Smorgon joins his heroes in hall of fame
David Smorgon, one of the Footscray–Western Bulldogs’ favourite sons, was inducted into the club’s hall of fame at last week’s season launch. The Bulldogs’ longest- serving president, is only the fourth club administrator to gain entry into the coveted class.
His tenure as president spanned 1997 to 2012. “It is a humbling experience,” Smorgon said when he accepted the honour.
To a packed auditorium of Bulldog faithfuls, Smorgon began his acceptance speech by stating that supporting the Western Bulldogs was character building.
“It gave you some steel and I’ve been doing that for the past 65 years and I hope to continue doing that for the next 35 years,” he remarked to rapturous applause.
Smorgon and his Bulldog Task Force came into power in late 1996 and as the administration’s frontman he led the club out of their darkest period and into an era of sustained viability and success on and off the field. In the early days he oversaw the rebranding of the club which was headlined by a change in name from Footscray to Western Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs have long been recognised within the AFL industry as a “community club” and this is a result of Smorgon’s tireless focus on marketing the club to the western region of Melbourne. A trademark of his chairmanship was his unwavering commitment to fight for the underdog in a cut-throat AFL industry. He often challenged the AFL’s equalisation policies and always had the Bulldogs’ cause front of mind.
The redevelopment of the Victoria University Whitten Oval late in his presidency was a major achievement in ensuring the club’s future.
“I couldn’t have contributed what I tried to do over 16 years in an official capacity without the wonderful support of all my family.
“I want to recognise and thank my dad because he was the one to decide to follow the Bulldogs in 1952/53 when every other member of the Smorgon family followed another mob down in Lygon street.
“I’m so proud now that into the fourth generation of Smorgons they are absolutely dinky-di one-eyed Bulldogs fans.”
His mother Gita attended the evening and “she’s 92 and as proud and passionate as anyone”.
With almost 50 years of corporate business experience, Smorgon’s induction into the Bulldogs hall of fame comes after he was awarded life membership of the club in 2006, AFL life membership in 2014, and the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2000.
One-on-one with ‘Smorgo’
Highlight and lowlight of your presidency?
“The highlight was the mere fact we managed to keep the doors open. I don’t think people understood the pressure that some of the smaller clubs like the Kangaroos, Bulldogs and St Kilda were under during the late ’90s and early 2000s to fold. And not far beyond that was playing in five preliminary finals in my time,” Smorgon told The AJN in an exclusive.
“No doubt the lowlight to me was losing the 1997 preliminary final when we were 30-odd
points up at three-quarter-time only to lose by two points. It was a shattering experience and probably had a negative impact on the club for the next few years.”
Judaism versus football
“There were probably three if not four times when a final was going to be played on either
Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur and I remember on each of those occasions I always chose my religion, that is the Jewish religion not my football religion.
“To me it was a no-brainer because being Jewish is part of my identity and yes so are the Bulldogs, but very much a long second to my Jewishness.”
2016 premiership dream realised
“I often dreamt about being on the ground after winning a grand final.
“Thanks to Peter Gordon’s generosity two years ago, I was able to. It’s all still a blur but it’s probably one of the highlights of my life because you can’t buy that experience.”
AARON FETTER
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