Fitzroy Football Club
Encyclopedia
The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football
club formed in 1883 to represent the inner
Melbourne
suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria
and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League
(now the Australian Football League) on its inception in 1897
. The club experienced some early success in the league and was the first club to win a VFL Grand Final. It also achieved a total of eight VFL premierships between 1898 and 1944.
The club ran into financial difficulties in the 1980s after decades of poor on-field performance and was forced to merge its playing operations with the Brisbane Bears
at the end of the 1996
season to form the Brisbane Lions
, the latter of which won three consecutive premierships between 2001 and 2003.
The Fitzroy Football Club Ltd came out of administration after the merger of its AFL playing operations in late 1998. For a brief time it experimented in partnerships with other semi professional and amateur clubs before incorporating the Fitzroy Reds (formerly University Reds
) to play in the Victorian Amateur Football Association
. Fitzroy largely resumed its original VFL-AFL identity through its continued use of their 1975–1996 VFL-AFL jumper, their theme song and their 1884–1966 home ground at the Brunswick Street Oval
. Fitzroy Football Club resumed as a playing club in the D1 section of the VAFA in 2009.
Hotel on 26 September 1883, at a time when Melbourne's population was rapidly increasing. The Victorian Football Association (VFA) made changes to their rules, allowing Fitzroy to be join as the seventh club in 1884, playing in the maroon and blue colours of the local Normanby Junior Football Club.
in Edinburgh Gardens
, and consistently in the top four and winning the VFA premiership in 1895. Their rover Jack Worrall
was twice named Champion of the Colony
.
After they had won their first V.F.A. premiership (in 1895) The Argus published the following table of the club's performances in premiership matches for the entire 12 years of its participation in the V.F.A. competition (note that the "for" and "against" are goals scored because, in the V.F.A. competition, "behinds" were not part of the official score):
(VFL).
Despite winning only four games and finishing sixth in the first season, the Maroons, as they were then known, won the premiership the following year, winning the VFL's first "Grand Final" against Essendon
. Fitzroy was the most successful club in the first 10 years of the VFL, winning four premierships and finishing runners-up on three occasions. Despite internal problems after the 1906 season which led to the players and set the club back for several seasons, the 1913 team won the flag after winning 16 of 18 matches in the home and away season, earning the nickname "Unbeatables". In contrast, the 1916 Fitzroy team only won 2 home and away matches and finished last in a competition reduced by the effects of World War I
to four teams. All four teams qualified for the finals, and Fitzroy won their next three games to win one of the strangest VFL premierships.
The Maroons won their seventh premiership in 1922, a year season which included four very rough games against eventual runners-up Collingwood
. However, after this their fortunes waned, and they did not make the finals at all from 1925 to 1942. During this time, highlights for the club were individual achievements of their players, especially Haydn Bunton, Sr.
Originally a source of controversy, lured to Fitzroy with an illegal £222 payment, and subsequently not allowed to play in the 1930 season, Bunton became one of the game's greatest players, winning three Brownlow Medal
s while at Fitzroy. Brownlow Medals were also won by Wilfred Smallhorn and Dinny Ryan, while Jack Moriarty
set many goalkicking records. It was during this time that the Maroons became known as the Gorillas.
Football was less affected by World War II
than it had been in 1916, and by 1944 was starting to return to its normal level. It was in this year, under captain-coach Fred Hughson
, that the Gorillas won their eighth VFL flag against Richmond
in front of a capacity crowd at Junction Oval
. However, it was also to be their last senior premiership, as the club, which became known as the Lions in 1957 entered one of the least successful periods any VFL club has had. The club finished in the bottom three 11 times in the 60s and 70s, including 3 wooden spoons
in 4 years and going completely winless in 1964, but still continued to produce great individual players, including Brownlow Medallists Allan Ruthven
and Kevin Murray.
In 1967, Fitzroy moved its home games from Brunswick Street to Princes Park and from then on suffered from a lack of a permanent home. In 1970, they moved to Junction Oval
and had a short lived promising start to the decade, followed by a night premiership win in 1978 and a then League record score of 36.22 (238) and greatest winning margin of 190 points in 1979. However, Fitzroy's most significant post-war success was in the early eighties, when the Lions made the finals four times, culminating in a preliminary final appearance in 1986. This success occurred under the coaching of Robert Walls
and David Parkin
, with players such as 1981 Brownlow Medallist Bernie Quinlan
, Garry Wilson
, Gary Pert
and Paul Roos
, but still without financial success or a permanent home. The Lions played at Victoria Park
in 1985 and 1986 and then moved back to Princes Park.
