Australian Football

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KEY FACTS

Official name
Footscray Football Club (trading as Western Bulldogs Football Club)

Known as
Western Bulldogs

Nickname
Bulldogs

Former name
Footscray

Former name date
1997-01-01

Formed
1883 (as Footscray); 1997 (named changed to Western Bulldogs)

Colours
Red, white and blue

Associated clubs
Footscray; Western Bulldogs WFC; Western Bulldogs WFC (VFLW); Footscray U19s

Affiliation (Current)
Australian Football League (AFL) 1925–2025

Affiliation (Historical)
Victorian Football Association (VFA) 1886–1924

Home Ground
Docklands

AFL Premierships
2016 (1 total)

VFL Premierships
1954 (1 total)

VFA Premierships
1898-9-1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-4 (9 total)

Senior Premierships
Championship of Victoria - 1924 (1 total); V/AFL Night Series: 1963-4, 1967, 1970, 2010 (5 total)

Most Games
364 - Brad Johnson (1994-2010)

Most Goals
575 - Simon Beasley (1982-1989)

League Top Goalkickers
J.Collins (84) 1954 & (74) 1957; K.Templeton (118) 1978 & (91) 1979; S.Beasley (105) 1985; B.Hall (80) 2010 (4 winners/6 wins)

Brownlow Medalists
Alan Hopkins 1930; Norm Ware 1941; Peter Box 1956; John Schultz 1960; Gary Dempsey 1975; Kelvin Templeton 1980; Brad Hardie 1985; Tony Liberatore 1990; Scott Wynd 1992; Adam Cooney 2008 (10 total)

Headquarters
417 Barkly St, Footscray, VIC 3011

Postal Address
PO Box 4112 DC, Footscray West, VIC, 3012

Phone: (03) 9680 6100 

Email
godogs@westernbulldogs.com.au

Website
westernbulldogs.com.au

Western Bulldogs



Grand Finals | Honour board | Every player | Most games | Most goals
Game records

"In actuality, Footscray in the 1950s was gradually assembling its greatest array of talent ever, and an inability to perform under pressure was certainly never an issue for players like Herb Henderson, Jack Collins, Charlie Sutton or Ted Whitten ... Collins, the VFL's top goalkicker in 1954 and 1957, was arguably Footscray's greatest ever full forward; Sutton, although best remembered as a highly accomplished back pocket player, was capable of playing almost anywhere, and indeed jointly topped the club's goalkicking list in 1951. Whitten, of course, was simply incomparable..."

John Devaney extols the virtues of the blue-collar Bulldogs, Footscray - the team of the mighty west.

Read more


1956 Season (V/AFL) Fixture | Player Stats

Top

Footscray's 1956 Fixture

Rnd
H&A
Club
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
S
R
Opponent
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
S
Mgn
Grd
Date
SC
1 H Footscray 3.38.98.1014.14 98 WON Fitzroy 3.24.49.910.9 69 29 WES Apr 14 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
2 A Footscray 1.48.89.1410.14 74 WON St. Kilda 1.04.16.37.4 46 28 JUN Apr 21 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
3 H Footscray 2.62.85.105.11 41 LOST Melbourne 1.23.45.69.13 67 -26 WES Apr 28 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
4 A Footscray 3.29.310.711.7 73 LOST Collingwood 3.110.610.612.15 87 -14 VIC May 5 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
5 H Footscray 5.66.78.129.13 67 WON South Melbourne 1.04.44.58.9 57 10 WES May 12 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
6 A Footscray 3.27.58.1110.11 71 LOST Hawthorn 5.27.68.810.14 74 -3 GLE May 19 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
7 H Footscray 3.15.46.97.13 55 LOST Carlton 2.15.37.58.8 56 -1 WES May 26 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
8 A Footscray 4.56.1112.1914.23 107 WON Essendon 4.26.68.612.11 83 24 WIN Jun 4 (Mon, 2:15) Scores
9 H Footscray 2.45.69.1012.14 86 WON Richmond 0.22.53.56.8 44 42 WES Jun 9 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
10 H Footscray 3.38.59.1113.12 90 WON Geelong 1.15.45.410.8 68 22 WES Jun 16 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
11 A Footscray 4.55.75.116.13 49 WON North Melbourne 0.14.65.65.9 39 10 ARD Jun 30 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
12 A Footscray 2.15.36.69.7 61 WON Fitzroy 3.33.46.67.9 51 10 BWS Jul 7 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
13 H Footscray 3.37.88.1011.13 79 LOST St. Kilda 5.06.011.213.2 80 -1 WES Jul 14 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
14 A Footscray 1.44.67.810.12 72 WON Melbourne 0.53.106.147.17 59 13 MCG Jul 21 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
15 H Footscray 4.37.310.611.6 72 LOST Collingwood 1.37.610.1114.20 104 -32 WES Jul 28 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
16 A Footscray 3.15.36.138.15 63 LOST South Melbourne 2.25.66.810.10 70 -7 LAK Aug 4 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
17 H Footscray 4.68.811.1115.13 103 WON Hawthorn 2.16.16.49.6 60 43 WES Aug 11 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
18 A Footscray 2.64.86.118.14 62 WON Carlton 2.32.64.86.9 45 17 PRI Aug 18 (Sat, 2:15) Scores
1SF H Footscray 1.34.65.85.13 43 WON Geelong 4.26.26.46.5 41 2 MCG Aug 25 (Sat, 2:30) Scores
PF A Footscray 3.05.86.97.15 57 LOST Collingwood 6.16.111.515.6 96 -39 MCG Sep 8 (Sat, 2:30) Scores
Top

