Events Calendar 2024/2025
Bulldog Pride have a variety of events we organise and attend. Please see below and where possible, RSVP to the Facebook event so we can plan for numbers
What’s On?
AFLW Pride Game Oct 11th 2024
Round 7 – vs Bombers at our spiritual home, Whitten Oval 417 Barkly St, Footscray
Bulldog Pride will be having a stall with merchandise and lots more around the ground
Lots of colour, rainbows, entertainment – one of the best days on the AFLW Calendar
IDAHOBIT 17th May 2024
RSVP to our IDAHOBIT event at Pride of our Footscray Bar, 1/86-88 Hopkins St, Footscray VIC 3011
Pre game meet ups AFLM Games – TBA
Pre game meet ups AFLW Games – TBA
JANUARY 2025
Midsumma Carnival Stall
Sunday 19th January
“Sports precinct” stalls, Alexandra Gardens, Melbourne
Click here to see the Facebook event
Midsumma Pride March
Sunday 2nd February, St Kilda
Pride March Save the Date
Bulldog Pride Update – May 2024
| Put some red and white into your day – join the Bulldog Pride Facebook group If you live far from Melbourne and are disconnected from the hot spot of Bulldog love that is the west, you can chat about games on game night in our Facebook group. We have joined the AFL Pride Committee, which has members from other AFL Pride teams, and we work together to arrange pre-game meets, advocate for an AFLM Pride Round, discuss Midsumma events etc. If there are any events you’d like to see, please send us an email at bulldogprideau@gmail.com |
MEDIA RELEASE: 400 community members turn out for first Footscray Pride March
Barkly Street in Footscray was turned into a sea of rainbows on Saturday as 400 community members took to the streets for the inaugural Footscray Pride March.
The march was organised by Bulldog Pride, the LGBTIQA+ coterie group for the Western Bulldogs Football Club, to mark the third AFLW Pride Match at Whitten Oval. Marchers walked almost the length of Footscray from the Nicholson Street Mall to the Whitten Oval, led by the Dykes on Bikes and Bulldog Pride members.
The march was joined by local bars, Councillors from Maribyrnong Council, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and local football clubs. Drag Performers representing the Pride of Our Footscray Community Bar dotted the march, proving an entertaining sight for bystanders. The march was welcomed into the Whitten Oval by a snuff puppet from the Footscray Drill Hall waving a rainbow flag.
Overall the reception from the Footscray community was overwhelmingly positive, with many securing outdoor seats in the local pubs to cheer on the march as it moved down Barkly Street. People in their cars seemed largely unbothered by the traffic delay, with many joining in the fun by honking their horns in time with the Bulldogs chants from the crowd. Given the success of the event, the organisers have expressed a desire to run another march to mark the Pride Match again next year.
Quotes attributable to Bulldog Pride President, Amy Fabry-Jenkins:
“This is the first time we’ve ever done this and I never dreamed we would get such a positive response. My heart is full and I think many LGBTIQ westsiders feel the same.”
“Today I’ve met queer people seeking asylum and trans teenagers at their first ever Pride March, this has been a truly special day for our community”
Quotes attributable to Bulldog Pride Treasurer, Wil Stracke:
“When I moved to the inner-west twenty-five years ago, I could have never imagined that one day we would take over the streets for a Pride March. The idea of a Pride March in Footscray sounded terrifying to me at first, and today shows how far we’ve come.”
Media Contact: Amy Fabry-Jenkins, 0424 698 694, bulldogprideau@gmail.com
MEDIA RELEASE
FIRST EVER FOOTSCRAY PRIDE MARCH THIS SATURDAY
The AFLW’s Pride Match between Carlton & Western Bulldogs at the Whitten Oval is in its third year, and this year rainbows will take over the rest of Footscray, with Bulldog Pride organising the first ever Footscray Pride March.
