Article Fitzroy's Long Slow Death (AFL.com.au)

[RedmanWasHere]

Yep.

As many know, Fitzroy attempted to play home games in Tasmania, had a deal done in 1995 to play at least four and possibly up to seven home games in Canberra, only to be refused by the AFL, attempted to enter a merger with Footscray in 1989 to form the Fitzroy Bulldogs, with Melbourne in 1994 to form the Melbourne Lions and with North Melbourne in 1996 to form the North Fitzroy Kangaroos. Details of what was done to force Fitzroy out of the AFL are below.



The following is a list of some of the measures that the AFL took against Fitzroy in the years leading up to 1996.

• Fitzroy were forced to move from the Junction Oval in 1984 as part of VFL's ground rationalisation policy, beginning the process of the Club depending on other clubs such as Carlton and Collingwood (their traditional rivals) to generate significant revenue from a home ground. Not surprisingly Fitzroy recorded losses every year from 1985 to 1992 largely because of a lack of ground revenue. Interestingly in 1981, Fitzroy had the fourth largest membership of any of the twelve VFL clubs.
  
• the VFL refused to allow Hecron in 1987 to take part ownership of Fitzroy as part of a sponsorship deal, wanting them to pay a full fee for an AFL licence, that had seen Fitzroy reject a relocation to Brisbane in 1986.
• the AFL refused permission for the club to play four home games per year in Canberra from 1995 onwards. The club even offered to play up to seven-eight home games a year in a partial relocation. Upon their application to play four games in Canberra the Club was told that Fitzroy's application to play 4 home games in Canberra (which would have netted the club at least $350,000 annually guaranteed) would not be a "credible exercise in the Canberra market" and would not be enough games to be worthwhile. Ross Oakley later publicly said that Fitzroy was their "worst product" (great for attracting sponsorship) and that the AFL wasn't going to send their "worst product" up to Canberra. Fitzroy then offered to play 7 home games in Canberra, which would have netted Fitzroy at least an extra $700,000 a year on top of what had already been negotiated. This was refused as well. In fact when adding in corporate sponsorship, and ground rights at Bruce Stadium (which would have been upgraded), Fitzroy's projections were they could have made $1 million extra per season. Fitzroy's application had the support of 'AFL for Canberra' organisation, the Canberra Raiders, the Ainslee Football Club and the ACT chief minister who had offered for the ACT government to upgrade Bruce Stadium, if Fitzroy relocated home games there.. However the AFL point blank refused to entertain the idea. An AFL commissioner later admitted that the reason why the AFL knocked it back was because they wanted Port Adelaide in the competition and therefore wanted to keep the pressure on Fitzroy to merge, so there could be a maximum of 16 teams.
• the AFL refused to help financially assist Fitzroy's Tasmanian experiment in 1991-1992. Fitzroy had to pay the whole cost themselves, including accommodation. Fitzroy had to even billet their players in supporters' homes. Since that time, AFL support for Hawthorn, St Kilda and North Melbourne home games in Tasmania has been significant.
• in order to pressure Fitzroy to merge or liquidate, the AFL refused to guarantee Fitzroy's 1992-1993 dividend (which they were going to receive anyway) which Fitzroy wanted re-directed to Westpac, despite AFL club directors agreeing to do so. Westpac wouldn't accept the re-direction unless the AFL guaranteed that Fitzroy would receive at least $1.1 million (which they were). It took the threat of legal action and the support of other clubs for the AFL to finally relent.
• In 1993 the AFL threatened to sue Fitzroy for $250,000 that had been paid to Fitzroy by CUB as part of a club sponsorship, which included selling CUB's product in the Fitzroy Club Hotel. CUB was the AFL's sponsor and the AFL thought they should have received the money instead of Fitzroy. This was despite the fact that CUB had been a minor sponsor of Fitzroy for over ten years previously. The AFL even threatened to reduce the dividend that was due to other clubs by the amount Fitzroy received. This lack of support from the AFL was the major reason the Lions had to consider a better financial deal at the Western Oval, in order to try and raise more revenue which in turn alienated some supporters and players. That new deal included Footscray loaning Fitzroy the $250,000 demanded by the AFL, which was then paid to the AFL. Alistair Lynch later said that Fitzroy's forced move to the Western Oval was the major reason why he decided to leave Fitzroy and sign with the Bears. Broderick, Gale, Elliott and Dundas followed Lynch shortly after with Broderick also citing the move to the Western Oval as a factor in his decision to leave. Robert Shaw the Fitzroy coach lamented at the time that he'd just lost his next three club captains.
• the AFL objected to a Fitzroy sponsorship deal with Schweppes because the AFL were sponsored by Coca Cola. Fitzroy managed to raise $110,000 from this sponsorship.
• it was later discovered that it was the AFL that had been advising player manager Damian Smith on the best way for the Bears to acquire Alistair Lynch from Fitzroy.
• From 1993 the AFL issued a number of solvency notices to Fitzroy where the club had to satisfy AFL criteria that they could meet their financial debts for the next 12 months or their AFL licence would be withdrawn. Fitzroy was the only club to receive a solvency notice, despite several others being in considerable financial difficulty.
  