. Many Footscray supporters did not approve, and made donations which averted the merger. At other times, joining with Melbourne
or relocating to Brisbane
was suggested. As well as trying several fund-raising ventures, the Lions experimented with playing four home matches in Tasmania
in 1991 and 1992, but lost money in the process.
In 1994, the club moved its home matches to Western Oval
, its fourth home ground in 10 years. While the financial future of the club was uncertain, its on-field performances continued to deteriorate, to the point where the Lions finished last by a long way in 1996.
On 28 June 1996, the Nauru
Insurance Company, a creditor of the Fitzroy Football Club, appointed Michael Brennan to administer the affairs of the Fitzroy Football Club in order to ensure a loan of A$
1.25 million was to be repaid. The AFL
guaranteed funds to allow Fitzroy to continue in the competition for the remainder of 1996.
During this time the Fitzroy Football Club had been in merger discussions with the North Melbourne Football Club
to become the Fitzroy-North Melbourne Kangaroos Football Club, with negotiations for elements such as club colours, guernsey and song well underway. The AFL Commission met with the remainder of the AFL clubs to discuss the merger. Fearful that a merger between Fitzroy and the then-dominant North Melbourne Football Club would result in a superteam, the clubs opposed the proposal. Instead, they approved a last-minute approach from the Brisbane Bears
, who were not considered a particularly strong club on or off the field (although they would almost claim the 1996 minor premiership). In just a few years the newly formed Brisbane Lions
would rise to the top of the league and become the dominant superteam the other clubs had feared the Fitzroy-North Melbourne Kangaroos would become.
On 4 July 1996, the Fitzroy Football Club merged with the Brisbane Bears
, to be based in Brisbane
at The Gabba) – an arrangement ensuring all creditors were repaid. At least eight Fitzroy players were to be selected by the Brisbane Lions
before the 1996 National Draft and three Fitzroy representatives were to be on the new club's 11-member board.
48,884 people came to the Melbourne Cricket Ground
on the 25 August 1996 to say farewell to Fitzroy, as they played their last game in Melbourne
as part of the AFL competition. They witnessed the Lions being defeated by 151 points, the second greatest loss in the club's history: Richmond 28.19 (187) defeated Fitzroy 5.6 (36).
On 1 September 1996, the Fremantle Football Club hosted Fitzroy at Subiaco Oval
for Fitzroy's final VFL-AFL game. More than 22,000 people attended as Fitzroy played out the game with dignity, winning the last quarter by two points, but by that time the margin had blown out to 86 points: the final scores were Fremantle 24.13 (157) to Fitzroy 10.11 (71). At 4:45pm the siren sounded and the AFL playing days of the Fitzroy Football Club had finished. Fremantle stood by and ushered Fitzroy off the ground for the final time. Sara Macliver
from the West Australian Opera
sang Auld Lang Syne
as a final tribute to the Lions.
, a club playing in the VFL
. Coburg were known as the Coburg-Fitzroy Lions for one season in the VFL, however when Coburg entered into an alliance with Richmond the Fitzroy connection was abandoned.
Fitzroy FC now began a sponsorship arrangement with the Fitzroy Reds (formerly University Reds) in the Victorian Amateur Football Association
and the Fitzroy Junior Football Club in the Yarra Junior Football League. Both wear the old Fitzroy jumper, play the old theme song, and play from Brunswick Street Oval in the heart of Fitzroy.
Fitzroy FC Ltd has also improved its relationship with the Brisbane Lions in the ten years from 1999–2009. In that time Brisbane agreed to use the BB-FFC logo on the back of the new club's guernseys from 2002, the Fitzroy Reds played the curtain-raiser at the MCG when the Brisbane Lions met Collingwood in the AFL Heritage Round
of 2003 and Brisbane wore the old Fitzroy jumper every two years in the Heritage Round. Due to the popularity of the old Fitzroy jumper it is now worn for most Brisbane matches played in Victoria
, except a Lion replaces the FFC monogram. With the dominance of the Brisbane Lions from 2001–2004, this led to some degree of reconciliation between the old diehards and those who had accepted the incorporation of Fitzroy's AFL club operations into the Brisbane Lions.
