Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.
| Western Bulldogs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Names | ||||
| Full name | Footscray Football Club Limited, trading as Western Bulldogs[lower-alpha 1][1] | |||
| Nickname(s) | Dogs, Doggies, Scraggers, The ‘Scray, Dish Lickers, Footascray. | |||
| 2022 season | ||||
| After finals | 8th | |||
| Home-and-away season | 8th | |||
| Leading goalkicker | Aaron Naughton (51 goals) | |||
| Club details | ||||
| Founded | 1877 (entered into the VFL in 1925 as Footscray, renamed as Western Bulldogs in 1996) | |||
| Colours | Royal blue, red, white | |||
| Competition | AFL: Senior men AFLW: Senior women VFL: Reserves men VFLW: Reserves women | |||
| President | Kylie Watson-Wheeler | |||
| Coach | AFL: Luke Beveridge AFLW: Nathan Burke VFL: Stewart Edge VFLW: Rhys Sullivan | |||
| Captain(s) | AFL: Marcus Bontempelli AFLW: Ellie Blackburn VFL: Lachie Sullivan VFLW: Riley Christgoergl | |||
| Premierships | VFL/AFL (2)Reserves/VFL (8)VFA (9)AFLW (1) | |||
| Ground(s) | AFL: Marvel Stadium (56,347) & Eureka Stadium (11,000) AFLW/VFL/VFLW: Whitten Oval (12,000) | |||
| Training ground(s) | Whitten Oval | |||
| Uniforms | ||||
| ||||
| Other information | ||||
| Official website | westernbulldogs.com.au | |||
Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club,[lower-alpha 1][1] and based in West Footscray in the old City of Footscray west of Melbourne, the club won nine premierships in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) before gaining admission to the Victorian Football League (which became the AFL in 1990) in 1925. The club has won two VFL/AFL premierships, in 1954 and 2016 and was runner-up in 1961 and 2021.
Much of the club's supporter base comes from Melbourne's traditionally working-class western region. Docklands Stadium, in the city's inner-west, has served as the club's home ground since 2000, while its headquarters and training facilities are at its original home ground, the Whitten Oval. The club also plays home games at Mars Stadium in the city of Ballarat west of Melbourne. The Western Bulldogs guernsey features two thick horizontal hoops—one red and one white—on a royal blue background. Fourteen players from the club are members of the Australian Football Hall of Fame, including inaugural inductee and Legend Ted Whitten. Marcus Bontempelli and Luke Beveridge serve as the club's current captain and head coach.
At the end of 1996, as part of a broader rebranding scheme, the club changed its name from Footscray to Western Bulldogs. The club has fielded a side in AFL Women's since the competition's 2017 inception, and also has a reserves side in the Victorian Football League and VFL Women's League.