• the AFL refused to allow millionaire Bernie Ahern to lend any more money to Fitzroy, after he saved them from merging / folding in 1991. He lent money to Fitzroy for a second time later on, because in his words, he felt Fitzroy had been treated unfairly.
• From 1994 onwards the AFL presented several proposals to the Fitzroy directors to surrender Fitzroy's licence to the AFL and thereby liquidate Fitzroy Football Club Ltd., if it could not effect a merger, in return for "assistance packages" to keep the club going. That way Fitzroy's creditors (including Nauru) wouldn't get paid. One of these AFL proposals included a merger with the Port Adelaide Football Club to form the (I kid you not) "Port Adelaide Power Lions." derisively nicknamed by many as the "Power Lines"
  
• the AFL regularly leaked sensitive information provided by Fitzroy about their finances to the media, in order for journalists like Mike Sheahan to write negative stories about Fitzroy, which in turn scared off potential sponsors.
• the AFL regularly informed potential sponsors who would make inquiries about the possibility of sponsoring Fitzroy that not to bother because Fitzroy would not be in the competition for much longer (That's from a Fitzroy director at the time)
• Fitzroy's auditors KPMG were even raided by the Australian Securities Commission, under a warrant to investigate Fitzroy for 'suspect trading while insolvent' for 1993 and 1996. The ASC claimed they were acting on information passed to them. Naturally Fitzroy believe it was probably the AFL, who were the only external organisation who had full access to Fitzroy's finances. Nothing ever came of the raid.
• ....and even at the end, the AFL gave Fitzroy and North Melbourne until July 5th 1996 to complete their merger (which was done at 2 pm on July 4th), only to give the go-ahead to a Brisbane - Fitzroy merger (about 7 pm) on July 4th, after a Richmond led protest over the merger conditions (originally agreed to by the AFL and the clubs and communicated as such to both North Melbourne and Fitzroy).
• The reason that Nauru appointed an administrator to recover their $1.25 million loan was because the AFL was telling North that if they held out against Nauru, they wouldn't have to pay them at all and would receive the entire merger amount themselves. Then the AFL threatened to not guarantee the merger money. Faced with the prospect of getting none of their loan, back this forced Nauru to step in and recover the money themselves by appointing an administrator. This was despite the fact that the Fitzroy directors had already done a deal to settle with Nauru out of the merger money. However on the AFL's advice and urging, North Melbourne refused to authorise Fitzroy to pay any more than $550,000, instead of the $1 million asked. The debt to Nauru did not have to be paid back in full until October 2001, given it was a seven year deal. In other words the AFL actively intervened to ensure an administrator would be appointed to Fitzroy, so that they could manipulate the administrator into doing a deal to benefit the Brisbane Bears.

****ING campaigners!

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Again, I ask, what did Fitzroy ever do wrong?

It's not like they had any players who were shit stains on the league and the club.

 

[JeffDunne]

There's a lot of rewriting of history in this thread and I'm not just talking about the article in the OP.