However Fitzroy Football Club was about to return to the playing field. At a meeting held at Fairfield
on 8 December 2008, the Fitzroy Reds (formerly University Reds) agreed to be incorporated into the Fitzroy Football Club. All assets of the Fitzroy Reds were transferred to the Fitzroy Football Club Ltd. The "Fitzroy Football Club (incorporating the Fitzroy Reds)" entered the VAFA D1 section from the 2009 season, fielding a senior and reserves side, as well as two Under 19 sides and a Club 18 side. All the teams were made up mainly of Fitzroy Reds personnel. At the end of the 2009 season, Fitzroy lost the VAFA D1 Grand Final to Rupertswood, but as a Grand Finalist was promoted to C-Grade for the 2010 season.
On 22 October 2009, Fitzroy's AFL merger partner the Brisbane Lions announced that they were adopting a new logo for season 2010 and beyond, which Fitzroy Football Club believed contravened Section 7.2 c) of their merger agreement with the Lions. On the 22nd December 2009, the Fitzroy Football Club lodged a Statement of Claim with the Supreme Court of Victoria, seeking an order that the Brisbane Lions be restrained from using as its logo, the new logo or any other logo other than 'the Fitzroy lion logo'. On Thursday 15 July 2010 it was announced that the Fitzroy Football Club and the Brisbane Lions had reached a settlement, where the two Clubs agreed that the side-on Fitzroy style Lion symbolically represents the historic merger between the Bears and Fitzroy and the first 13 years of the Brisbane Lions competing in the AFL. Therefore it was agreed that the Brisbane Lions will prominently feature the side-on Fitzroy style Lion alongside its current branding on the following items:
In 2010 Fitzroy finished 8th in the Premier C Section of the VAFA with 7 wins and 11 losses. Patrick O'Connor won Fitzroy Football Club's Best and Fairest Award - the Greg Roughsedge Perpetual Trophy, while Ross Borland won for the second year in a row, the Marsden - Moriarty Super-boot Trophy, as the top goalkicker for Fitzroy's seniors. At the beginning of the 2011 season, Fitzroy appointed Tim Bell as their new senior coach following the resignation of Simon Taylor.
* The 1916 premiership came in a year when the club also won the wooden spoon. Only four teams contested the premiership that year, and at the end of the home and away rounds all teams made the finals. Fitzroy finished last at the end of the home-and-away season but finished strongly in the finals to complete a stunning form reversal.
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
club formed in 1883 to represent the inner
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria
Fitzroy, Victoria
Fitzroy is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra. Its borders are Alexandra Parade , Victoria Parade , Smith Street and Nicholson Street. Fitzroy is Melbourne's...
and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
(now the Australian Football League) on its inception in 1897
1897 in sports
-American football:College championship* College football national championship – Penn Quakers and Yale Bulldogs -Association football:England...
. The club experienced some early success in the league and was the first club to win a VFL Grand Final. It also achieved a total of eight VFL premierships between 1898 and 1944.
The club ran into financial difficulties in the 1980s after decades of poor on-field performance and was forced to merge its playing operations with the Brisbane Bears
Brisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...
at the end of the 1996
1996 in sports
1996 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Lasse Kjus, Norway** Women's overall season champion: Katja Seizinger, Germany-American football:...
season to form the Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
, the latter of which won three consecutive premierships between 2001 and 2003.
The Fitzroy Football Club Ltd came out of administration after the merger of its AFL playing operations in late 1998. For a brief time it experimented in partnerships with other semi professional and amateur clubs before incorporating the Fitzroy Reds (formerly University Reds
Melbourne University Football Club
Melbourne University Football Club, often known simply as University is an Australian rules football club.The club achieved prominence by being a member of the game's most elite competition in the early 20th century, the Victorian Football League between 1908 and 1914.Although there are no records...
) to play in the Victorian Amateur Football Association
Victorian Amateur Football Association
The Victorian Amateur Football Association is an Australian rules football league in Victoria, Australia consisting purely of amateur players. Unlike the Victorian Football League and the VFL/AFL, the VAFA has always been strictly a purely amateur league and has affiliations with both AFL Victoria...
. Fitzroy largely resumed its original VFL-AFL identity through its continued use of their 1975–1996 VFL-AFL jumper, their theme song and their 1884–1966 home ground at the Brunswick Street Oval
Brunswick Street Oval
The Brunswick Street Oval, currently known as WT Peterson Community Oval, also known as the Fitzroy Cricket Ground is a cricket and Australian rules football ground located in Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy North, Victoria...
. Fitzroy Football Club resumed as a playing club in the D1 section of the VAFA in 2009.
