February 2008 - Rugby League Review

The 73rd Annual General meeting of the Bulldogs Rugby League Club Limited will be held on Sunday 17 February at Canterbury League Club with 16 candidates runing for seven positions, which along with the elections for the 2003 season is the largest amount of nominations on record.

Some supporters still hold a grudge about the Bulldogs moving their home base from Belmore to Homebush. President of the BACK TO BELMORE group Luke Brailey is happy for the club to play at ANZ Stadium but still would like some matches played at Belmore Sports Ground. He shares his views.

In my opinion, the worst feature of the Bulldogs' decision making process in the post-Bullfrog (Peter Moore) era has been the clubs' ruthless tenacity in pursuing the Homebush precinct and abandoning their spiritual home ground.

If you dare take a dissenting view, like yours truly, you are ostracised, marginalised and trivialised. Despite howls of protests, the board has no hesitation in committing the football club to Homebush in a bid to extend the Bulldogs' appeal to a broader support base. Broadening the Bulldogs' appeal means extending its "brand" to others but delivering less to its traditional support base. The bottom line is that Bulldogs' biggest home base is the Canterbury-Bankstown area.

As the football club distances itself from its traditional roots, the devastating effects of dilapidation and deterioration at Belmore Sports Ground are becoming more imminent and obvious.

Playing at Homebush brings in plenty of support from the corporate side of things and that can not be underestimated as to how valuable it is to any club. But being able to get State and Federal government to work alongside the local council and the Bulldogs should beseen as number one priority in getting Belmore Sports Ground upgraded. Plenty of work is required but there is no major stadium in the Canterbury-Bankstown area for Rugby League to be utilised.

What would be fantastic is to play some matches at Belmore Sports Ground every year with the majority at Homebush. Matches against Gold Coast, North Qld, Warriors and Canberra would no doubt draw more supporters to Belmore than Homebush. It would also be great for lower grade sides and junior teams to be able to utilise such a venue.

The club continues to maintain that a return to Belmore Sports Ground is not an option. They said the same thing about Kogarah Oval but the Return to Kogarah (R2K) group never gave up and they played a major role in getting the Dragons back to their home turf.