Fitzroy didn't suffer any worse than what half the teams in the comp suffered at the time. They survived and Fitzroy didn't for one fundamental reason - the strength of their fan base. Fitzroy also made lots of stupid decisions. Why would/should the league have financed or supported those?

 

[Roylion]

I did mean it would've meant a return there years earlier than what eventually occurred, though it is great for the old supporters that it happened in some capacity.

My feeling is the AFL didn't want that to happen, because they wanted to retain as many of the Fitzroy supporters as possible into following the AFL. Many Fitzroy supporters would have followed the Club to the VFA and kept supporting them there and have had nothing to do with the AFL. I know I would have.

In 1999-2000 Coburg had an alignment with Fitzroy in the VFA-VFL to form the Coburg-Fitzroy Lions, wearing the old Fitzroy pre-season guernsey as their away uniform. A few of us were getting down to the games and my feeling is that Fitzroy support was growing. However Richmond sought an alignment with Coburg and didn't want anything to do with Fitzroy and so Coburg re-named themselves the Coburg Tigers.

It'd be interesting to get a % breakdown of what Fitzroy supporters did after 1996 too. How many gave up footy? How many got on board with the Lions? How many simply went to follow other AFL teams altogether?

Adam Muyt, author of a Fitzroy book called "Maroon and Blue" - published in 2006 - conducted hundreds of interviews with Fitzroy officials players, members and supporters for the book after the merger. He made the following conclusions:

- at least 40 percent of Fitzroy supporters have been lost to AFL football.
- between 5-10 percent of Fitzroy supporters now follow another code or lower levels of Australian Rules football as their primary football experience.
- no more than 5 percent of Fitzroy supporters now follow another AFL side, including a few hundred that went across to North Melbourne.
- over 40 percent of Fitzroy people support the Brisbane Lions, but may not be necessarily paid up members.

A 1998 survey conducted by the Fitzroy Football Club of their supporters and members showed only 27% of Fitzroy people following the Brisbane Lions. Fitzroy Football Club company secretary, Bill Atherton, said at the time, ‘…there’s a solid 70% block who still didn’t go across’.

I wonder how these numbers would've been affected had they gone straight into the VFA/VFL after 1996. It's not really a question of what is right or wrong, but what felt right to supporters at that time.

My guess is a few more. I would have also thought that North Melbourne would have tried to get an 'alignment' with Fitzroy in the VFA/VFL. Merger by stealth effectively.

In hindsight, I shouldn't have said it'd be 'great' for them to go back to the VFA/VFL, given they maintained some form of representation in the AFL through Brisbane and that there are many supporters who got on board with the merger who would be glad they did. I guess I was trying to say it'd have been nice for the club to have kept its identity through the whole ordeal without all the bloodshed and shithouse tactics by the league.

The Club may not be in the big league anymore but we are as we started. At the Brunswick Street Oval, playing in the Fitzroy jumper and representing the suburb of Fitzroy as the club was created to do in 1883.

 

[Roylion]

There's a lot of rewriting of history in this thread and I'm not just talking about the article in the OP.

Do tell.

Fitzroy also made lots of stupid decisions.

Like what? And do try and move beyond moving from the Brunswick Street Oval in 1966. That was forced upon them.

 

[Roysforever]

Damien Barrett also wrote this back page story about Fitzroy returning to the playing field.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/fitzroy-lions-to-roar-again/story-e6frf9jf-1111118260152

Does Damien have regular contact with any Fitzroy committee members? He seems like a worthy public figure to have in our corner.

 

[pazza]

In all honesty, it is beholden on all of us to ensure the AFL doesn't even attempt to sucha thing ever again AND be prepared to help the Royboys back into the fold at the highest level.

What is the current membership figure for the club Roylion as I am not across the detail?

 

[Exe Gesis]

Relocate fitzroy to the gold coast to replace the suns franchise imo

 

[Doss]

Fitzroy would be in no position financially to do such a thing at present even if that was desirable.

 

[pazza]

It may not happen in my lifetime, but, I think we should at least try.

I think the emotional will is there.

 

[JeffDunne]

Like what?

