Why the Dogs?

wendog33

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GREAT POST MATE,
I grew up in the bush, and decided to follow the then Berries in 1967, probably as a result of them ending the Dragons run.
I have seen much since then, and how situations continue to change in all aspects of life including Rugby League, the way you did things successfully yesterday was tops and you won, do things the same way today and the best you can hope for is second prize.
For a long time the game was run by a governing body made up of the clubs representatives, today as result of the broadcasting rights the game is run by the media, and some clever people have found a way to influence the media, namely Politis with his side kick Gyngel on the board of CH9, it is very clear that they have also been able to influence New's LTD.
Funny how in 1995 or 6, I told a very passionate and influential fan of our club about the influence Politis would one day wield, he laughed it off saying that Politis was only a used car salesman, is this fact not true today.
I am a retired bush engineer and farmer, and at 75 I'm not confident of ever seeing our beloved club win another comp, to many head winds, the never ending hate against our club since the SL war is well documented.
The only way we will see our club return to its glory days is if something out of left field just happens to turn up.
Passion Kelpie.

Because we get the tough end of the pineapple, ref decisions, religious vilification, DT sensational front pages, I reckon its why we are so passionate and have a deep, overriding need to win and be successful.

When successful we can hold our heads high and know that we are the Entertainers. We have the ability to adapt our game and be the Dogs of War.

When we are not successful I think it hits our fan base far greater than others for those reasons.

Hence the frustration and impatience.

We are living on past glories atm and want to believe we are heavier hitters than we are at present.

Some have the faith to have patience in Management seeing it through and others are starting to doubt, after pinning all our hopes on the new Board when DIB/DES/RAE booted out. This fan base have proved they will act if results aren't forth coming.

Whether that faith is justified, or the worried fans are being unrealistic, we'll find out in the next 2 years.

We all want the CB Bulldogs restored to being the Top Dogs.
 

B-Train

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Quality @Bazildog.
But wouldn’t your mates car have ended up dirtier washing it with that??
Actually, maybe that was your point :-)

I remember disgruntled Eagles banging on about how we allegedly got 7 tackles on 1 play, even though it had zero effect on the outcome.

That was supposed to be Baa’s last game and was the ultimate way to go out (especially after losing the ‘94 GF) until he came back in ‘96 to help us when the Super League defections started.
Yeah I wish Baa didn't come out of retirement. I remember how much we struggled in 96 and 97 after the defections and after winning the comp and appreciate Lamb for trying to help out but he finished on the perfect note in 95 and should have left it at that...

The 98 team was one of my favourites because we had an average roster and came from 12th or lower to scrape through by winning game after game the last few weeks of the season just to make the finals.. Then we beat everyone in the semis until we ran into one of the strongest Brisbane lineups ever in the Grand Final.

But the spirit and never say day attitude and Dogs of War mentality was rarely more evident than that year.
 

Dognacious

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I grew up in Gymea Bay. Yeh the shire. I had cousins in Greenacre and the first NRL matches i went to were dogs matches with them, and the dogs just stuck with me. Never considered supporting another team. Funny thing is at the time most of my family lived in the shire, but nobody supported the Sharks. They were pretty shit for a long time lol. Bugger all ppl in the shire supported the sharks at the time. The rest of my family who follow NRL support St George. Suckers.
 

Bazildog

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Yeah I wish Baa didn't come out of retirement. I remember how much we struggled in 96 and 97 after the defections and after winning the comp and appreciate Lamb for trying to help out but he finished on the perfect note in 95 and should have left it at that...

The 98 team was one of my favourites because we had an average roster and came from 12th or lower to scrape through by winning game after game the last few weeks of the season just to make the finals.. Then we beat everyone in the semis until we ran into one of the strongest Brisbane lineups ever in the Grand Final.

But the spirit and never say day attitude and Dogs of War mentality was rarely more evident than that year.
Yes mate you are right it, was an awesome finals run for us. Rod Silva was on fire.

Fortunately/unfortunately I was also at that one with us leading 12-10 at half time I thought it was going to be a great day again.. But that Broncs side with Alfie, Renouf, Lockyer, Sailor, Hancock etc and that forward pack Webke, Petro, Thorn, Tallis, Gee.....and 28 unanswered in the second half made for a miserable ride home.
 

B-Train

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Yes mate you are right it, was an awesome finals run for us. Rod Silva was on fire.

Fortunately/unfortunately I was also at that one with us leading 12-10 at half time I thought it was going to be a great day again.. But that Broncs side with Alfie, Renouf, Lockyer, Sailor, Hancock etc and that forward pack Webke, Petro, Thorn, Tallis, Gee.....and 28 unanswered in the second half made for a miserable ride home.
Yeah the Britt to Silva connection was in full effect during that finals run..

I know... It was a painful second half. I think we just ran out of steam after being up for so many weeks and once Brisbane got a few tries ahead with that star studded team, then it was all over and the floodgates opened.. The scoreline wasn't a reflection of the game at all.. I remember Harrigan reffing that game and screwing us on a bunch of game changing calls.

