In the NWFU on June 14, 1980, Cooee, also known as the Bulldogs, had their first win for the season when they defeated Devonport by 44 points: 19.19 (133) to 12.17 (89).

That's an amazing get, worbod. You are the Trivia King!

 

[stevieg1969]

‎Kick to Kick on Apple Podcasts

‎Sports · 2021

podcasts.apple.com

Great in-depth history of each VFL/AFL year. They are up to 1954. There is also a Footscray episode which delves into our VFA history and our entry into the VFL in 1925.

 

[Fossie 32]

Vinegar Mess I have a few copies of the Age article with this pic if you or anyone would like one

 

[Glaeken Oracle]

Vinegar Mess I have a few copies of the Age article with this pic if you or anyone would like one

View attachment 1026388

I've got that one too Fossie 32, but in a box somewhere. Didn't Leunig title it something like "Footscray training night 1954"?