Well the Whitten Oval for one. Don't tell me . . . that was forced on you too?

They also allowed themselves to be used for ambush marketing tactics in large part to piss off the league. It made a great narrative for Fitzroy, we have these sponsors but the big bad AFL won't let us have them. The late 80's & early 90's were a completely different time in terms of marketing/sponsorship so it's easy to forget the reasoning behind the AFL's decisions now. I'm sure most do.

People also forget that every club was struggling for survival. The big clubs feared the pie wasn't getting bigger but costs were rising exponentially. Hence why they were attracted to a breakaway league. The smaller clubs were all hanging on by the fingernails. The AFL were between a rock and a hard place trying to hold the competition together & frankly it's amazing we only lost two clubs from Melbourne.

 

[JeffDunne]

Relocate fitzroy to the gold coast to replace the suns franchise imo

I'm sure I saw a Fitzroy team running around the MCG on Saturday.

Maybe I was seeing things.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Fitzroy would be in no position financially to do such a thing at present even if that was desirable.

Is it illegal for a club to be privately owned and bankrolled by a rich businessman? Because that could be a way. No?

 

[Exe Gesis]

I'm sure I saw a Fitzroy team running around the MCG on Saturday.

Maybe I was seeing things.

No you saw a fraudster Brisbane Bears leaching off the imagery of Fitzroy. Its no surprise how the Brisbane team when playing in Melbourne often wears the fitzroy uniform. Sad pathetic attempt at trying to hoodwink melbournians into buying into that franchise.

 

[JeffDunne]

No you saw a fraudster Brisbane Bears leaching off the imagery of Fitzroy. Its no surprise how the Brisbane team when playing in Melbourne often wears the fitzroy uniform. Sad pathetic attempt at trying to hoodwink melbournians into buying into that franchise.

Brisbane would prefer not to do it.

The AFL would prefer not to do it.

So why do they do it? Ask Roylion.

 

[Borussia Teeth]

The Club may not be in the big league anymore but we are as we started. At the Brunswick Street Oval, playing in the Fitzroy jumper and representing the suburb of Fitzroy as the club was created to do in 1883.

Roylion, do you think Fitzroy will ultimately end up in the VFL?
Or are they content to play in the VAFA and gain promotion there?
I would think the former, and maybe as a stand alone club or alignment with north Melbourne as suggested elsewhere.

 

[Kram]

They survived and Fitzroy didn't for one fundamental reason - the strength of their fan base.

As rubbish as the treatment they received from the AFL was this imo is what it really boiled down to unfortunately. With so few of the football following public supporting Fitzroy it just opened the door for the league to steamroll them without much of a whimper at the end.

 

[Roylion]

Well the Whitten Oval for one. Don't tell me . . . that was forced on you too?

Yes it was. Why?

The AFL's ground sharing policy forced Fitzroy to move from the Junction Oval, where all generated revenue went solely to Fitzroy, to share grounds with other clubs. Victoria Park and Princes Park were the choices. Fitzroy applied to move to Waverley Park, but were knocked back by the league in favor of Hawthorn and St Kilda, who were seen as south-eastern suburban clubs. The MCG was occupied by Richmond, North Melbourne, Melbourne and Essendon and a fifth club was not seen as desirable. That left the Western Oval, Princes Park, Victoria Park and Kardinia Park in Geelong. Kardinia Park wasn't an option for obvious reasons.

Victoria Park and Princes Park were quite unsuitable for Fitzroy. They were owned by Fitzroy's near rivals and in the ground sharing deals, Fitzroy was very much the minor partner. For example Fitzroy’s existing six year lease of Princes Park from 1987-1992 was completely unsatisfactory and contributed largely to Fitzroy's poor financial situation. Over the head of Fitzroy, the AFL had guaranteed Carlton 22 matches at Princes Park from 1993-2000 irrespective of whether Fitzroy played there or not. Therefore at the end of 1992, when their lease ran out, Fitzroy had no bargaining power to negotiate a better ground deal with Carlton. When Carlton presented Fitzroy with a poorer deal than the 1987-1992 lease in 1993, Fitzroy had to either accept a deal in which they would make absolutely no ground revenue or consider a move either back to Victoria Park (last match played there was in 1999) or the only other remaining option - the Western Oval. The negotiations dragged on so long that in 1993, Fitzroy played at Princes Park without a lease and received a bill for $6,000 from Carlton as their 1993 revenue from the home ground. Yet Fitzroy still made a profit that year due to other new sources of revenue they had developed, such as the successful establishment of the "Fitzroy Club Hotel" in Northcote, just north of the Brunswick Street Oval. There were also plans to move back to the Brunswick Street Oval and use it as the club's training base.