But like you said, beating Brisbane with that pack and backline was always going to be a tough task.
 

haz123

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I was 6 and having a "playdate" with my then best mate, he was a mad dogs supporter and at that time I knew nothing about footy. He gave me a pair of bulldog shorts and from that day on I was obsessed.
I still have them somewhere, and they have extra meaning now as my mate was murdered by his brother back around 2008...
Any way I know he would be up there somewhere just waiting for the Dogs to be back on top..... would be nice if they could do it for him.
Ps- that was a long 44 years ago.
 
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Kelpie03

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Passion Kelpie.

Because we get the tough end of the pineapple, ref decisions, religious vilification, DT sensational front pages, I reckon its why we are so passionate and have a deep, overriding need to win and be successful.

When successful we can hold our heads high and know that we are the Entertainers. We have the ability to adapt our game and be the Dogs of War.

When we are not successful I think it hits our fan base far greater than others for those reasons.

Hence the frustration and impatience.

We are living on past glories atm and want to believe we are heavier hitters than we are at present.

Some have the faith to have patience in Management seeing it through and others are starting to doubt, after pinning all our hopes on the new Board when DIB/DES/RAE booted out. This fan base have proved they will act if results aren't forth coming.

Whether that faith is justified, or the worried fans are being unrealistic, we'll find out in the next 2 years.

We all want the CB Bulldogs restored to being the Top Dogs.
Thanks wendog; I have no problem with our current board, anyone with an ounce of grey matter should know that it was always going to take time
I know that in all of our struggles our club has shown that it has a soul, because it is the blue colour people the down trodden who have their heart in the club which gives our club the soul.
All the money, all the success and all the looking in the mirror as well as all the back slapping will never give the entire Eastern Suburbs a soul.
 

SPEARTAKVIDREFS

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The world is changing. Sydney has changed. The Game has changed massively. WTF, Ive even started growing hair outta my ears and nostrals! Change is inevitable but the one thing that will never change is my love for the Dogs. Old man bought me a jersey when I was a kid and Im still here threw good times and bad. Up the Doggies!!
 

CrittaMagic69

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I’ll keep mine short and simple. I was seven, and watched the Dogs triumph over Dragons in the 85 GF. Loved them ever since! My younger brother followed. And we lived happily ever after. The end.
Need a TL;DR
 

CrittaMagic69

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Haha. I’m not young and lively like you when it comes to a acronyms.
"Too long, didn't read". Basically a short version of the story is provided, I was just taking the piss lol.
 

Papa Emeritus

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My Dad was a Bulldogs fan. He was an English expat (never even became a citizen but lived here for 30 something years) and I am not sure why he chose the Bulldogs to support but he did. We lived in Beverly Hills when I was young which is St George territory. I can't ask him why he supported the Dogs now as he died.

He would take me to Belmore as a kid, I remember running around on the hill and stuff. Not sure how many games we went to but the memories there are quite vivid. I remember parking in the park next door and it being an absolute mud pit.

I really liked the Tigers and Magpies as well, I had all 3 flags. But the Bulldogs thing just stuck for me.

I did lose a lot of interest in the Bulldogs when they went to Superleague, I tried to support Parra where a lot of our players went but I just felt nothing. So I kinda stopped watching RL altogether. I was a pretty casual fan again until 2011 or so when I started going to games again. Been a member since then. I was quite reluctant to attend games before then due to the bad rep our fans had, it took a long time for shit like trashing trains to die down. I am glad our supporters are a lot better these days.
 

DinkumDog

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My Dad was a Bulldogs fan. He was an English expat (never even became a citizen but lived here for 30 something years) and I am not sure why he chose the Bulldogs to support but he did. We lived in Beverly Hills when I was young which is St George territory. I can't ask him why he supported the Dogs now as he died.

He would take me to Belmore as a kid, I remember running around on the hill and stuff. Not sure how many games we went to but the memories there are quite vivid. I remember parking in the park next door and it being an absolute mud pit.

I really liked the Tigers and Magpies as well, I had all 3 flags. But the Bulldogs thing just stuck for me.

I did lose a lot of interest in the Bulldogs when they went to Superleague, I tried to support Parra where a lot of our players went but I just felt nothing. So I kinda stopped watching RL altogether. I was a pretty casual fan again until 2011 or so when I started going to games again. Been a member since then. I was quite reluctant to attend games before then due to the bad rep our fans had, it took a long time for shit like trashing trains to die down. I am glad our supporters are a lot better these days.
That was Greenberg who introduced the Bulldog fan code of conduct which stamped out the idiots letting off flares and causing trouble at games. Good that it was done, kinda sad it has to be resorted to - but - you can’t put brains in statues...
 

MatstaDogg

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My older brother was a massive Bulldogs supporter and Terry Lamb was his favorite player. Me, being a younger brother looking up to my older brother I started following the Bulldogs too. Been a diehard supporter ever since then.
 