History
Early years
The Fitzroy Football Club formed at a meeting at the BrunswickBrunswick, Victoria
Brunswick is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Moreland...
Hotel on 26 September 1883, at a time when Melbourne's population was rapidly increasing. The Victorian Football Association (VFA) made changes to their rules, allowing Fitzroy to be join as the seventh club in 1884, playing in the maroon and blue colours of the local Normanby Junior Football Club.
VFA
They quickly became one of the most successful clubs, drawing large crowds to their home at the Brunswick Street OvalBrunswick Street Oval
The Brunswick Street Oval, currently known as WT Peterson Community Oval, also known as the Fitzroy Cricket Ground is a cricket and Australian rules football ground located in Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy North, Victoria...
in Edinburgh Gardens
Edinburgh Gardens, Melbourne
Edinburgh Gardens is a large park located in North Fitzroy. It is bounded by Brunswick Street and St Georges Road to the west, the curve of Alfred Crescent to the north and east, and Freeman Street to the south. It was created from a grant of land in March 1862 by Queen Victoria and laid out by...
, and consistently in the top four and winning the VFA premiership in 1895. Their rover Jack Worrall
Jack Worrall
John "Jack" Worrall was an Australian rules footballer for Fitzroy in the VFA and a test cricketer, a coach of both sports and a sporting journalist....
was twice named Champion of the Colony
Champion Of The Colony
The Champion of the Colony award refers to a list that was most likely compiled in the late 1940s by Australian football historian C.C. Mullen for the publications "Mullen's Footballers' Australian Almanac 1950", and 1951, plus a History of Australian rules football he wrote in about 1958...
.
After they had won their first V.F.A. premiership (in 1895) The Argus published the following table of the club's performances in premiership matches for the entire 12 years of its participation in the V.F.A. competition (note that the "for" and "against" are goals scored because, in the V.F.A. competition, "behinds" were not part of the official score):
| Season | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1884 | 16 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 27 | 29 |
| 1885 | 19 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 51 | 51 |
| 1886 | 20 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 66 | 44 |
| 1887 | 20 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 71 | 56 |
| 1888 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 64 | 71 |
| 1889 | 29 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 86 | 66 |
| 1890 | 18 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 44 | 51 |
| 1891 | 19 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 70 | 70 |
| 1892 | 21 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 141 | 63 |
| 1893 | 21 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 114 | 84 |
| 1894 | 18 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 75 | 60 |
| 1895 | 18 | 12 | 1 | 5 | 77 | 47 |
| Totals | 228 | 123 | 76 | 29 | 993 | 692 |
VFL
In 1897, Fitzroy were one of the eight clubs who broke away from the VFA to form the Victorian Football LeagueAustralian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
(VFL).
Despite winning only four games and finishing sixth in the first season, the Maroons, as they were then known, won the premiership the following year, winning the VFL's first "Grand Final" against Essendon
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
. Fitzroy was the most successful club in the first 10 years of the VFL, winning four premierships and finishing runners-up on three occasions. Despite internal problems after the 1906 season which led to the players and set the club back for several seasons, the 1913 team won the flag after winning 16 of 18 matches in the home and away season, earning the nickname "Unbeatables". In contrast, the 1916 Fitzroy team only won 2 home and away matches and finished last in a competition reduced by the effects of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
to four teams. All four teams qualified for the finals, and Fitzroy won their next three games to win one of the strangest VFL premierships.
Between the wars
Collingwood Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
. However, after this their fortunes waned, and they did not make the finals at all from 1925 to 1942. During this time, highlights for the club were individual achievements of their players, especially Haydn Bunton, Sr.
Haydn Bunton, Sr.
Haydn William Bunton was an Australian rules football player and coach. He is regarded by some historians and observers of Australian rules as its greatest-ever player.-Playing career:...
Originally a source of controversy, lured to Fitzroy with an illegal £222 payment, and subsequently not allowed to play in the 1930 season, Bunton became one of the game's greatest players, winning three Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
s while at Fitzroy. Brownlow Medals were also won by Wilfred Smallhorn and Dinny Ryan, while Jack Moriarty
Jack Moriarty
Jack Moriarty was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League .- Background :Moriarty, the son of dual Fitzroy premiership player Geoff, was a lightly built full forward who became a spectacular success after leaving Essendon Football Club at the end of 1923 and crossing to...
set many goalkicking records. It was during this time that the Maroons became known as the Gorillas.
