Irene Chatfield - A fantastic bulldogs fan!

The Boy From Brasil

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Thread starter #1
Just saw this whilst browsing the internet news so thought I would post it for fellow doggies supporters.

IMO supporters like this cannot get enough recognition. They go every game, rail or shine, winning or losing, and are the backbone of every club. Her risking everything she had(house, savings etc) to keep our club going when we were basically dead and buried, shows such selfless qualities and all doggies supporters would be eternally grateful to her.

I was sad to read that she has been in poor health the last two years so I really hope she gets better so she can enjoy our teams success now and in the future.

FANATICAL Glenroy footy fan Irene Chatfield knows all about being the underdog.
The Western Bulldogs' inaugural No.1 female member has stuck by her team through the toughest times.
She's maintained unwavering support for the Footscray club while fighting her own personal battles with chronic illness, car accidents, a stalker and a fair dose of family tragedy.
With the same spirit that characterises her beloved football club, Ms Chatfield soldiers on, sporting her infectious smile.
It was this positive, can-do attitude that saw her take out a Supreme Court injunction to stop the forced merger of the financially stricken Footscray and Fitzroy football clubs by the VFL in 1989.
Admittedly, she didn't initially plan to end up in court agreeing to gamble everything she owned her car, savings, superannuation and priceless memorabilia.
She had agreed to sign an affidavit to support a legal loophole to halt the immediate merger: that as a financial member of the club she had mot been informed it would be folding. Then, the legal ramifications were spelt out to her.
"I thought: 'What the hell. If you can save the club, then you sign'. So I signed it," Ms Chatfield said.
It didn't take her long to rally the troops.
"People were down on street corners at Williamstown rattling tins," Ms Chatfield recalled. "Kids were washing car windows and donating the money. Kids, grannies, everyone was in helping. Everyone was so united."
Ms Chatfield barely slept. She travelled across Victoria to collect donations from people as far away as Bendigo.
A "Save The Dogs" donation hall was set up in Footscray where supporters were handing over $100 in cash at all hours of the day and night. A trash and treasure market run by Ms Chatfield raised several thousand dollars.
In 18 days the community raised $1.25 million to meet the Footscray Football Club debt. In fact, passions ran so deep that the final tally reached $1.5 million.
3AW radio commentator Neil Mitchell believes if it hadn't been for Ms Chatfield's efforts the club may have disappeared.
"Other people fought, of course, but Irene gave the club that supporter face and passion that summed up the debate," Mitchell said. "Irene is the heart of football, the type of person too often forgotten in the rush to fill the superbox with chardonnay and oysters."
Ask Ms Chatfield if she would risk all for her football team again and she doesn't hesitate: "Hell, yeah. What would I do on a Saturday, otherwise?" The 59-year-old can't recall a weekend not spent following the trials and tribulations of her team.
As a child she'd eagerly listen to the radio for every point scored and voraciously read about her team in the newspaper. At 12 she would take the train from her family's home in Upwey, in The Dandenongs, to Western Oval.
With the cheer squad she travelled to Sydney and Adelaide. Only her battles with the chronic autoimmune disease lupus curtailed her interstate journeys. "The last two years have been a bit difficult," said Ms Chatfield, a disability pensioner, referring matter-of-factly to being hospitalised once already this year and three times last year after a series of strokes.
She was devastated last year when her 17-year-old dog Buffy, a signed-up Western Bulldogs member, died. But the greatest loss was her Dad, who died in March.
It was her Dad, a Carlton supporter, who took Ms Chatfield's eight-year-old sister to see the Bulldogs' 1954 Grand Final win while her Mum, also a Bulldogs fan, looked after five-year-old Ms Chatfield and her brother, Clive. (He died, along with his own son, in a car accident 14 years ago.)
"I just want Mum to see a Grand Final win," said Ms Chatfield, who now lives with the 82-year-old in Glenroy.
The Bulldogs can thank the family's next-door neighbour, Dorrie Kerney, for creating their number one fan when Ms Chatfield was growing up in Altona.
A keen Footscray supporter, she convinced Ms Chatfield's mother, Evelyn, to follow football, telling her she'd "love it". She was right.
http://www.meltonleader.com.au/article/2008/08/05/40325_mtv_news.html
 

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duqprint

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#4
Well I hope Irene and her mum get to see a Grand Final win. They deserve it :) A great thing about our game is how passionately women have been involved since the very beginning.
 
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