Victoria University student Sam Wharton has been delving into the private AFL passion of former prime minister Julia Gillard.
The final-year sports management student quizzed Ms Gillard about her love of the Western Bulldogs and why she created the Prime Minister’s Cup competition between the Footscray club and Greater Western Sydney in 2012.
Mr Wharton, 24, posed questions to the former PM as part of the university’s summer school program.
“She was working as a lawyer at Slater and Gordon during the Footscray Fightback Campaign,” he said.
The then-principal of the firm, Peter Gordon, drove the 1989 campaign to stop the merger of the Bulldogs and Fitzroy.
“I found out she [Gillard] was part of the campaign, fund-raising and helping out the club, and she has been a strong supporter since,” Mr Wharton said.
He said Ms Gillard told him she created the PM’s Cup because both teams were working-class clubs.
“She loves the western suburbs and the community connections within them”.
Mr Wharton will present the club with his research findings and hopes they will appear on an information sign next to the cup in the Bulldogs’ museum.
