Western Bulldogs and their partnership with Ballarat a success

[DueWest]

Where is the parking at Ballarat for Sundays game ? Is it close to the ground and is it free ?

 

[doggies ftw]

West Coast round 3 will be an interesting crowd. Possible to be worse than the 23,000 last year.

People need to show up. Less talk more action.

Why would anyone show up when the team doesn’t even bother to? If we lose this week I hope there’s 10k at Marvel and they finally get the point

 

[Roogal]

That sounds good, but I’d like to hear afterwards if it was successful.

It'll be successful if you check out the website links and see if there's anything that appeals to you personally. If you can find a pub that offers a discounted meal and drinks then that's gotta be a bonus. Or if you were travelling and staying overnight and manage to secure cheaper accommodation as well then that's a win too

 

[Roogal]

Where is the parking at Ballarat for Sundays game ? Is it close to the ground and is it free ?

Parking is off road mainly but all free. They do have some free parking zones with shuttle basses as well. I'd recommend simply finding a street to park in and walk several hundred metres. Just as easy really.

For me Norman Street works. At least you can go to the bowling alley for a bevy before the game if you arrive too early.

 

[Roogal]

Huge kicks boost for junior footy in special gift from Western Bulldogs​

By Melanie Whelan
Updated March 21 2024 - 9:50am, first published March 20 2024 - 5:39pm


Western Bulldog 2016 AFL premiership captain Easton Wood

10

Easton Wood

Age

34

Ht

187cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.0

4star

K

8.0

3star

HB

6.1

4star

M

4.9

5star

T

1.6

4star

MG

217.0

3star

D

11.2

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

4.2

3star

M

4.3

4star

T

1.2

2star

MG

154.0

3star

D

12.8

4star

K

6.4

3star

HB

6.4

4star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.8

4star

tries new boots on for size with Lake Wendouree juniors Lexie Seamons (age 13), Flynn Hanrahan (10) and Lewis Warland (11) at the City Oval on March 20, 2024. Picture by Lachlan Bence.

THE YOUNGEST footballers in town are set to each be kitted-out with a new pair of shoes in a massive gift to help cheer up the city from Western Bulldogs and its partner ASICS Oceania. This comes as cost of living continues to bite with families trying to ready for upcoming traditional winter sports seasons, like football. The Bulldogs have also been keen to do something kind amid what has been a tough couple of months for the region, including the alleged murder of missing mum Samantha Murphy, bushfires and last week's mine tragedy.

The Bulldogs will give quality football boots or runners to each child registered to play in under-nine to under-14s in Ballarat Football Netball League girls and boys football competitions. Western Bulldogs' chief commercial and strategy officer Kon Karavias said the club was proud to give back with the sportswear giant to the grassroots game in the 'Dogs' Ballarat home base. "We're thrilled to launch this initiative with our Ballarat family in one of the strongest footy regions in Australia," Mr Karavias said. "Supporting communities is at the heart of both ASICS and the Bulldogs' philosophy, and with the Ballarat region and surrounds having had some recent challenges, both our organisations felt compelled to offer a small token of support to a community that has embraced the Bulldogs and our partners from day one. We hope that this initiative brings some joy to kids and their families and plays a small part in strengthening their connection with community football and their clubs."

The Bulldogs claimed Ballarat as an extension of their home in 2015 and immediately got to work in establishing a suite of community development programs, in partnership with Ballarat leaders. A joint gift to BFNL junior footballers was part of a new extension in the Bulldogs' partnership with ASICS. Shoes will be delivered to juniors ahead of the BFNL junior season. About 1800 girls and boys are eligible for shoes. ASICS shoes have been endorsed by leading sporting authorities, including The Australian Physiotherapy Association and Sports Medicine Australia, for athletes of all ages.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Huge kicks boost for junior footy in special gift from Western Bulldogs​

By Melanie Whelan
Updated March 21 2024 - 9:50am, first published March 20 2024 - 5:39pm

View attachment 1934423
Western Bulldog 2016 AFL premiership captain Easton Wood tries new boots on for size with Lake Wendouree juniors Lexie Seamons (age 13), Flynn Hanrahan (10) and Lewis Warland (11) at the City Oval on March 20, 2024. Picture by Lachlan Bence.

