This year marks the 25th anniversary of the last Western Bulldogs match played for premiership points at Whitten Oval.

To celebrate, the Bulldogs are celebrating a Retro Round in Round 21 this season against Fremantle, where the players will don replica ‘Robodog’ guernseys in a nod to the past.

The Dogs had made the move to Princes Park as a home ground at the beginning of 1997, but the Club recognised the importance of giving the old ground – the Club’s game-day home since its inception – a fitting send-off.

After all, Whitten (previously Western) Oval had been the venue for 642 Footscray matches since the Club had joined the VFL, and many more besides in four decades in the VFA.

Creating an appropriate mix of old and new, the Club's final AFL match played at Whitten Oval was scheduled against the West Coast Eagles, a club in only its 11th season of existence.

The Eagles were already a powerhouse by then, and heading into this farewell match were ahead of the Dogs on the ladder by percentage.  A place in the top four awaited the winner of this game, which pitted Western against West, at the ground formerly known as Western Oval in West Footscray.

For the Bulldogs, this match would not only be about honouring all those who had worn the red, white and blue with this distinction at this iconic location, it was about improving their premiership chances.

Always a man with a sense of occasion, coach Terry Wallace took the unusual step of leading his charges outside of the ground before the match, and he addressed them in the shadows of the newly installed statue of the legendary Ted Whitten.

Actually, that’s not entirely correct. There were no shadows to be cast, because the weather, showing the same sense of occasion as Wallace, turned on a classical Western/Whitten Oval afternoon – grey, wet and, of course, windy, just is at had been for countless other games there for time immemorial.

That suited the Doggies down to the ground. Every player who had ever donned the Footscray colours had learned how to handle the vagaries of the Whitten Oval climate.

West Coast's players would have been intimidated enough when they ran out on to the ground with rain pelting down, a temperature hovering at just 9°C, and a hostile crowd of 26,704, the vast majority of them Bulldogs' fans, ‘greeting’ them.

But just to add even more intimidation, several Doggies players decided to 'target' 18-year-old Eagle Michael Gardiner with some bumps and pushes before the ball had been bounced in anger. A scuffle ensued, which resulted in Dog Matthew Dent having to leave the ground under the blood rule before the opening siren had sounded!

With the weather and the crowd on their side, the Dogs started the game with a rush, jumping out of the blocks with goals to Rohan Smith and Luke Darcy.

By quarter time, the Dogs had kicked four goals to one and led by 20 points. The margin had increased to 27 by half time and West Coast, despite kicking eight goals to six after the long break, were never able to bridge the gap. Rohan Smith, who had opened the game with a goal, had the honour of registering the last major kicked by a Bulldog at the ground as the Dogs held on to win by 18 points and move into the top four.

A quarter of a century on, much has changed, but VU Whitten Oval remains as the beating heart of the Western Bulldogs.

The EJ Whitten Stand is coming down, but a new Whitten Stand will soon rise in its place. When it does, the Dogs' VFL side, carrying the Footscray name, will continue playing its home games at the venue, and the ground will light up summer evenings when the AFLW Bulldogs play at home.

We may have farewelled it in a sense in 1997, but the VU Whitten Oval very much remains a community hub of the west, and the true home of the Western Bulldogs.

Round 21, 1997
Whitten Oval, Saturday August 23
Western Bulldogs vs West Coast Eagles

MATCH DETAILS
WESTERN BULLDOGS     4.3          6.8          8.12        12.14 (86)
WEST COAST EAGLES      1.1          2.5          5.6          10.8 (68)

GOALS
Western Bulldogs: Chris Grant 3, Rohan Smith 3, James Cook 2, Luke Darcy, Steven Kolyniuk, Brett Montgomery, Jose Romero.
West Coast: Drew Banfield, Ben Cousins, Fraser Gehrig, Brett Heady, Andy Lovell, Phillip Matera, Jarrad Schofield, Paul Symmons, Ryan Turnbull, Josh Wooden.

Bulldogs team: Chris Grant, Rohan Smith, James Cook, Luke Darcy, Steven Kolyniuk, Brett Montgomery, Jose Romero, Nathan Brown, Leon Cameron, Simon Cox, Matthew Croft, Matthew Dent, Paul Dimattina, Craig Ellis, Brad Johnson, Steven Kretiuk, Tony Liberatore, Michael Martin, Daniel Southern, Scott West, Scott Wynd.