WELL before the advent of the NAB AFLW, before the exhibition matches, Footscray was involved in women’s football.

In 1947, 70 years before the first game of AFLW was played, the Bulldogs fielded a women's footy side much to the shock of the local newspaper.

"What Would Grandma Say?" the headline in The Argus read, alongside an article and photo of two players.

"Girls invade men's sport. Footscray women's football club intends to challenge South Melbourne girls' team. Here, Mary Livingstone puts everything into a hefty kick for goal. Evelyn Clark is just too late to stop her opponent."

The series of charity matches, played by women in Melbourne and Adelaide to raise money for various war efforts and charities on the home front, marked Footscray’s first foray into women’s sport.

Fast-forward to Footscray celebrating its centenary on Friday night, the Bulldogs have now been connected with women's footy for 70 of their 100 years in the V/AFL competition.

Exhibition matches: Dogs, Demons and Debbie

Alongside Melbourne, the Bulldogs have been one of the trailblazers of elite women's football, playing in the first AFL-sanctioned women’s football matches to play under club banners with players wearing full club kitIn a series of exhibition games against the Demons between 2013 and 2015, the Bulldogs competed for the Hampson-Hardeman Cup, named after women's football pioneers Bob Hampson and Lisa Hardeman. The pair still play for the cup in their AFLW clashes.

The women's exhibition series was expanded in 2016 in preparation for the introduction of the AFLW the following year, the Dogs finally knocking off the Dees for the first time and bellowing out the newly minted "Daughters of the West".

Debbie Lee – then working for Melbourne, before moving to the Bulldogs in 2018 – was an instrumental force in driving the adoption of elite women's football.

Among many accomplishments, the Australian Football Hall of Fame member founded the St Albans Spurs, who have eventually evolved to compete as the Bulldogs' VFLW side.

"I'm so appreciative of those football clubs, of the work that Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs put in during the early days," Footscray superstar Ellie Blackburn told AFL.com.au.

"I think it fast-tracked it, but it's also the work of individuals like Debbie Lee, and the work she did to get those games off the ground and running is amazing. I don't think the current crop of players realise how much work she put in. I'm grateful I was able to be part of that and witness the work she was able to do."

Blackburn was just 18 when she took part in the first exhibition match, although the five-time Dogs best-and-fairest played in Melbourne colours after being ‘drafted’ to the Demons for the match.

"That feeling of running out was so cool, and then personally, it was a nice moment to kick the first goal of the game – although I think it was touched, if I'm completely honest now," she said with a laugh.

Early days of AFLW

Given their extensive advocacy of women's football, it was no surprise the Bulldogs were one of eight teams awarded an inaugural AFLW licence.

Each of the eight clubs signed two ‘marquee’ players, taken from the top tier of women's football around the country. These players received $25,000 for the program, which ran for about four months inclusive of pre-season, and were paid more than their teammates for the extra promotional work.

For the Bulldogs, that was Blackburn and Katie Brennan.

While Brennan – the club's first AFLW captain – moved on to Richmond ahead of the Tigers' 2020 entry, Blackburn is the team's sole inaugural player still on its list.

Blackburn’s first contact from the Dogs came from then-AFLW football operations coordinator Glenn Balmforth, who sent her a Facebook message asking for a meeting.

"Within a week, I had a meeting with my manager, Glenn, Kelly Ryan (chief marketing officer) and Chris Grant. It wasn't too long before I got the call from Kelly letting me know they were going to sign me as a marquee player alongside Katie," Blackburn said.

"I had to try and keep it a secret for a while, and I don't think I was able to keep it quiet for long. It was a nice period of time, because the boys were in the process of winning the flag, so to be part of that the whole way through was really nice.

"The club felt really comfortable from the get-go. It just felt like home, the way AFLW was embraced by people in the club at the time. Bob Murphy (who was the AFL skipper at the time) and Chris Grant are two of the kindest people you'll ever come across, and were two who really embraced me and my family into the club.

"The club itself is so invested in women's footy, and the community in general as well, so I think it just naturally has a really nice feel about it. Success can be determined in different ways at the Bulldogs, and I really like that. It's about the people and the connection to community, and that's something I've been able to really connect with over my time."

Kearney, Conti and co.: Dogs who've left the Kennel

Clubs were also allowed a certain number of priority picks ahead of the draft, removing those players from the pool. As a Victorian club with a stronger draft pool given the footy-mad nature of Victoria, the Dogs were afforded one, signing Emma Kearney.

Kearney was an outstanding player for the Dogs, winning a best and fairest in their premiership year of 2018, but always had her heart set on her old home of North Melbourne, immediately jumping ship when the Roos entered the league the following year.

It was part of an unfortunate trend that has seen many star players moving on from the Western Bulldogs, most to expansion teams. Some took the extra money, others moved for new opportunities, and a few were mutual partings of ways.

Of its inaugural list, Jaimee Lambert, Aasta O'Connor, Brooke Lochland, Ellyse Gamble, and Libby Birch all moved on, as have premiership players Jenna Bruton and Kim Rennie, AFLW best and fairest Monique Conti, No.1 picks Izzy Huntington and Gab Newton, All-Australians Bonnie Toogood, Kirsty Lamb, Katie Lynch and Aisling McCarthy, and big-game performer Daria Bannister.

