Bulldogs Through and Through

Bulldogs Through & Through traces the history of the Western Bulldogs Football Club, from its beginnings in the 1880s, through its highly successful years in the Victorian Football Association, to its admission to the Victorian Football League in 1925. The book describes the long journey before the club tasted any success in the Big League. After six successive losses in finals series—from 1938 to 1951—the Bulldogs, led by captain-coach Charlie Sutton won their first VFL premiership, beaten Melbourne at the MCG. There have been many great players who have represented the Tricolours—their nickname before the 1938 switch to Bulldogs—with ten winners of the Brownlow Medal, and three Coleman Medallists. There have been several times through the club’s history when it has teetered on the edge, most notably in 1989 when it overcame a push by the AFL’s central administration to merge with a similarly failing club in Fitzroy. Recalling that time, then Bulldogs president Peter Gordon thanked the AFL’s intervention: “for the three most profitable weeks in our history”. The club’s fightback through that period is covered in forensic detail. Bulldogs Through & Through is fully illustrated, including many archival photos from the club’s earliest years, and dramatic photos from the modern era, featuring the premierships won by the men in 2016, and the women in 2018.