THE YOUNGEST footballers in town are set to each be kitted-out with a new pair of shoes in a massive gift to help cheer up the city from Western Bulldogs and its partner ASICS Oceania. This comes as cost of living continues to bite with families trying to ready for upcoming traditional winter sports seasons, like football. The Bulldogs have also been keen to do something kind amid what has been a tough couple of months for the region, including the alleged murder of missing mum Samantha Murphy, bushfires and last week's mine tragedy.

The Bulldogs will give quality football boots or runners to each child registered to play in under-nine to under-14s in Ballarat Football Netball League girls and boys football competitions. Western Bulldogs' chief commercial and strategy officer Kon Karavias said the club was proud to give back with the sportswear giant to the grassroots game in the 'Dogs' Ballarat home base. "We're thrilled to launch this initiative with our Ballarat family in one of the strongest footy regions in Australia," Mr Karavias said. "Supporting communities is at the heart of both ASICS and the Bulldogs' philosophy, and with the Ballarat region and surrounds having had some recent challenges, both our organisations felt compelled to offer a small token of support to a community that has embraced the Bulldogs and our partners from day one. We hope that this initiative brings some joy to kids and their families and plays a small part in strengthening their connection with community football and their clubs."

The Bulldogs claimed Ballarat as an extension of their home in 2015 and immediately got to work in establishing a suite of community development programs, in partnership with Ballarat leaders. A joint gift to BFNL junior footballers was part of a new extension in the Bulldogs' partnership with ASICS. Shoes will be delivered to juniors ahead of the BFNL junior season. About 1800 girls and boys are eligible for shoes. ASICS shoes have been endorsed by leading sporting authorities, including The Australian Physiotherapy Association and Sports Medicine Australia, for athletes of all ages.

That's a lot of footwear. Nice work, Bulldogs and Asics. Good to see Easton Wood involved too.

 

[Roogal]

That's a lot of footwear. Nice work, Bulldogs and Asics. Good to see Easton Wood involved too.

No doubt it's all about the W.H.A.M. Winning hearts and minds of future club fans.

 

[Westerndog11]

I really can’t understand or believe the perennial whinging on this page from supporters in regard to Ballarat.
I think it’s incredible what the club is doing in Ballarat. It’s proactive and helping to garner more support. This was never going to be an agreement you would be able to measure immediately in the years after but over time. I’m in a family of 18 Bulldogs supporters who travel 3-4 hours one way to get to a game. To be able to get to a game and cut 3 hours of travel time is brilliant and means young kids can bear the day better too. It also makes the game closer for future academy prospects to get to the game. The agreement isn’t just about the city of Ballarat it is about making the game accessible to the whole west of the state. The game is also aimed at the supporters in the corridor from the Western suburbs to Ballarat. If you’re traveling from the west to Ballarat take note of just how much development and growth is taking place in this area. That is who the club is hoping to attract.

 

[maddog37]

That’s pretty awesome from ASICS and the doggies. Plenty of kids out there from low income families that this will have a really meaningful impact on.

Kudos

 

[Roogal]

Was there ever a commitment by the Roos to play actual AFL games there though at any stage?

It can be debated but I think it's also an entirely fair viewpoint that North can't demand exclusivity over both Tasmania (from an academy etc. POV but Hobart as well) and Ballarat, if Ballarat was indeed the Vic Government's regional city of choice for any future AFL games to be played.

Yes in 2010 they originally had the Brumby Labor Government committed to develop Eureka Stadium for the Kangaroos to play up to four home games per season in Ballarat along with their VFL team using Ballarat as it's home base from 2014. The Brumby government promised an $80 mil upgrade to the stadium precinct as part of its 2010 election pitch. The stadium would have had a capacity of up to 15-20,000, its original playing surface was the same size as the MCG and would have featured a large exposition hall adjoining the Southern boundary.