1956 Player Stats

Player
GP
K
Avg
H
Avg
D
Avg
M
Avg
HO
Avg
T
Avg
FF
FA
G
Avg
B
TS
Box, Peter 19 31 15.5         6 3.0 0 0.0     2 4 2 0.1 0 12
Broadway, Ray 2                             0 0.0    
Buckley, Brian 3                             0 0.0    
Clough, Alan 4                             0 0.0    
Collins, Bob 6                             0 0.0    
Collins, Jack 18 29 14.5         7 3.5 0 0.0     3 6 38 2.1 30 258
Cross, Max 16 15 7.5         6 3.0 0 0.0     1 1 52 3.3 4 316
Dickson, Noel 14                             10 0.7    
Dixon, Ron 8 1 0.5         0 0.0 0 0.0     0 1 0 0.0 0 0
Donald, Wally 18 24 12.0         4 2.0 0 0.0     5 1 0 0.0 0 0
Duffy, Roger 18 23 11.5         6 3.0 0 0.0     2 3 20 1.1 5 125
Edwards, Arthur 19 18 9.0         6 3.0 2 2.0     3 3 1 0.1 1 7
Gallagher, Jim 15 25 12.5         7 3.5 0 0.0     4 3 0 0.0 0 0
Gardiner, Alex 3                             2 0.7    
Gilmore, Brian 18 20 10.0         8 4.0 20 20.0     7 4 7 0.4 1 43
Guthrie, Byron 3                             0 0.0    
Henderson, Herb 14 6 6.0         3 3.0 0 0.0     1 1 0 0.0 0 0
Henriksen, Ron 3                             0 0.0    
Kerr, John 19 35 17.5         6 3.0 0 0.0     5 4 18 0.9 1 109
Letcher, Ian 8                             0 0.0    
McCarthy, Ron 1                             0 0.0    
McRae, Peter 7 19 9.5         2 1.0 2 2.0     2 3 0 0.0 0 0
Porta, Ron 17 21 10.5         4 2.0 0 0.0     4 2 0 0.0 0 0
Rawson, Don 16 27 13.5         4 2.0 0 0.0     4 3 0 0.0 2 2
Reynolds, Doug 16 19 9.5         5 2.5 0 0.0     3 1 2 0.1 1 13
Ross, Don 20 27 13.5         6 3.0 0 0.0     5 6 7 0.4 3 45
Ryan, Lionel 12 4 4.0         0 0.0 0 0.0     0 1 7 0.6 0 42
Smith, Kevin 8 0 0.0         0 0.0         0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Smith, Kevin 3                             4 1.3    
Stevens, Harvey 7 25 12.5         9 4.5 10 10.0     3 9 9 1.3 4 58
Stockman, Ron 19 21 10.5         7 3.5 0 0.0     2 4 0 0.0 0 0
Sutton, Charlie 2                             0 0.0    
Thompson, Graham 1                             0 0.0    
Westacott, John 16 8 8.0         2 2.0         1 4 0 0.0 0 0
White, Kevin 4                             0 0.0    
Whitten Snr, Ted 18 38 19.0         9 4.5 0 0.0     7 4 16 0.9 16 112
Whitten, Don 5                             0 0.0    
 

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.