Fitzroy continued to make a profit in 1994 and 1995 thanks to a new, far better deal at the Western Oval. See below for details.

Princes Park lease: Fitzroy gained a small amount of income from perimeter fence advertising, nothing at all from other ground advertising, none from catering and a small amount from reserve seating. No wonder Fitzroy made losses every year – they were gaining very little income from their home ground and hadn’t done so – since they were forced to leave the Junction Oval in 1984.

Western Oval lease: For their home games, Fitzroy received all revenue from nearly all advertising space at the ground as well as all reserve set revenue, all car-parking revenue, as well as having free access to all corporate facilities and all outer ground catering rights. Just by moving to the Western Oval, Fitzroy made an extra $400,000 per year.

They also allowed themselves to be used for ambush marketing tactics in large part to piss off the league. It made a great narrative for Fitzroy, we have these sponsors but the big bad AFL won't let us have them.

They did have the sponsors. So it was the AFL's lack of support. On the one hand the AFL is saying that clubs needed to generate their own funds and revenue streams, but at the same time restricting their ability to do so. Where was the support from the AFL to generate other viable revenue streams? Same with the proposal to play home games in Canberra.

People also forget that every club was struggling for survival. The big clubs feared the pie wasn't getting bigger but costs were rising exponentially. Hence why they were attracted to a breakaway league. The smaller clubs were all hanging on by the fingernails. The AFL were between a rock and a hard place trying to hold the competition together & frankly it's amazing we only lost two clubs from Melbourne.

My point stands. The AFL did very little to support Fitzroy and indeed it was their official policy in the early 1990's to remove one of the smaller Melbourne clubs. In 1996, it seems the AFL had $12 million to effect mergers, but no money to help Fitzroy remain in the competition, in the manner that North Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs, Melbourne and Carlton have had significance assistance from the AFL to survive. Most of those have had multi-million dollars amounts given to them, through the AFL's then named "Competitive Balance Fund".

A selection of AFL grants to various clubs from the CBF reads as follows
2002: Western Bulldogs - $1 million
2003: Western Bulldogs - $1 million, North Melbourne - $1 million
2004: Western Bulldogs - $1.5 million, North Melbourne - $1 million
2005: Melbourne $1.5 million + $1.5 million retrospectively, Western Bulldogs $1.5 million, North Melbourne $1 million.
2006: Carlton - $2.1 million
2007: Western Bulldogs $1.7 million, North Melbourne $1.4 million, Melbourne $1 million, Sydney Swans $0.7 million, Richmond $0.4 million, Hawthorn $0.25 million, Port Adelaide $0.25 million
2008: Melbourne - $250,000, Western Bulldogs $1.7 million, North Melbourne $1.4 million
2009: Melbourne - $1 million, Port Adelaide - $1 million

Totals 2002-2009
Western Bulldogs - $8.4 million
North Melbourne - $5.8 million
Melbourne - $5.25 million
Carlton - $2.1 million

So what else do you have?

 

[Roylion]

I'm sure I saw a Fitzroy team running around the MCG on Saturday.

You were at the wrong venue in that case.

Fitzroy won 13.11.89 to 10.5.65 on Saturday.

 

[Roylion]

Sad pathetic attempt at trying to hoodwink melbournians into buying into that franchise.

Let's not go overboard. Even though they are a different club, the Brisbane Lions represent the identity of Fitzroy in the AFL. By agreement with the Fitzroy Football Club. No other club comes close to doing this. How well they do it is a matter of dispute amongst the Fitzroy faithful, but that's up for them to decide.

