Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timeline?

[Mobbs]

1978 - Relocate to Sydney.
1984 - Relocate to Brisbane.
1985 - Merge with St Kilda.
1985 - Merge with Melbourne.
1986 - Relocate to Brisbane.
1989/90 - Merge with Footscray.
1992 - Merge with Collingwood. <-- when was this suggested?
1992/93 - Relocate to Fremantle.
1994 - Merge with Melbourne? <--- when was this suggested?
1995 - Merge into a Port Adelaide club.
1996 - Merge with North.
1996 - Merge with Brisbane.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

There was "Brisbane Lions" talk in the little paper back in about May '84. I reckon it must have been around about the time we played Collingwood at Collingwood as I distinctly remember a "No Brisbane Lions" banner in the crowd that day. And also the feral bogan sheila screaming out "anorexia" every time Grant Lawrie had the ball.

 

[Mobbs]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

Thanks Rip, updated OP.

 

[krisholio14]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

I know in 1978 you were the first team to look at moving to Sydney.

Also early merger talk about 1985 with Melbourne and St Kilda mentioned as candidates.

 

[Mobbs]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

diablo I never realised you were old! Thanks, I'll update it.

 

[krisholio14]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

diablo I never realised you were old! Thanks, I'll update it.

I'm not that old

 

[Mr Ripper]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

I know in 1978 you were the first team to look at moving to Sydney.

Link

 

[Mobbs]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

Is that Short Memory, Mr Ripper?

 

[killer]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

Preston 1962

 

[Mobbs]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

Tell me more.

 

[killer]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

'improvments to cramer st oval were noted by the fitzroy football
club which in 1962 approached the preston council with a view to a move to preston the council was interested and suggested the two clubs meet for talks these broke down because the fitzroy wantd to play under their own name but the bullants were only interested in the move if the vfl club became fitzroy-preston' - Fidden /football grounds of melbourne

 

[killer]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

the collingwood thing was 1992

 

[Mobbs]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

Oh, interesting, so it wasn't a merger, and as far as relocation was concerned, just within Melbourne, but Preston had merger on their minds.

 

[killer]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

p 254 of the dhl book has a 1995 proposal
port power-fitzroy came from g.s apparently

 

[killer]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

VFA rules would have meant that Preston
would have been kicked out of the VFA if Fitzroy played at Cramer St

 

[killer]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

melbourne was 1994

 

[Mobbs]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

Thanks killer, I thought Melbourne were an option in the 1980s as well.

 

[krisholio14]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

Thanks killer, I thought Melbourne were an option in the 1980s as well.

They were.

The suggestion bobbed up once in the 80's and once in the 90's.

The one I referred to in 1985 was basically a push through the media that a group of struggling teams (St Kilda, Fitzroy, North and Melbourne), should be considered as potential merger candidates.

The main two suggestions were Fitzroy and St Kilda (I remember my uncle and I calling them both 'Fitzkilda' for the rest of that year), and North and Melbourne.

Apparently this speculation actually caused a few people from both Melbourne and Fitzroy to have more than a passing conversation about joining forces.

 

[Mobbs]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

But again in the late 80's too, I thought.

 

[killer]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

Mining the rest of the dhl book
dhl approached by st kilda (enquiry), geelong (Geelong Lions), richmond (richmond tigers),
hawthorn (hawthorn lions),footscray (western bulldogs) and
the south australian cricket assoc (for a merger with norwood)

 

[morsie]

Re: Summary sheet of all merger/relocation options the Roys were involved in - can we create a timel

Certainly there was a Melbourne proposal in the 80's.I had a work colleague who was on a committee at Melbourne looking at various merger ideas and Fitzroy was seriously studied.

 

[Last of the Roys]

To bump an old thread, I am currently starting to read through my old Fitzroy books again and I found a couple of interesting references in a tiny book called "Forever Fitzroy - A History of Brunswick Street Oval, by Marc Fiddian".

Anyway, he says that in 1958 Fitzroy first started to seriously consider moving away from BSO by considering playing at Northcote as there was a possibility Northcote was not going to continue in the VFA. He then mentions in 1962 a possible amalgamation of Fitzroy and Presenton was considered - with the Club to play at the Preston ground (but obviously it never went anywhere, with no agreement on what the name of the Club would be).

The problems with Brunswick Street Oval was that it hadn't kept pace with developments at other grounds. This was in part due to a lack of space (which itself was caused by a council decision back in the late 1800's when there was in fact two cricket grounds - but one was taken away for gardens / other purposes) and of course lack of financial / political support from the local council to upgrade the ground (the BSO in 1905 was apparently seen as the second best ground to the MCG, but the ground hardly changed / developed in the next 60 years). Also I remember reading elsewhere that basically since the beginning, the Fitzroy Cricket Club treated the Fitzroy Football Club poorly in terms of financial arrangements at BSO (as I think the Cricket Club controlled everything).

Fitzroy did consider moving to the Junction Oval in the mid '60's when the Saints left, but instead a reform group took over and we managed to stay at BSO for another two seasons but eventually had to relocate to Princess Park.

Apparently there were dreams of going back to an upgraded BSO - which caused the local pre-hipster residents to form a group to ensure BSO didn't get used again for VFL football (bloody traitors!!!). So when the football club grandstand burned down in 1976 (I think) a rumour started that local residents did it deliberately.

[The last stab in the back of course was renaming the ground after some long forgotten Fitzroy mayor, when the bastards did nothing but block the development of football and cricket at the ground (the cricket team left after a dispute with the council in the late '80's I think, and given they had already merged with Doncaster).]

 

[Last of the Roys]

Wasn't sure whether to put this one in this thread or the Ross Oakley one.

Anyway there is an article in The Age today about a super-merger that was being worked on inside AFL HQ in the early '90's. It was to be between Fitzroy, North and Richmond and to be called Melbourne United.

Just shows IMHO how completely out of touch the AFL was / still is with the overwhelming majority of fans of the game. You would have to be beyond clueless to ever believe a three-way merger would actually happen - it would probably be easier to get agreement on a merger of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...d-have-merged-ross-oakley-20140705-zsx8k.html

 

[adey115]

Wasn't sure whether to put this one in this thread or the Ross Oakley one.

Anyway there is an article in The Age today about a super-merger that was being worked on inside AFL HQ in the early '90's. It was to be between Fitzroy, North and Richmond and to be called Melbourne United.

Just shows IMHO how completely out of touch the AFL was / still is with the overwhelming majority of fans of the game. You would have to be beyond clueless to ever believe a three-way merger would actually happen - it would probably be easier to get agreement on a merger of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...d-have-merged-ross-oakley-20140705-zsx8k.html

And so if it went through.... Melbourne United and Melbourne Demons in the same league? It was pre the Melb and Hawthorn talks, so can't say that the Hawthorn Demons were ever on the cards at that stage. I find it weird that this has now come out. It must have been some preliminary in its discussions that it was mentioned over a beer, someone said that'll never work and was forgotten, yet for some reason its now tabled. Sheeesh.

 

[Roylion]

Just shows IMHO how completely out of touch the AFL was / still is with the overwhelming majority of fans of the game. You would have to be beyond clueless to ever believe a three-way merger would actually happen - it would probably be easier to get agreement on a merger of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Agree. Scanlon's "super-merger" is just a classic example of the "economic rationalism" pervading the thinking of the AFL commission at that time. Why the hell did they think the supporters of Fitzroy, North and Richmond would have ever supported "Melbourne United" wearing what have been an unrecognisable jumper?

It was doomed to fail and not surprisingly it fell over because the three clubs couldn't agree on a jumper and colours for the new club.

No kidding Ross.