Post-war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
than it had been in 1916, and by 1944 was starting to return to its normal level. It was in this year, under captain-coach Fred Hughson
Fred Hughson
Fred Hughson was an Australian rules footballer who played for, captained, and later coached Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League...
, that the Gorillas won their eighth VFL flag against Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
in front of a capacity crowd at Junction Oval
Junction Oval
The Junction Oval is an historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its location near the St Kilda Junction gave rise to its nickname...
. However, it was also to be their last senior premiership, as the club, which became known as the Lions in 1957 entered one of the least successful periods any VFL club has had. The club finished in the bottom three 11 times in the 60s and 70s, including 3 wooden spoons
Wooden spoon (award)
A wooden spoon is a mock or real award, usually given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition, but sometimes also to runners-up. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events...
in 4 years and going completely winless in 1964, but still continued to produce great individual players, including Brownlow Medallists Allan Ruthven
Allan Ruthven
Allan Ruthven was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League. He played his entire 222 game career with Fitzroy. In 1950, Ruthven won the prestigious Brownlow medal.- Playing career :...
and Kevin Murray.
Junction Oval
The Junction Oval is an historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its location near the St Kilda Junction gave rise to its nickname...
and had a short lived promising start to the decade, followed by a night premiership win in 1978 and a then League record score of 36.22 (238) and greatest winning margin of 190 points in 1979. However, Fitzroy's most significant post-war success was in the early eighties, when the Lions made the finals four times, culminating in a preliminary final appearance in 1986. This success occurred under the coaching of Robert Walls
Robert Walls
Robert Walls is a former Australian rules footballer and coach who now works primarily as a television commentator and newspaper columnist on the sport. On 22 June 2006 he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.- Carlton :...
and David Parkin
David Parkin
David Parkin is a former Australian rules footballer and four-time premiership coach.- Pre-football career :He attended Melbourne High School and during his time there, was the school vice-captain and captain of football....
, with players such as 1981 Brownlow Medallist Bernie Quinlan
Bernie Quinlan
Bernie Quinlan , was a former Australian rules footballer and coach, who enjoyed a lengthy career with Footscray and Fitzroy in the VFL. He played 366 league games in total.- Playing career :...
, Garry Wilson
Garry Wilson
Garry J. "Flea" Wilson is a former Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League.- Background :Wilson, during his playing days, was described by The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers as having "limitless courage" as a wispy rover, with a playing weight of only 64 kg. He played...
, Gary Pert
Gary Pert
Gary Pert is a former Australian rules footballer in the VFL/AFL and businessman. Gary is the son of Brian Pert.-Fitzroy career:Pert was recruited from Bulleen to Fitzroy and made his debut for the Fitzroy Football Club in 1982...
and Paul Roos
Paul Roos (Australian rules footballer)
Paul Roos is a former Australian rules football player and coach in the VFL and Australian Football League.Playing the majority of his career with Fitzroy, Roos was one of the teams greats, captaining the side for a long time and was acknowledged as its best player for several seasons, being named...
, but still without financial success or a permanent home. The Lions played at Victoria Park
Victoria Park, Melbourne
Victoria Park is a sports venue in Abbotsford a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. Built for the purpose of both Australian rules football and cricket, the stadium is oval shaped....
in 1985 and 1986 and then moved back to Princes Park.
Merger years
Talk of the death of the club due to financial troubles occurred as early as 1986, and in 1989 the directors agreed to amalgamation with FootscrayWestern Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
. Many Footscray supporters did not approve, and made donations which averted the merger. At other times, joining with Melbourne
Melbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
or relocating to Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
was suggested. As well as trying several fund-raising ventures, the Lions experimented with playing four home matches in Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
in 1991 and 1992, but lost money in the process.
In 1994, the club moved its home matches to Western Oval
Whitten Oval
Whitten Oval is a stadium in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia located at 417 Barkly Street, West Footscray. It is the training and administrative headquarters of the Western Bulldogs Football Club, which competes in the Australian Football League.Formerly known as the...
, its fourth home ground in 10 years. While the financial future of the club was uncertain, its on-field performances continued to deteriorate, to the point where the Lions finished last by a long way in 1996.
On 28 June 1996, the Nauru
Nauru
Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...
Insurance Company, a creditor of the Fitzroy Football Club, appointed Michael Brennan to administer the affairs of the Fitzroy Football Club in order to ensure a loan of A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
1.25 million was to be repaid. The AFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
guaranteed funds to allow Fitzroy to continue in the competition for the remainder of 1996.