 

[Roylion]

Brisbane would prefer not to do it.

Didn't seem that way at the Hall of Fame function on Saturday night.

So why do they do it? Ask Roylion.

Why ask me? I think you have your prepared answer for that already.

 

[Roylion]

Roylion, do you think Fitzroy will ultimately end up in the VFL?

Doubtful. They have no ground that meets VFL specifications. Nor do they have the revenue streams for that sort of commitment.

Or are they content to play in the VAFA and gain promotion there?

Fitzroy are looking to get into the VAFA's premier division (i.e. A-Grade) and win premierships there. That has been the short term goal. With a bit of luck, getting into the Premier League via promotion, MAY happen this season.

I would think the former, and maybe as a stand alone club or alignment with north Melbourne as suggested elsewhere.

Brisbane still have an agreement with Fitzroy. My guess is that the Lions would oppose an alignment with North Melbourne in the VFL.

 

[JeffDunne]

Yes it was. The AFL's ground sharing policy forced Fitzroy to move from the Junction Oval and share grounds with other clubs. Both Victoria Park and Princes Park were the choices. Fitzroy applied to move to Waverley Park, but were knocked back by the league in favor of Hawthorn and St Kilda, who were seen as south-eastern suburban clubs. The MCG was occupied by Richmond, North Melbourne and Melbourne and Essendon and a fifth club was not seen as desirable. That left the Western Oval, Princes Park, Victoria Park and Kardinia Park in Geelong.

The Lions moved from the Junction Oval long before Essendon started playing at the MCG.

Besides, like I said, the pressures on Fitzroy were the same or lesser than those on other clubs at the time. St Kilda didn't choose to play at Waverley. It was forced on us.

There were obvious reasons why Victoria Park and Princes Park were unsuitable for Fitzroy. They were owned by Fitzroy's rivals and in the ground sharing deals, Fitzroy was very much the minor partner. For example Fitzroy’s existing six year lease of Princes Park from 1987-1992 was completely unsatisfactory and contributed largely to Fitzroy's poor financial situation. Over the head of Fitzroy, the AFL had guaranteed Carlton 22 matches at Princes Park from 1993-2000 irrespective of whether Fitzroy played there or not. Therefore Fitzroy had no bargaining power to negotiate a better ground deal with Carlton. When Carlton presented Fitzroy with a poorer deal than the 1987-1992 lease in 1993, Fitzroy had to either accept a deal in which they would make no ground revenue or consider a move. The negotiations dragged on so long that in 1993, Fitzroy played at Princes Park without a lease and received a bill for $6,000 from Carlton as their 1993 revenue from the home ground. Yet Fitzroy still made a profit that year due to other new sources of revenue they had developed, such as the successful establishment of the "Fitzroy Club Hotel" in Northcote, just north of the Brunswick Street Oval.

Fitzroy continued to make a profit in 1994 and 1995 thanks to a new, far better deal at the Western Oval.

Princes Park lease: Fitzroy gained a small amount of income from perimeter fence advertising, nothing at all from other ground advertising, none from catering and a small amount from reserve seating. No wonder Fitzroy made losses every year – they were gaining very little income from their home ground and hadn’t done so – since they were forced to leave the Junction Oval in 1984.

Western Oval lease: For their home games, Fitzroy received all revenue from nearly all advertising space at the ground as well as all reserve set revenue, all car-parking revenue, as well as having free access to all corporate facilities and all outer ground catering rights. Just by moving to the Western Oval, Fitzroy made an extra $400,000 per year.

So you had a choice?

Despite what you say re: making a profit, it was still a stupid decision.

They did have the sponsors. So it was the AFL's lack of support. On the one hand the AFL is saying that clubs needed to generate their own funds and revenue streams, but at the same time restricting their ability to do so. Where was the support from the AFL to generate other viable revenue streams? Same with the proposal to play home games in Canberra.

The sponsors you were attracting weren't serious sponsors. They were sponsors that wanted free publicity knowing full well the AFL would knock them back. i.e. ambush marketing. Galaxy was the classic example of this. Fitzroy were so desperate they wasted time and frustration trying to win a PR battle.

