Why did Fitzroy go down the toilet?

[Dry Rot]

Well before my AFL supporting time. But I spotted this on another thread


I always thought Fitzroy was our biggest enemy from the past. I think the Essendon games shape up to be a good battle, and we always seem to take our best game along to meet Collingwood. Friends, I would think the other battlers, Melbourne and North.

I've read a bit of the Roy's history, and they were a proud and successful club.

Why did they go under?

[The Coon Dog]

Well before my AFL supporting time. But I spotted this on another thread



I've read a bit of the Roy's history, and they were a proud and successful club.

Why did they go under?

Certainly a lack of members had alot to do with it. I seem to recall that they played 'home games' at Princes Park & got royally screwed by Carlton.

[Dry Rot]

OK, but we and north have had low numbers of members too.

Why did the Roys go down and we and North didn't?

[The Coon Dog]

OK, but we and north have had low numbers of members too.

Why did the Roys go down and we and North didn't?

We were fortunate in that we were the first to be given a death sentence. Victorian footy fans were just not quite ready for that & consequently we had that magnificent fightback in 1989 (I'd give 10 years of my life to relive those weeks again, made lifelong friends & never felt the sense of commradarie since).

North are an enigma as they were all set to merge with Fitzroy until the AFL thwarted it. They just keep on hanging in there. Not sure how their membership works re: voting etc... & not too sure if that has anything to do with why they have endured.

[FrediKanoute]

Fitzroy's death had a lot to do with the fact that the reduction in thenumber of Victorian teams was an agenda by the AFL at the time. There was no competitive balance fund; there was no HUGE TV Rights deals; there was a desire to eliminate the Bye (which existed at the time as a consequence of the Crows entry into the AFL); there was an agenda to promote footy in Sydney and Brissy ahead of melbourne - hence one team had to go.

When push came to shove Fitzroy supporters were thin on the ground. Economically they were broke, and their only real option was to move to Brissy and merge (the Bears were a diabolical state as well, but had been propped up by the AFL) or cease to exist (essentially be wound up and the intellectual property that was the Fitzroy Football Club would be lost forever). It was a reality of the timing too. the Melbourne public were tired of saving a struggling AFL club each year. They saved the Doggies in 89/09; the Tigers; the Dees; the Saints....in a recession ravished country as Australia was in the early 90's it was a lot to ask!

[The Coon Dog]

Found this on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitzroy_Football_Club

The 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 Footscray. 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 Friday, June 28, 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 AU$1.25million 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 lowly Brisbane Bears (ironically, just a few years later the newly formed Brisbane Lions would become the dominant superteam the other clubs had, in their short-sighted self-interest, feared the Fitzroy-North Melbourne Kangaroos would become).

On July 4, 1996, the Fitzroy Football Club merged with the Brisbane Bears, to be based in Brisbane at the Brisbane Cricket Ground (often referred to as 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.

On September 1, 1996, Fitzroy played their final AFL game against Fremantle at Subiaco Oval in Perth. they lost by 86 points, Although they "won" the last quarter by 2 points

[Dry Rot]

Pretty sad story for the Roys and sounds like we just dodged a bullet.

How did the Vic sporting public in general take this?

[The Coon Dog]

Pretty sad story for the Roys and sounds like we just dodged a bullet.

How did the Vic sporting public in general take this?

With us, they were magnificent. I am not sure if you have read a book by Alan Dalton & Kerrie Gordon called 'Too Tough To Die'. It is all about the fightback.

I saw a copy for sale recently on Ebay, perhaps Melbourne Sports Books, or even your local library. Bloody terrific read.

From 'Footscray, Not Western Bulldogs' (http://www.fnwb.com.au/booksvideos.html)

Too Tough To Die- Footscray’s Fightback 1989

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/1503/tootoughtodieng7.jpg

The story of our 1989 revival from the infamous organised merger/ takeover with Fitzroy. Written by Alan Dalton and Kerrie Gordon it provides details of the campaign that stopped the emergence of a new team the Fitzroy Bulldogs. Sadly as I mentioned earlier, eight years later we were playing our home games at Carlton, with Fitzroy being replaced with Western.

