Susan Alberti says long-standing Western Bulldogs deserve a Grand Final victory
FOR Susan Alberti - a lifelong Western Bulldogs fan, the club’s vice-president and benefactor - it’s been an exhausting and exhilarating week.
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SUSAN Alberti’s voice breaks when she thinks about what Saturday means.
For this lifelong and larger-than-life Western Bulldogs fan, the club’s vice-president and a long-time benefactor, it’s been an exhausting and exhilarating week since Saturday’s Preliminary Final triumph.
“I can’t explain how I feel. I’m just so emotional. About the Dogs, the VFL, the women and the people that have never given up,” Alberti said.
“The people in the west of Melbourne, those old people that are now on walkers and walking sticks.
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“I’ve sat in those grandstands and watched those people week after week after week have their hearts broken, lose, but still keep coming back.
“It’s those people who have never given up that deserve this Grand Final win, not me, but them. Our supporters.”
Alberti came from humble beginnings, the daughter of a policeman stationed at North Melbourne. She defied his advice to barrack for the “Shinboners”, instead choosing the more pleasing tricolours of Footscray.
“I was one of those kids who never really did as I was told,” she said.
“I didn’t like blue and white. It’s a very simple story, I loved red, white and blue. My big brother (Richard), we made a pact, in blood we always say, that we would barrack for the red, white and blue, which was Footscray.
“The only condition my father had … was that I had to sit with the cheer squad, because he thought that was a safe environment.”
Alberti soon became a member of the cheer squad and together with Richard and some food brought from home and a hot Thermos, would be stationed at the ground from the first whistle of the thirds to the final siren of the seniors.
“I always loved football, my father used to say I’d eat a football if I was given one,” she said.
I’ve sat in those grandstands and watched those people week after week after week have their hearts broken, lose, but still keep coming back.
Susan Alberti 
Alberti and her late husband Angelo made their fortune partly in the construction game and she has been giving back ever since.
She has endured cancer and open heart surgery and has won a weight battle which threatened her life, losing almost 60kg in two years, nearly half her weight.
She has faced unimaginable heartbreak. Losing Angelo to a motorbike accident and then their daughter Danielle, who died in her mother’s arm on a plane which was bringing her home from the US for a kidney transplant, about 15 years ago.
The 69-year-old was asked this week who is the first person she would want to embrace if the Bulldogs won on Saturday.
“It would be my daughter, but she’s not here,” Alberti said, fighting back tears.
“My big brother will be with me, he’s been on this journey with me, he’ll be the first person I embrace if we were to win.”
As we talk Alberti is approached by a stranger wanting to tell of their own excitement about the Bulldogs.
She has always had time for people.
About six years ago there was a Bulldogs fan who wouldn’t miss a training session, his toothless grin well known about Whitten Oval.
It’s those people who have never given up that deserve this Grand Final win, not me, but them. Our supporters.
Susan Alberti
Alberti found out the man needed extensive dental work, almost a set of new teeth, so she paid for it.
There’s endless stories of Alberti’s selfless, giving nature — estimates of her charity top $25 million.
Her philanthropy extends far and includes medical research, especially in the sphere of juvenile diabetes, from which Danielle suffered, as well as individual gestures.
She gave the Victorian Women’s Football League $25,000 when it was on its knees about 10 years ago and has been a champion of the sport and women ever since.
Next year’s launch of the AFL Women’s league is in part thanks to her lobbying and support.
“I’ve got a mantra: respect, responsibility and giving back, making a difference” Alberti said.
“That’s what I’ve been doing since I was six.”
She stood up to Sam Newman when he snidely questioned her football knowledge on the Footy Show, with Channel 9 paying her $220,000 in a defamation settlement. She was known to speak plainly to Andrew Demetriou when he ran the AFL.
“I’m just relentless when I believe in something,” she said.
“I’m not an aggressive person, I’m very gentle, but when I believe in something I will continue until the bitter end.”
Alberti will sit in the stands on Saturday with her family, including brother Richard and husband Colin.
“No special box, I’d rather put that money towards medical research than pay for a box,” she said.
“I’d rather sit outside with the supporters. I want to be there and be with those supporters, win, lose or draw.”
Alberti has a handshake agreement with club great and now football boss Chris Grant that they’ll both get tattoos if the Bulldogs win on Saturday.
It’ll be her first piece of ink, a small bulldog on her ankle.
Alberti shares a special bond with heavily inked AFLW player Mo Hope, so she’ll have guidance on where you go for such artwork.
It’ll be a permanent reminder of the life-affirming events of 2016.
“We’ve faced challenges in all of our history,” she said. “Here is a moment in time where we can say, we’ve done it. And why not? Why not?”
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