The 2009 proposal by Peddle Thorp Architects to re-develop Eureka Stadium: (Picture courtesy of "RooBlu")



However, Ted Baillieu's Liberals won office and abandoned the idea six months after being elected. The North Ballarat FC (Roosters) and Roos persisted in their campaign between 2010-14 and were backed by Commerce Ballarat, the Council and local media in a campaign "Think Big Ballarat". As part of his election pitch during the lead up to the 2014 State Election, Dan Andrews shocked everybody announcing that an elected ALP government would back the Western Bulldogs playing there by 2017.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/new-proposal-for-afl-games-in-ballarat-20140407-zqry3.html

At the time, North's contract with Hobart was up for renewal and North held back on renewing their Tasmanian contract while awaiting a Victorian State Government decision on Ballarat. North's preference was clearly Ballarat over Blundstone. This caused great angst in Hobart and the Tasmanian Government upped the financial incentives to North in order to keep them in Hobart. When the new Andrews government confirmed that they had committed to the Bulldogs, that sealed the fate of the Kangaroos in Ballarat and their association with North Ballarat was finally terminated in 2015. The following year the VFL expelled the stand alone North Ballarat Roosters from their competition. The rest is history as they say.

 

[Roogal]

A good turnout for the game today. It looked and sounded more than 9752. But that is a record number in Ballarat against the Suns who have typically drawn the lowest crowds in Ballarat. It was a marvelous day for footy. Anybody whining before the game about the early seasonal round 2 fixture in Ballarat might have been silenced by the show of perfect Ballarat March weather. It beats freezing your bottom off mid-May through to July. Spectators and players couldn't have asked for better conditions.

 

[BallaratBulldog]

Just shows more people are embracing Ballarat despite what people are saying in here.

 

[lachy]

Just shows more people are embracing Ballarat despite what people are saying in here.

Look I like Ballarat, great place to visit, my Dad was born and bred in Ballarat, but less than a full stadium when we have is excess of 50,000 members and many more supporters does not show at all more people are embracing Ballarat.

If it was true that more people are embracing it the game should be a sell out weeks before.

When there are empty seats in the Grand Stands and they are chasing for people to attend functions in the week before the game it should actually be a cause for concern

On SM-S926B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[_Cerberus_]

Look I like Ballarat, great place to visit, my Dad was born and bred in Ballarat, but less than a full stadium when we have is excess of 50,000 members and many more supporters does not show at all more people are embracing Ballarat.

If it was true that more people are embracing it the game should be a sell out weeks before.

When there are empty seats in the Grand Stands and they are chasing for people to attend functions in the week before the game it should actually be a cause for concern

On SM-S926B using BigFooty.com mobile app

I bought my ticket late, and there was not that many seats to choose from on the website at all. Mainly just scattered single tickets. I was lucky to score a good one, as it appeared someone cancelled their ticket to my eventual seat, across the two days I was thinking back and forth whether to go.

If there is an issue with some seats not filling, it is because it costs $50 for a good seat, that is just a concession ticket. Not even the best seat. Imagine the standard price. It is probably a little expensive for some. The standing area is cheap as chips though.

Or maybe it is because Melbourne fans can't hack a couple hour trip, that country fans have to make every week to see their teams. I think just under 10k is good for a regional town, where fan bases are mixed across teams. It is not like Geelong where almost everyone is a Cat fan. Persist with the region, blood new Bulldog fans, and long term more will come in the gates.

 

[VL3OJ]

View attachment 1934611

Clearly the ground was going to be named the bottle opener. Excellent summary Roogal

 

[lachy]

I bought my ticket late, and there was not that many seats to choose from on the website at all. Mainly just scattered single tickets. I was lucky to score a good one, as it appeared someone cancelled their ticket to my eventual seat, across the two days I was thinking back and forth whether to go.

