From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Central District

Full name	Central District Football Club
Nickname	The Bulldogs
Strip	Royal blue base with red and white hoops.
Founded	1959
Sport	Australian rules football
League	South Australian National Football League
First season	1964
Ground	Hamra Homes Oval Elizabeth (formerly known as Elizabeth Oval and NAP Oval)
Club song	We're a Winning Team at Centrals
President/Chair	Kris Grant
Coach	Roy Laird
Captain	Matthew Slade Paul Thomas
2007	1st of 9

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.

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 the Central District Football Club was formed in 1959, and served a five year apprenticeship in the SANFL reserves competition, before entering the senior ranks for the 1964 season.

According to crowd attendances for the 2007 season, Centrals now have the largest attending support in the SANFL. Uniquely for an Australian Rules club, Centrals have a very strong British migrant identity and 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. The colours were adopted from a UK soccer side depicted on a souvenir card however the exact identity of which club inspired the colours has not been revealed. 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 the most well known supporter chants/songs in South Australian football.

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.

Centrals first season in the league ranks in 1964 ended without a single league victory, and Centrals finished last in the table (Centrals have won only one wooden spoon since in 1977.) The first victory came against Woodville early in the 1965 season.

Alan Stewart is the person most widely thought responsible for the upsurge in Centrals fortunes. Stewart only played two league matches for the Bulldogs and spent the rest of his career in the reserves, however it was as a coach in both the youth sections and eventually the league team that he is most revered for at the club. Taking over from Neil 'The King' Kerley in 1991, Stewart transformed the ethos of the club in only a matter of years. In 1994, Centrals made the SANFL Cup Grand Final (now no longer a separate competition), their first ever Grand Final appearance, narrowly losing to Woodville-West Torrens. Later in the same year Centrals defeated Norwood in the First Semi Final, the clubs first win in any final since beating the same team in 1972. With this hoodoo finally broken, Centrals made their first League Grand Final the year after, an event of such significance in the SANFL that the 1995 Grand Final sold out (the first time this had happened since the Adelaide Crows had entered the AFL in 1991.) Unfortunately Centrals were soundly beaten in the 1995 title decider, and Alan Stewart left the club immediately afterwards.

Former Sydney Swan star Stevie Wright became league coach in 1996 and this season saw Centrals make another Grand Final, once again facing Port Adelaide. Despite having a 4-0 win/loss record over the Magpies for the season, Centrals lost emphatically once more to Port before another sell-out SANFL Grand Final crowd.

Since 2000 however, Centrals have built a dynasty rivalled in SANFL history only by the great Port teams of the 1950s and 1990s and Sturt Football Club of the 1960s. Centrals are clearly the dominant side in modern SANFL football winning 6 of the last 8 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 two 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 bounced back in the 2007 season winning the minor premiership then their sixth flag, with a return to their high standards of the previous 6-7 seasons. On October 7th 2007, Central District defeated North Adelaide Football Club in the SANFL Grand Final to win their 6th flag from their 8th consecutive Grand Final appearance. Centrals is the only club in SANFL history to have contested 8 consecutive Grand Finals. Also worth noting is the fact that Centrals has won 8 consecutive 2nd Semi Finals on their way to those 8 Grand Final appearances. Once again, a feat no other club has ever achieved.

2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007

1995, 1996, 2002, 2006

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

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)

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-)

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, 2007 1

• Official Website of the Central District Bulldogs
• CDFC.info - Centrals fan forum
• In-Depth Look at the history of the Bulldogs
• U-DOGS.net Unofficial fan site
• Full Points Footy History of Centrals

v • d • e Clubs in the South Australian National Football League
Central District | Glenelg | North Adelaide | Norwood | Port Adelaide South Adelaide | Sturt | West Adelaide | Woodville-West Torrens Defunct clubs: West Torrens | Woodville