During this time the Fitzroy Football Club had been in merger discussions with the North Melbourne Football Club
North Melbourne Football Club
The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...
to become the Fitzroy-North Melbourne Kangaroos Football Club, with negotiations for elements such as club colours, guernsey and song well underway. The AFL Commission met with the remainder of the AFL clubs to discuss the merger. Fearful that a merger between Fitzroy and the then-dominant North Melbourne Football Club would result in a superteam, the clubs opposed the proposal. Instead, they approved a last-minute approach from the Brisbane Bears
Brisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...
, who were not considered a particularly strong club on or off the field (although they would almost claim the 1996 minor premiership). In just a few years the newly formed Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
would rise to the top of the league and become the dominant superteam the other clubs had feared the Fitzroy-North Melbourne Kangaroos would become.
On 4 July 1996, the Fitzroy Football Club merged with the Brisbane Bears
Brisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...
, to be based in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
at The Gabba) – an arrangement ensuring all creditors were repaid. At least eight Fitzroy players were to be selected by the Brisbane Lions
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
before the 1996 National Draft and three Fitzroy representatives were to be on the new club's 11-member board.
48,884 people came to the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
on the 25 August 1996 to say farewell to Fitzroy, as they played their last game in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
as part of the AFL competition. They witnessed the Lions being defeated by 151 points, the second greatest loss in the club's history: Richmond 28.19 (187) defeated Fitzroy 5.6 (36).
On 1 September 1996, the Fremantle Football Club hosted Fitzroy at Subiaco Oval
Subiaco Oval
Subiaco Oval , known colloquially as Subi, is the highest capacity sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia...
for Fitzroy's final VFL-AFL game. More than 22,000 people attended as Fitzroy played out the game with dignity, winning the last quarter by two points, but by that time the margin had blown out to 86 points: the final scores were Fremantle 24.13 (157) to Fitzroy 10.11 (71). At 4:45pm the siren sounded and the AFL playing days of the Fitzroy Football Club had finished. Fremantle stood by and ushered Fitzroy off the ground for the final time. Sara Macliver
Sara Macliver
Sara Macliver is an Australian soprano singer, born and raised in Perth, Western Australia.Sara is one of Australia’s most popular and versatile artists, appearing in operas, concert and recital performances and on numerous recordings...
from the West Australian Opera
West Australian Opera
West Australian Opera is the principal opera company of Western Australia and is based at His Majesty's Theatre in Perth.The company formed in 1967 and works in close association with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. As of 2008, the Chairman is Erich Fraunschiel and Artistic Director is...
sang Auld Lang Syne
Auld Lang Syne
"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight...
as a final tribute to the Lions.
Post-merger
The original Fitzroy Football Club came out of administration after the merger of the playing operations in late 1998. The shareholders voted to continue the club, and Fitzroy then developed a partnership with CoburgCoburg Tigers
Coburg Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club based in Coburg, a northern suburb of Melbourne, and currently playing in the Victorian Football League. Coburg have an alignment in place with the AFL's Richmond Football Club which saw the Coburg club change its...
, a club playing in the VFL
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association , taking its new name as from the 1996 season, is the premier Australian rules football league in Victoria The Victorian Football League (VFL) which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association...
. Coburg were known as the Coburg-Fitzroy Lions for one season in the VFL, however when Coburg entered into an alliance with Richmond the Fitzroy connection was abandoned.
Fitzroy FC now began a sponsorship arrangement with the Fitzroy Reds (formerly University Reds) in the Victorian Amateur Football Association
Victorian Amateur Football Association
The Victorian Amateur Football Association is an Australian rules football league in Victoria, Australia consisting purely of amateur players. Unlike the Victorian Football League and the VFL/AFL, the VAFA has always been strictly a purely amateur league and has affiliations with both AFL Victoria...
and the Fitzroy Junior Football Club in the Yarra Junior Football League. Both wear the old Fitzroy jumper, play the old theme song, and play from Brunswick Street Oval in the heart of Fitzroy.
Fitzroy FC Ltd has also improved its relationship with the Brisbane Lions in the ten years from 1999–2009. In that time Brisbane agreed to use the BB-FFC logo on the back of the new club's guernseys from 2002, the Fitzroy Reds played the curtain-raiser at the MCG when the Brisbane Lions met Collingwood in the AFL Heritage Round
AFL Heritage Round
Heritage Round was a round of matches in the Australian Football League in which all the teams wore guernseys from their past. The first Heritage Round was in 2003 and had been continuing every year until 2008....
of 2003 and Brisbane wore the old Fitzroy jumper every two years in the Heritage Round. Due to the popularity of the old Fitzroy jumper it is now worn for most Brisbane matches played in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, except a Lion replaces the FFC monogram. With the dominance of the Brisbane Lions from 2001–2004, this led to some degree of reconciliation between the old diehards and those who had accepted the incorporation of Fitzroy's AFL club operations into the Brisbane Lions.