If there is an issue with some seats not filling, it is because it costs $50 for a good seat, that is just a concession ticket. Not even the best seat. Imagine the standard price. It is probably a little expensive for some. The standing area is cheap as chips though.

Or maybe it is because Melbourne fans can't hack a couple hour trip, that country fans have to make every week to see their teams. I think just under 10k is good for a regional town, where fan bases are mixed across teams. It is not like Geelong where almost everyone is a Cat fan. Persist with the region, blood new Bulldog fans, and long term more will come in the gates.

Even if it is at the expense of the many more Western Suburbs based supporters that we already have and could potentially get????

Geelong works for obvious reasons, the majority of their support is in Geelong and the greater Geelong region. Ours is not in Ballarat at all, it is in the inner and outer West and South Western Suburbs region, one actually bigger than Geelong.

The majority of our supporters and members are literally voting with their feet, this is an indisputable fact so many years into this arrangement. We cannot fill an 11,000 capacity ground just over an hour from our heartland when the weather is fine 2 rounds into the season.

How many more years of not filling a ground with a smaller capacity than our old home ground will it take for an understanding that unless we are paid an amazing amount of money this is not growing our club at all and we are allowing the North Melbourne's, Essendon's, Geelong's, Carlton's etc free access to our heartland, one of the biggest and growing in Australia, as we cannot resource both

On SM-S926B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Prince Imperial]

There were quite a lot of empty seats in the main grandstand but there were mostly only single seats available when I looked on the ticketing website in the days leading up to the game.

The club offered reserved seat holders $10 off next year's membership if they returned them to the club for resale but obviously quite a few did not do so and also did not attend. Maybe, they should increase this offer as a greater incentive for people to do so.

Of course, there's a lot of reserved seat holders who don't show up to games at Marvel too.

The new 5000 seat grandstand when it is built should help with attendance as a lot of people now are used to sitting at the football and in reducing the impact of the reserved seat "no shows".

I was pleased with the attendance, particularly in the light of there being a massive sporting event being held in Victoria at the same time, which attracted 132k patrons and hundreds of thousands watching on TV. F1 is riding a giant wave of popularity since the recent Netflix series.

 

[VL3OJ]

A great day out in the sun, reminiscent of the old AFL. The Perthites next to us were agog at being able to drink full strength beer, Kids and dad played kick to kick and picnics were had and it was a 10 minute walk to get to the car and we arrived late (Instead of trying to find the car in the slush of VFL park).

I was dead set against this 'Rat malarky until I tried it a few years ago and rarely miss a game there now and mix it up and make a full day. The kids you see playing kick to kick will be the ones buying tickets in a decade or two and this is important for us so we can rid ourselves of Sunday at 4:40pm at Marvel. It takes time to develop this - be patient grass hoppers.

The only gripe is giving security bar code readers that could read the bar code in the sun off your phone...
Attendant: "Can you increase the screen brightness?"
Us: "No, it's as bright as it goes"
Attendant: "Well I can't let you in unless you increase the brightness"
Us: "No, it's as bright as it goes"

 

[geoffjennings79]

As an 11yr Ballarat region local after growing up in the western/North Western suburbs, my biggest gripe is that there was (yet again!) only 1 Record seller. And inside the ground at the main entrance only (again).
First year or 2 there was a few, then about 2019-ish I had to go looking, that's when the single seller started as others were sick/no-shows.
Then Covid, and ever since crowds have returned, they persist with one seller.
Because I knew in advance, I entered via the main entrance and grabbed one straight away.
Took my seat in the western stand and listened to 4 separate people complain about the lack of Record sellers. Managed to explain to 3 of them where to go, all 3 eventually returned with records. The 4th person was too far away, but I heard her still complaining about it in the 3rd quarter.
I know it's only a 10k stadium, but surely employing 2-3 and spreading them out wouldn't stretch the budget too much?

 

[Libbaaaa]

One game a year against a rotating cast of Gold Coast/Fremantle/West Coast would be good.

