West Footscray looks and feels a lot different than it used to.
In the 21 years that have passed since the Bulldogs last played for premiership points at Whitten Oval, Footscray’s sleepy sidekick has seen the old California bungalows bulldozed to make way for high-rises, and family run fruit shops have been replaced by café’s selling rhubarb and ginger cordial.
But some things haven’t changed at all.
The old ground on the corner of Gordon and Barkly streets still houses the Bulldogs, and wild winds still whip around the oval each day the same way they did back in 1948 when a Bruce Morrison kick-in was pushed back over his head for a ‘forced behind.’
The Club’s VFL side, Footscray, resumed playing there back in 2015, and AFLW has brought the ground to life in a fashion that it hadn’t seen for the 20 years since the Dogs left for Etihad Stadium, via Princess Park.
But a return of the AFL side, who had called the former stone quarry it’s home from 1879 to that August day in 1997, is now closer than ever according to Western Bulldogs CEO Ameet Bains.
“We’d certainly want to aspire to something like that,” he told the Freedom in a Cage podcast this week. “It hasn’t been something that the AFL has ruled out (and) we’ve obviously at least floated it.”
If you’ve kept up, you’ll know it’s been on the horizon for a while.
Most people have probably forgotten that Luke Beveridge made his coaching debut at the ground back in 2014, when the Dogs took on Richmond in a NAB Challenge game in front of almost 10,000 people.
Though soured somewhat by Tom Liberatore hurting his knee, the game had a homecoming feel, and it’s a mood that many Dogs fans would dearly love to experience again.
And According to Bains, it’s no longer a pipe dream.
“I suppose in some respects it’s not a stretch if clubs are playing in regional venues and getting smaller crowds,” he said.
“So with the current capacity of Ballarat similar, the facilities are obviously a lot better at Mars Stadium, but the overall capacity is not much greater than what we’ve seen for the women’s game.
“If we’re able to get this venue into a state befitting AFL footy, it would be great to have a game here every couple of years.”
Even as the hipsters, organic cafés and shiny new two bedroom apartments gradually eat up the surrounds, the old girl is rising again.