Many black and white photographs are woven into the 159 pages. Between pages 89 and 116 are some of the letters that were mailed to the club describing their opinions of the issue. On page 146 it is mentioned how Kerrie and Alan came across the same statistic documented in the Centenary History book as described above about Footscray having in 1933 the highest membership in the league at that time.

The last paragraph of ‘Too Tough To Die' on page 148 is this-

I well remember Terry Wheeler's words at the Western Oval Rally. ”I believe there's nothing on this earth that we own. All we do is look after it for our children”. It is up to all of us to make sure that the Footscray Football Club is still playing on the Western Oval, proudly representing the western suburbs for many years to come.
Peter Gordon
Footscray Football Club President, 1990


With Fitzroy, it was sad, but people just accepted it in the main. They'd been to the well too often.

[The Coon Dog]

Here is an interesting website. Maroon & Blue.

http://www.maroonandblue.com.au/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

[aker39]

Fitzroy were screwed by the AFL. They were determined to get rid of a Melbourne team. The AFL did not support them at all.

One positive to come out of it, was my cousins who were all fanatical Fitzroy supporters, have become Bulldog supporters. There was no way they were going to support Brisbane, so we convinced them to get on board the bulldogs. They now go to all the dogs games and are fully fledged bulldog members.

[The Underdog]

I'm going to come out of the closet here.
I was a Fitzroy supporter.
I went to one Brisbane pre-season game in 97 and it felt wrong. I'm still angry about the "merger".

I've supported the Dogs since 99.
I've been a Dogs member since 2000.

Fitzroy went down the tubes because the AFL was happy to let it.
It was before the TV rights deal injected the cash into the competition which helped the AFL assist clubs.
They also wanted a 2nd Adelaide team and Port came in the next year.
A combination of low member numbers, a lack of corporate support, fighting against years of debt some caused by bad management, no permanent base and yes getting screwed by Collingwood and then Carlton at Vic Park and Princes Park.
If you're interested Dyson Hore Lacy wrote an excellent book about it, the name of which escapes me.

On a personal note, it hurt like hell. I always remember Anthony Morgan saying it was like losing a family member...but worse.
That's why the 97 prelim doesn't burn for me quite like it does for others, although I sat by the radio that day and cursed like a Dogs supporter and the seeds of my new support germinated then. I was overseas in 98 and that was probably the first year in my life that I wasn't football obsessed. Although another love affair with the Chicago Cubs started then that will also probably lead to a long lingering disappointment.
In 99 I was ready to love again and there was only one team that I could contemplate. I'd always had a soft spot for the Dogs and my dad and I both decided to jump on board.
Is it the same? Well it's like replacing your one true love. In reality the feelings may never be quite as deep but I still live and die by them like they'd always been mine.
So forgive me if I stay out of the conversations about Hawkins, Templeton, Beasley etc. I only saw them from afar, while my childhood heroes were Roos, Osborne, Rendell and Quinlan (at least a couple of crossovers there).
Oh yeah and I'll always hate Ross Oakley.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Fitzroy went down the tubes because the AFL was happy to let it.


They actively promoted it.




Oh yeah and I'll always hate Ross Oakley.

No arguements on that count.

[Twodogs]

The AFL also wanted the licence to sell of to Port Adelaide as well.



Basically one club had to go to admit Port and Fitzroy couldnt find a chair to sit in when the music stopped. The AFL hijacked them, made them pay a minimum amount on the salary cap which they coulnt afford, stopped them from finding benefactors, and wouldnt guarantee loans that would have saved them.



There's a book called AFL something(I cant remember what or who wrote it but someone here will) that has a great chapter on the AFLs shenanigans in regard to this.

[Dry Rot]

Given the situation at the time (no mega bucks from TV rights, need for new interstate teams, parlous finances and few members etc) was the demise of Fitzroy inevitable?

Could it have been avoided and would we now have had a 17 team comp?

You'd have to say that having two SA and WA teams has been a great success, ditto strong Brisbane and Sydney teams, re having a strong national comp, inflating the value of TV dollars and allowing clubs like ours and North to survive.