However Fitzroy Football Club was about to return to the playing field. At a meeting held at Fairfield
Fairfield, Victoria
Fairfield is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area are the Cities of Darebin and Yarra...
on 8 December 2008, the Fitzroy Reds (formerly University Reds) agreed to be incorporated into the Fitzroy Football Club. All assets of the Fitzroy Reds were transferred to the Fitzroy Football Club Ltd. The "Fitzroy Football Club (incorporating the Fitzroy Reds)" entered the VAFA D1 section from the 2009 season, fielding a senior and reserves side, as well as two Under 19 sides and a Club 18 side. All the teams were made up mainly of Fitzroy Reds personnel. At the end of the 2009 season, Fitzroy lost the VAFA D1 Grand Final to Rupertswood, but as a Grand Finalist was promoted to C-Grade for the 2010 season.
On 22 October 2009, Fitzroy's AFL merger partner the Brisbane Lions announced that they were adopting a new logo for season 2010 and beyond, which Fitzroy Football Club believed contravened Section 7.2 c) of their merger agreement with the Lions. On the 22nd December 2009, the Fitzroy Football Club lodged a Statement of Claim with the Supreme Court of Victoria, seeking an order that the Brisbane Lions be restrained from using as its logo, the new logo or any other logo other than 'the Fitzroy lion logo'. On Thursday 15 July 2010 it was announced that the Fitzroy Football Club and the Brisbane Lions had reached a settlement, where the two Clubs agreed that the side-on Fitzroy style Lion symbolically represents the historic merger between the Bears and Fitzroy and the first 13 years of the Brisbane Lions competing in the AFL. Therefore it was agreed that the Brisbane Lions will prominently feature the side-on Fitzroy style Lion alongside its current branding on the following items:
- Club stationery: letterhead, with compliments slips, business cards, fax headers, electronic correspondence, etc. for the next 14 years (until 2024).
- Club publications: Season Guide, Season Review and Lions Tale magazines, Club Annual Reports and electronic Lions Online newsletters for the next 14 years (until 2024).
- Membership and corporate sales marketing material for the next 14 years (until 2024).
- The masthead of the Brisbane Lions official website for the next 7 years (until 2017)
In 2010 Fitzroy finished 8th in the Premier C Section of the VAFA with 7 wins and 11 losses. Patrick O'Connor won Fitzroy Football Club's Best and Fairest Award - the Greg Roughsedge Perpetual Trophy, while Ross Borland won for the second year in a row, the Marsden - Moriarty Super-boot Trophy, as the top goalkicker for Fitzroy's seniors. At the beginning of the 2011 season, Fitzroy appointed Tim Bell as their new senior coach following the resignation of Simon Taylor.
Premierships
- VFA: 1895
- VFL-AFL: 1898, 1899, 1904, 1905, 1913, 1916, 1922, 1944
- Runners up – VFA-VFL 1893; VFL-AFL: 1900, 1903, 1906, 1917, 1923
* The 1916 premiership came in a year when the club also won the wooden spoon. Only four teams contested the premiership that year, and at the end of the home and away rounds all teams made the finals. Fitzroy finished last at the end of the home-and-away season but finished strongly in the finals to complete a stunning form reversal.
Brownlow Medal winners
- Haydn Bunton, Sr.Haydn Bunton, Sr.Haydn William Bunton was an Australian rules football player and coach. He is regarded by some historians and observers of Australian rules as its greatest-ever player.-Playing career:...
– 1931, 1932, 1935 - Wilfred Smallhorn – 1933
- Dinny Ryan – 1936
- Allan RuthvenAllan RuthvenAllan Ruthven was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League. He played his entire 222 game career with Fitzroy. In 1950, Ruthven won the prestigious Brownlow medal.- Playing career :...
– 1950 - Kevin Murray – 1969
- Bernie QuinlanBernie QuinlanBernie Quinlan , was a former Australian rules footballer and coach, who enjoyed a lengthy career with Footscray and Fitzroy in the VFL. He played 366 league games in total.- Playing career :...
