With games now played each week from Thursday through to Sunday, during the day, in twilight and at night, Saturday afternoon is no longer the staple part of the footy fan's diet that it once was. When the Bulldogs run out onto Etihad Stadium this weekend, it will be just the third Saturday afternoon game they have played this year. 

And in the last 40 years prior to this week’s match against West Coast, the Doggies have played just twice on July 1^st on a "Saturday arvo". 

The first of those turned out to be a pretty good one for the Bulldogs. In round 13, 1978, Footscray hosted St Kilda at Whitten Oval. The Saints had pipped the Dogs earlier in the year at Moorabbin, but this time around the Bulldogs were right on top at three-quarter time, leading 21.11.137 to 14.9.93, and their star forward Kelvin Templeton had eight goals to his name.

The Dogs would have been hoping to go right on with the job in the last quarter that afternoon, and did they ever! They added 12 goals to two to record what was then the highest score in V/AFL history - 33.15.213. Even now it ranks in the top 15 of the more than 30,000 scores recorded in over 15,000 matches.

But it wasn't just the team that went on with the job - Templeton did too. He added seven final term majors to finish with an incredible 15 goals, the most of any player in Bulldogs history. Only six players have ever kicked more goals in a match. To top it off, Templeton also kicked nine behinds that day for a total of 24 scoring shots, the most by one player in any V/AFL game.

17 years later, on Saturday July 1st, 1995 at the same venue, a 24-year-old chap by the name of Luke Beveridge kicked two of Footscray's nine goals as the Bulldogs eked out a narrow win against the lowly Brisbane Bears to keep their finals chances alive. Among Beveridge's teammates that day were Chris Grant (the Bulldogs' current director of football), Rohan Smith (Development Manager), Matthew Croft (Director) and Tony Liberatore (father of Tom), whose 27 possessions and four tackles earned him three Brownlow votes.

It might be a bit much to expect one of the Bulldogs to kick 15 goals against the Eagles this Saturday (although we won't complain if it happens, Jake or Big Red!), but if the names Beveridge, Grant, Smith and Liberatore can combine their efforts to help get the team over the line, the Bulldogs will make it three from three in matches played on Saturday afternoon on July 1st over the past four decades.