The Dogs have also had a number of assistant coaches graduate to become senior coaches (AFLW and VFLW) or men's assistant coaches elsewhere, including Natalie Wood (now Essendon AFLW coach), Lisa Webb (now Fremantle AFLW coach), Melissa Hickey (now head coach of the Geelong Falcons girls team), Kirby Bentley (Essendon AFLW assistant) and Jordan Roughead (now Collingwood AFL backline coach).

Partly due to the regular turnover of players, consistent AFLW success has eluded the Dogs, but memories of the six-point premiership victory over Brisbane in 2018 live on.

"It was a really special moment, to be honest. As hard as it was, not having Katie [Brennan] out there on the day, upon reflection now, it's something I'm really proud of – first and foremost, to be a premiership player, but to know I was able to captain on the day," Blackburn said.

"To do it with an amazing group of people, a wonderful coach in 'Grovesy' (Paul Groves), and it was so much fun, to be honest.

"It was the first ever game of AFLW that I'd played in the wet. It almost felt like the morning from hell. I didn't really sleep the night before, as per (usual), and I felt like the bus got there really late. The weather was terrible, I'm not great on buses in general, and it felt like we went a really weird way from Whitten Oval to Ikon Park. It was just one of those days where you have to create your own luck."

From young pups to bona fide Dogs

Issy Grant has been a listed Bulldogs player since 2020, but the Kennel has been home for much longer than that.

The defender is the daughter of club legend Chris Grant, who hung up his own boots in 2007 when Issy was six, before spending eight years working in footy administration, four of which came while Issy was a junior footballer.

"I have some faded, early memories. All of the kids of the players and some staff would go to 'footy creche' when the dads were playing, so the mums would have a deserved night off," Grant told AFL.com.au.

"I remember Sam Darcy being there as a little kid, and Ella Johnson, Brad Johnson's daughter. She always had Freddo frogs in her lunchbox, and I always got sultanas from my parents, so I'd try and get one off her.

"I remember running out for Dad's 300th (I think), and just the roar of the crowd. I might have actually been more scared than excited, I remember wanting to stay with Grandpa rather than run out with Dad.

"He took me to the (club) gym one day, right before he retired, so I would have been five or six. I remember running around on the green indoor turf, kicking the footy and commentating yourself, as you do as a kid.

"But I knew at that age, I couldn't go on and play. As excited as I was, I was watching all the other boys running round, knowing they would get the chance, and I wouldn't.

"Now, it's kind of wholesome the way it's come full circle. I see Tom Liberatore round the club, Sam Darcy, Jordan Croft and Rhylee West. It's weird to think we went through that period of our dads playing together, and now it's our turn."

Grant: From 'Dad's work' to 'my work'

The first AFLW pre-season came around when Grant was 15, and the western suburbs local would often find a way to end up at Mission Whitten Oval in the afternoons at "Dad's work", as the players rolled in.

Grant would camp herself at Barkers Café, inside the club's headquarters.

Theoretically, it was homework time (the brainy Grant is currently in the tail-end of a neuroscience degree), but realistically, she was wanting to see the AFLW players as they trained and prepped for matches.

"I picked up the game myself when I was probably in year nine or 10, as soon as I saw the pathway, which is probably similar to most AFLW players my age (23), and I transitioned from basketball to footy," Grant said.

"I was in year 11 when [the AFLW side] won the Grand Final, and I remember going into the rooms and they were so excited. I was quite shy – well, I still am quite shy – but I was standing at the back, trying to give them their space.

"And Laura Bailey pulled me into the circle, and was like 'there's no way you're not getting in on this'. So I got to be part of singing the song after the Grand Final. From then, I knew this was my club. I felt so seen and welcome.

"When I walked in after I'd been drafted – this place I'd been obsessed with all my childhood and idolised Dad for? Now it was my work. I'd worked hard enough to be here, and I felt it was a really proud moment, but also nice to feel so close to him, too."

Pride, progress and the present

Despite her young age, Grant has been a member of the team's leadership group for the past two years, and has taken a keen interest in the club's Pride supporter group and Pride Round in general, designing several jumpers.

Footscray and Carlton instigated a Pride game in just the second year of the AFLW, to reflect the important role the Pride community has played in the development of women's football and the healthy representation within the AFLW.

The celebration has since been extended over an entire round, encompassing all teams.

"The way the club has operated for the last 20 years, being in the exhibition matches for the women, they've never been afraid to do something different. They've never been afraid to go outside of the norms of what people think football should look like, and I think that's why we all feel so safe and that the club is our home," Grant said.

"I'm proud to be part of a club that is itself genuinely proud of those outcomes. I was watching the game against North Melbourne on the weekend, someone kicked a goal, and [the camera] went to the cheer squad.

"In the cheer squad, was one of the members of our Pride group at the Bulldogs, wearing our most recent Pride jumper, with pink and blue representing the transgender community.

"It made me realise that not only have we made an impact on the women's football game, but in our cheer squad, we've got a person who identifies as transgender and feels comfortable wearing their flag to a men's match.

"That's progress, that's powerful and that's what makes me feel so proud to be part of the club."