– 1981 (co-winner with Barry RoundBarry RoundBarry Round played for Footscray and South Melbourne/Sydney in the Victorian Football League between 1969 and 1985. Along the way, he played 328 games , won a Brownlow Medal in 1981 and was the Swans' first captain during the Sydney era...
)
Coleman Medal for leading goal kicker
- Jimmy FreakeJimmy FreakeJames Henry "Jimmy" Freake was an Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League...
– 1915 - Jack MoriartyJack MoriartyJack Moriarty was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League .- Background :Moriarty, the son of dual Fitzroy premiership player Geoff, was a lightly built full forward who became a spectacular success after leaving Essendon Football Club at the end of 1923 and crossing to...
– 1924 - Bernie QuinlanBernie QuinlanBernie Quinlan , was a former Australian rules footballer and coach, who enjoyed a lengthy career with Footscray and Fitzroy in the VFL. He played 366 league games in total.- Playing career :...
– 1983, 1984
VFL/AFL
- 1897–1966 Brunswick Street OvalBrunswick Street OvalThe Brunswick Street Oval, currently known as WT Peterson Community Oval, also known as the Fitzroy Cricket Ground is a cricket and Australian rules football ground located in Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy North, Victoria...
- 1967–1969, 1987–1993 Princes ParkPrinces Park, CarltonPrinces Park is a 38.6 hectare park in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Carlton North, Victoria. It is located directly north of the University of Melbourne and bounded on its eastern and western sides by Melbourne General Cemetery and Royal Parade respectively...
- 1970–1984 Junction OvalJunction OvalThe Junction Oval is an historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its location near the St Kilda Junction gave rise to its nickname...
- 1985–1986 Victoria ParkVictoria Park, MelbourneVictoria Park is a sports venue in Abbotsford a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. Built for the purpose of both Australian rules football and cricket, the stadium is oval shaped....
- 1994–1996 Whitten OvalWhitten OvalWhitten Oval is a stadium in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia located at 417 Barkly Street, West Footscray. It is the training and administrative headquarters of the Western Bulldogs Football Club, which competes in the Australian Football League.Formerly known as the...
Former nicknames
- The MaroonsMaroon (color)Maroon is a dark red color.-Etymology:Maroon is derived from French marron .The first recorded use of maroon as a color name in English was in 1789.-Maroon :...
1883–1938 - The GorillaGorillaGorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
s 1938–1957 - The LionLionThe lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s 1957–1996
VFL-AFL Club records
| Win-loss record: | Played: 1928 | | Won: 869, Lost: 1034, Drawn: 25 |
| Highest score: | 238 points (36.22) | | v Melbourne FC, Round 17 28 July 1979 |
| Lowest score: | 6 points (1 goal) | | v Footscray FC, Round 5 23 May 1953 |
| Greatest winning margin: | 190 points | | v Melbourne FC, Round 17 28 July 1979 |
| Biggest loss: | 157 points | | v Hawthorn FC, Round 6 28 April 1991 |
| Longest winning streak: | 14 games | | Round 10 16 July 1898 to Round 4 27 May 1899 |
| Longest losing streak: | 27 games | | Round 11 20 July 1963 to Round 1 17 April 1965 |
| Most games played: | 333 | | Kevin Murray 1955–1964 & 1967–1974 |
| Most Best & Fairests: | 9 | | Kevin Murray 1956, 1958, 1960–64, 1968–69 |
Team of the Century
See also
- Brisbane LionsBrisbane LionsThe Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
- Fitzroy FC honour rollFitzroy FC honour rollThis is a list of coaches and captains of the Fitzroy Football Club, along with best-and-fairest award winners and leading goalkickers, for every year of the club's participation in the Victorian Football Association and the Victorian/Australian Football League....
– for coaches, captains, leading goalkickers and team position. - List of Fitzroy Football Club coaches – for a list of coaches and their career records.
- List of Fitzroy Football Club players
- Proposed VFL/AFL clubsProposed VFL/AFL clubsProposed VFL/AFL clubs are clubs that at various points in the history of the Australian Football League have been or were distinct possibilities but either did not or have not yet eventuated...
for the Fitzroy-North Melbourne Kangaroos Football Club
External links
- "In Defeat We'll Always Try" – Radio National documentary on the death of the Fitzroy Lions
- Fitzroy history
- "Around the Grounds" – Web Documentary – Brunswick Street
| Fitzroy Football Club VFL Premiership Teams |
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