As for the Canberra proposal, having an idea doesn't mean the governing body should hand over millions in cash. Lions supporters still don't appreciate this fundamental point.

My point stands. The AFL did very little to support Fitzroy and indeed it was their official policy in the early 1990's to remove one of the smaller Melbourne clubs. In 1996, it seems the AFL had $12 million to effect mergers, but no money to help Fitzroy remain in the competition, in the manner that North Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs, Melbourne and Carlton have had significance assistance from the AFL to survive. Most of those have had multi-million dollars amounts given to them, through the AFL's then named "Competitive Balance Fund".

A selection of AFL grants to various clubs from the CBF reads as follows
2002: Western Bulldogs - $1 million
2003: Western Bulldogs - $1 million, North Melbourne - $1 million
2004: Western Bulldogs - $1.5 million, North Melbourne - $1 million
2005: Melbourne $1.5 million + $1.5 million retrospectively, Western Bulldogs $1.5 million, North Melbourne $1 million.
2006: Carlton - $2.1 million
2007: Western Bulldogs $1.7 million, North Melbourne $1.4 million, Melbourne $1 million, Sydney Swans $0.7 million, Richmond $0.4 million, Hawthorn $0.25 million, Port Adelaide $0.25 million
2008: Melbourne - $250,000, Western Bulldogs $1.7 million, North Melbourne $1.4 million
2009: Melbourne - $1 million, Port Adelaide - $1 million

Totals 2002-2009
Western Bulldogs - $8.4 million
North Melbourne - $5.8 million
Melbourne - $5.25 million
Carlton - $2.1 million

So what else do you have?

No it doesn't.

Comparing what the AFL did post 2000 to what they did a decade earlier is like comparing chalk and cheese.

I don't know if you've noticed but the media industry sort of exploded in the late 90's and that completely changed the equation for all sports including the AFL. Selling media rather than tickets became the main source of revenue.

 

[HBF]

Can't remember the exact details, but it was known well before the season ended that Fitzroy weren't going to be there in 1997.

And the AFL sent them to WA to play their final match.
Absolute cowards they were back then.

 

[John_Proctor]

I'd be surprised if the number of Fitzroy fans who switched to Brisbane was 40%. my recollection is that Fitzroy's membership in 1996 was about 8000 and Brisbane has consistently had 4000ish Victorian members with a spike up to close to that 8000 in the premiership years (and presumably a dip down to only a couple of thousand in these poor years). Those fans didn't materialise from nowhere and are presumably Fitzroy people switching across. Given the % of people who wouldn't be members but have stayed as 'brisbane fans' I would guestimate its 50%+ switched.

You only need to look at games with North and the Bulldogs to see how strong the support still is here for "the lions". They get 18000 and 30% of the crowd are Lions fans (and higlights why those clubs get 14/15k to games against Freo/GWS/GCS).

I can imagine that those very deeply involved in the club (as opposed to 'ordinary members') who would have felt much more aggrieved about the whole process would have been more likely to look to other options.

For me I've been a Brisbane Lions member each of the last 20 years. And I think the club overall couldn't have done much more to have embraced the Fitzroy heritage. What percentage of the club colours, emblem, song would have survived in the "North Fitzroy Kangaroos". The only advantage I saw in that merger was the number of games I'd have had in Melbourne. On the flip side I would have had to support a team with Boomer Harvey in it the last 20 years.


Jeff Dunnes perspective on the ambush marketing is certainly interesting. It's an issue that cuts both ways - Fitzroy people see it as the AFL cutting off as many avenues to us making money as possible, the AFL would say why is Fitzroy the only club with this long list of 'banned' sponsors... maybe we were so desperate we were the only ones to ever say yes, maybe we only remember ours because we folded but other clubs did the same for short periods and managed to find ways to survive.

One additional sponsorship that I remember that wasn't listed on the previous page was Galaxy pay TV. Where Fitzroy originally signed I think a shorts sponsorship deal but had to downgrade to some billboards at the ground as Channel 7 complained (I don't think the AFL had any deal with Foxtel at the time).