SPEARTAKVIDREFS

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My Dad was a Bulldogs fan. He was an English expat (never even became a citizen but lived here for 30 something years) and I am not sure why he chose the Bulldogs to support but he did. We lived in Beverly Hills when I was young which is St George territory. I can't ask him why he supported the Dogs now as he died.

He would take me to Belmore as a kid, I remember running around on the hill and stuff. Not sure how many games we went to but the memories there are quite vivid. I remember parking in the park next door and it being an absolute mud pit.

I really liked the Tigers and Magpies as well, I had all 3 flags. But the Bulldogs thing just stuck for me.

I did lose a lot of interest in the Bulldogs when they went to Superleague, I tried to support Parra where a lot of our players went but I just felt nothing. So I kinda stopped watching RL altogether. I was a pretty casual fan again until 2011 or so when I started going to games again. Been a member since then. I was quite reluctant to attend games before then due to the bad rep our fans had, it took a long time for shit like trashing trains to die down. I am glad our supporters are a lot better these days.
My old man was a 10 pound Pom. Arrived here with Nan and Pop when he was 7 and they ended up living in Liverpool. Im guessing thats why he was a Dogs fan. I too was put off by the whole Superleauge thing but once a headbanger, always a headbanger. Same applies for the Dogs I suppose.
 

Pity Fool

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Good one Steve! Good topic...

My mum was born and raised in Belmore so similar to you, ever since I can remember, there really was no choice.

My dad is from country NSW and when he moved to Sydney to work he first moved to Lidcombe, so started paying some interest in the Magpies. When he and mum got serious she told him ‘I could only ever marry a Bulldogs supporter’ (only half in jest!) - he saw the light, starting following the Dogs and the rest is history. I told that story to Terry Lamb saying ‘you might appreciate this having played for both clubs’ - his response: ‘shit mate, pressure!’ :-)

I was born in Newcastle but with mums family in Sydney spent plenty of the early years in Sydney and went to Belmore countless times to watch the Dogs with the old red rattler trains slowing down to go past with people hanging out the doors... One day when I was about 7, I was dressed in every conceivable Bulldogs item for a game at Belmore (trackies, shirt, beanie, scarf, socks, flag, you name it). Pretty sure I even bought my pie that day by opening a Bulldogs wallet to get money :-) A Dragons supporter on the hill said to me ‘who do you go for mate?’ to which I shot back ‘The Bulldogs!’ not realising at that young age the art of taking the piss...

There were no phones so people actually talked to each other, no online betting, no Foxtel so if it wasn’t the ‘big game’ of the round on TV, you didn’t see it - hence people generally went to the game more.

I left Newcastle before the Knights existed. When I moved to my new school in Sydney - on my first day a bunch of young blokes surrounded me and said ‘hey mate, what footy team do you support?’ Most of them were Parra fans and groaned when I said the Dogs. One fella in that group nodded his head and said ‘nice’. More than 30 years later we are still mates and still go to games together, now passing on our Bulldogs passion to our own kids.

So it’s only ever been and will always be the Dogs for me - if you cut me I’d bleed blue and white!
Loved your anecdote mate, very similar to mine!
 

Tassie Devil

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Yeah I wish Baa didn't come out of retirement. I remember how much we struggled in 96 and 97 after the defections and after winning the comp and appreciate Lamb for trying to help out but he finished on the perfect note in 95 and should have left it at that...

The 98 team was one of my favourites because we had an average roster and came from 12th or lower to scrape through by winning game after game the last few weeks of the season just to make the finals.. Then we beat everyone in the semis until we ran into one of the strongest Brisbane lineups ever in the Grand Final.

But the spirit and never say day attitude and Dogs of War mentality was rarely more evident than that year.
Agree with that mate. Perfect way to finish his career that '95 final. Still can't believe he got sin binned ... Was sitting next to his Mrs behind the posts that day thanks to Bullfrog. Fricken love the Dogs.

Also agree about '98. On paper ... very average but they put in and believed in themselves. Crazy what we did that year. On bad days I honestly go back and look at that & remember that the impossible is possible because we did that against the Knights and Parra.

And if I'm honest I also look back at that team and think what team ethic means. They played for each other. There weren't superstars there. But a bunch of blokes that loved the Dogs and put in a shift. I honestly can see us doing the same atm. Yes, times have changed but if we get the right mixture of players and the right attitude.
 

Tassie Devil

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That was Greenberg who introduced the Bulldog fan code of conduct which stamped out the idiots letting off flares and causing trouble at games. Good that it was done, kinda sad it has to be resorted to - but - you can’t put brains in statues...
Yeah, stopped going to Belmore after we were harrassed on the hill a few times. Was hard to deal with as the Dogs were such an important part of my life, but just didn't feel the same when you go to the footy worrying about setting some stranger off. Glad times have changed though.
 
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