 

[geoffjennings79]

One game a year against a rotating cast of Gold Coast/Fremantle/West Coast would be good.

Contract is for 2. That's part of the City of Ballarat criteria. Freo and Eagles have decent Melbourne support, so unlikely to see them in Ballarat. 2 SA teams tend to have fans who drive across, so Ballarat works better by shortening their journey, and accomm/hospitality/etc money contributes to Ballarat economy.

Peter Gordon stated he'd like to see us play a Vic side in Ballarat. Unless it's a St Kilda or North, I can't see any other Vic club drawn to play us here (even though we have to play Hawks and previously Saints at their 'home' games in similar sized venues in Tassie). Melbourne supporters don't travel to Marvel, let alone Ballarat, can't see Cats playing here (even though we are forced to play at their dung heap virtually yearly).
Pies, Bombers, Tigers, Blues I doubt will ever even be considered to play here, even once the stadium is upgraded. We'd be costing ourselves significant $$$ moving home games against them from Marvel.

 

[Prince Imperial]

I bought my ticket late, and there was not that many seats to choose from on the website at all. Mainly just scattered single tickets. I was lucky to score a good one, as it appeared someone cancelled their ticket to my eventual seat, across the two days I was thinking back and forth whether to go.

If there is an issue with some seats not filling, it is because it costs $50 for a good seat, that is just a concession ticket. Not even the best seat. Imagine the standard price. It is probably a little expensive for some. The standing area is cheap as chips though.

Or maybe it is because Melbourne fans can't hack a couple hour trip, that country fans have to make every week to see their teams. I think just under 10k is good for a regional town, where fan bases are mixed across teams. It is not like Geelong where almost everyone is a Cat fan. Persist with the region, blood new Bulldog fans, and long term more will come in the gates.

Perhaps, next year if you think you will make it to both games consider the Ballarat add-on for your membership. It cost me $85 and I get a reserved seat for both games in the main grandstand plus a Ballarat beanie. It's pretty good value compared with reserved seating prices at Marvel and elsewhere and it should be cheaper than $85 if you have a concession.

 

[_Cerberus_]

The only gripe is giving security bar code readers that could read the bar code in the sun off your phone...
Attendant: "Can you increase the screen brightness?"
Us: "No, it's as bright as it goes"
Attendant: "Well I can't let you in unless you increase the brightness"
Us: "No, it's as bright as it goes"

Haha THIS! I was watching people in front of me, and I was like... "why not just ask people to hold their phones on an angle not facing the sun instead?

My battery would probably go from 99% to 1% when I turn the brightness on max.

Honestly, I think the girl who "scanned" mine, didn't actually scan it. Happened to quick, didn't line up scanner phone properly, no beep or anything. Felt like a case of "f it, just go inside" to me haha. Almost like those fake bag checkers at the door in places like Target. Scan your receipt to pretend they're doing something, but really it does nothing.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

While the game was as much of a success as can be expected, one thought is that there doesn't really seem to be any inroads into genuine Ballarat-based Bulldogs supporters. The crowd seemed to be made up entirely by a small minority of Ballarat-based general footy supporters, and Bulldogs supporters driving in from outside Ballarat (whether that be Melbourne-based fans or fans taking a shorter trip than they otherwise would have to in Melbourne, or being country folk like the comfort of a country-style game).

 

[Freshwater]

While the game was as much of a success as can be expected, one thought is that there doesn't really seem to be any inroads into genuine Ballarat-based Bulldogs supporters. The crowd seemed to be made up entirely by a small minority of Ballarat-based general footy supporters, and Bulldogs supporters driving in from outside Ballarat (whether that be Melbourne-based fans or fans taking a shorter trip than they otherwise would have to in Melbourne, or being country folk like the comfort of a country-style game).

Unless the club takes the long term view this will never succeed. But when I see the local kids on the fence cheering Naughts, Cody and JUH and they will have stories about how they’ve witnessed Bont and Libba in their prime to friends and family. This is why this can work.