The march will assemble in the Footscray CBD and make its way down the main street to Whitten Oval, led by the Dykes on Bikes and drag performers from the local queer bar. The focus of the event will be to showcase the pride and diversity of the LGBTIQA+ community in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
The AFLW Pride Match attracts thousands of attendees every year, many who have never attended a professional Australian rules football match. The game was spearheaded by the Western Bulldogs football club and their LGBTIQA+ coterie group, Bulldog Pride, as a way to promote diversity and inclusion in the game.
Where: Nicholson Street Mall, Footscray
When: Saturday 22 February, 2020. Gathering 12.30, marching to start at 1pm
Quotes attributable to Bulldog Pride President Amy Fabry-Jenkins:
“Being Bulldog is about sticking together through adversity. We’re proud to be a part of a club that is proud of us, and that has been so supportive of our work with LGBTIQA+ fans”
“We chose to march down Barkly Street because it links up all of Footscray’s major icons, finishing at the heart of Footscray, Whitten Oval. It’s where the Footscray Bulldogs paraded after they saved the club in 1989.”
“I grew up in Footscray and have made a home here with my spouse. The Pride March is about celebrating the home that many LGBTIQA+ people have built in the western suburbs
Contact: Amy Fabry-Jenkins 0424 698 694
FOOTSCRAY’S FIRST PRIDE MARCH!
(as far as we know)
The first ever AFLW Pride Match was held at Whitten Oval three years ago and we made history in more ways than one (one being it was the first pride match, the other being Brooke Lochland’s ridiculous goal streak being the highest in AFLW history) – this year we’re holding a community pride march from Nicholson St Mall to Whitten Oval to start off the game with a gathering of community and showing of pride.
Date: Saturday 22nd February
Time: Gathering from 12.30, marching at 1pm. (Game starts at 3.10pm)
Where: We will be gathering at Nicholson St Mall to march down Hopkins/Barkly St, Footscray towards the Whitten Oval.
Who: We are a local community group creating a safe space for the LGBTIQA+ community and allies to enjoy the footy. We are a volunteer run group and an official coterie group of the Western Bulldogs Football Club.
Invite your friends to this is the Facebook event.
This event is being organised by Bulldog Pride volunteers.
Any questions please get in touch via this email or contact the Bulldog Pride President – Amy Fabry-Jenkins on her mobile 0424 698 694.
The Kennel Cough Podcast!
We are LOVING the hot takes from the folk at The Kennel Cough – a SYN media podcast about the team we all love hosted by Niamh Felton & Caleb Scanlon.
🌈BONUS EPISODE🌈
In this week’s bonus episode, The Kennel Cough interview the co-founder of the Bulldog Pride group, Amy Jenkins.
Find out what the Bulldog Pride group are doing this weekend to celebrate the pride game:
iTunes: https://apple.co/2DYrRsi
Omny: https://bit.ly/2sMCg6N
Do you know what the Western Bulldogs Community Foundation does?
Because we didn’t really realise how much they do until Amy & Wil from the Bulldog Pride collective hung out with a bunch of other supporter groups – including the Cheer Squad, East West Bulldogs, Former Players Association – at the Western Bulldogs Community Foundation Dinner on Tuesday.
We heard about the amazing work the Foundation is doing empowering young people, recent migrants and people from all walks of life in Victoria’s west through a range of programs promoting mental health, exercise, and social inclusion.
One of the Youth Leadership Project graduates told us about how students in Mildura advocated for gender-neutral bathrooms to make their trans classmates feel safe and not have to hold on for 6+ hours to go to the toilet. Isn’t that amazing? Talk about #RealStrength
We also saw Jason Johannisen and two of his Bulldog teammates modeling Socks of the West – the product of the WBCF’s Social Enterprise project.
Socks of the West was founded by several teenagers from Ballarat who participated in last year’s Youth Leadership Program. What started as a sock donation drive last year (they are the least donated item to charities, and biologically you need to cover your hands, head, and feet to keep warm at night – especially important if you’re sleeping rough in a cold place like Ballarat) has grown to a social enterprise where for every pair of sock purchased, a pair is donated to a homeless person.
Check out more of the amazing work our Club’s Community Foundation does here: http://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/foundation
We couldn’t be prouder to be Bulldog.
Bulldog Pride 