CENTRAL DISTRICT BULLDOGS

The 'Central District Bulldogs' is an Australian rules football club based in the city of Elizabeth about 35km to the north of Adelaide, South Australia.

Contents

Origins and Background

Little initial success

Recent successes

2007 League Players

Premierships

Runners Up

Minor Premierships (top of the table before Finals Series)

Magarey Medalists

Coachs

Post-War Placings

External links

Origins and Background

The areas to the north of Adelaide, including the towns of Elizabeth, Salisbury and Gawler, were noticeable by their absence from SANFL ranks during the late 1950s. To rectify this situation Central Districts was formed in 1959, and served a five year apprenticeship in the SANFL reserves competition, before entering the senior ranks for the 1964 season.
One of the better supported clubs in the SANFL, Centrals have a strong British migrant supporter base as Elizabeth was a centre of UK migrant settlements in South Australia. The colours and emblem of the club also reflect this rich British background. To this day, Union Flags and UK soccer shirts remain the attire of choice for many Centrals fans at SANFL matches.
With this British background, Centrals fans also have a reputation for singing and chanting in the manner of UK soccer supporters. The chant 'Ceeeeeeeeeenntttrrrrraaaaaaaaaaalllllllllssssss' is one of the most well known supporter chants/songs in South Australian football.

Little initial success

From its first season of league football in 1964, Centrals usually struggled for success and became known as something of a choking team (ie. it plays well except for when it really matters.) Although often extremely competitive in the course of the normal season, Centrals lost every single finals match they contested between 1973 and 1993, and were the last SANFL team to win an inaugural premiership in 2000.

Recent successes

Since 2000 however, Centrals have built a dynasty surpassed in SANFL history only by the great Port teams of the 1950s and 1990s and Sturt Football Club of the 1960s. However, Centrals dynasty has not ended yet, and it is possible that they may forge the most successful period for single club in SANFL history in the next 3-4 years. Centrals are clearly the dominant side in modern SANFL football winning 5 of the last 7 premierships, appearing in every Grand Final since the new millennium and have become the wealthiest SANFL club by some considerable margin. It is surprising to note that Centrals now have won more premierships than the famous Glenelg Football Club (who have been in the SANFL for approx. 40 years longer than Centrals.) This would have been an unthinkable scenario even as recently as the late 1980s. Long established SANFL records have also tumbled since the advent of the Dogs dynasty, Centrals became the first team to win the League, Reserves and Under 19's titles in the same season in 2003, the final margin of 125 points in the 2004 Grand Final against Woodville-West Torrens is the biggest winning margin of any SANFL final match ever played, and on June 30th 2007, Centrals inflicted a 158 point defeat on the Norwood Football Club, the Redlegs biggest loss in their long and proud history.
2006 saw the introduction of night SANFL matches under lights at Elizabeth Oval. In the first league match under lights a crowd of just over 7,000 attended the match against Sturt FC. Central District appear to be growing from strength to strength and will clearly continue to dominate the SANFL for many years. To highlight this, on September 24th 2006, Central District made their seventh consecutive SANFL Grand Final by defeating the Eagles in the Second Semi Final. This simultaneously equalled the record for the most consecutive Grand Final appearances, and also set a new SANFL benchmark for a seventh second-semi final win in succession. This was despite a relatively poor season by the Bulldogs in light of their recent high standards. However, this was not to be as the Bulldogs hold over the Eagles was brought to rest when the Bulldogs suffered a 76 point loss to the Eagles in the 2006 Grand Final.
Centrals have bounced back in the 2007 season however, with a return to their high standards of the previous 6-7 seasons. As of August 27th 2007, Centrals have won the minor premiership yet again and have only lost twice in the 2007 season.

2007 League Players

1. Jonathon Griffin (AFL Listed) 2. Louis Haddon 3. Heath Lawry 5. Ian Callinan 6. Brad Symes (AFL Listed) 7. Chad O'Sullivan 8. Nathan Grima 9. Richard Cochrane 10. Charles Slattery 11. Trent Goodrem 13. Scott Dutschke 16. Paul Thomas 17. Jonathon Giles (AFL Listed) 18. Jason Mackenzie 20. Adrian Wilson 21. Chris Gowans

22. Andrew Hayes 23. Justin Westhoff (AFL Listed) 26. Luke Cowan 27. Daniel Schell 28. James Gowans 34. Nathan Steinberner 35. Ryan Williams 36. Chris Musolino 37. Yves Sibenaler 38. Quinton Graham 40. Daniel Havelberg 41. Jeremy Aufderheide 43. Adam Switala 50. Elijah Ware 51. Craig Mullins 59. Matthew Slade

Premierships

2000, 2001, 2003, 2004 & 2005

Runners Up

1995, 1996, 2002, 2006

Minor Premierships (top of the table before Finals Series)

1979, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007

Magarey Medalists

Five players from Centrals have won the Magarey Medal for best and fairest player in the League throughout a season.

★ Gary Window (1965)

★ John Duckworth (1979)

★ John Platten (1984)

★ Gilbert McAdam (1989)

★ Paul Thomas (2004)

Coachs

K Eustice (1964-1967), D Jones (1968-1971), A Casserly (1972-1975), G Window (1976-1977),D Hicks (1978-1983), K Neale (1984-1987), D N Kerley (1988-1990), A Stewart (1991-1995), S Wright (1996-1997), P Jonas (1998-2000), A Clarkson (2001-2002), R.Laird (2003-)

Post-War Placings

1964 10, 1965 7, 1966 9, 1967 9, 1968 8, 1969 8, 1970 7, 1971 3, 1972 3, 1973 6, 1974 6, 1975 7, 1976 6, 1977 10, 1978 8, 1979 3, 1980 6, 1981 7, 1982 5, 1983 8, 1984 4, 1985 6, 1986 6, 1987 8, 1988 4, 1989 4, 1990 7, 1991 8, 1992 8, 1993 5, 1994 3, 1995 2, 1996 2, 1997 3, 1998 5, 1999 7, 2000 1, 2001 1, 2002 2, 2003 1, 2004 1, 2005 1, 2006 2

External links

★ Official Website of the Central District Bulldogs

★ In-Depth Look at the history of the Bulldogs

★ Unofficial fan site

★ Full Points Footy History of Centrals