Fitzroy - Did they have Rivals?

[Elmer_Judd]

Shoulda, coulda, woulda

Fact is the WA and SA supporters deserted their traditional clubs in favour of supporting new franchises in the VFL. No one else is to blame for their downfall but them.

Fitzroy were shafted and white anted by the league/Oakley for a decade before finally being excluded in 1996. A completely different set of circumstances.

WA and SA supporters should have kept following their local clubs, that would have seen the VFL expansion fail and they could have pushed for a differently formed national league. They made their bed now they can lie in it.

For all intents and purposes, Port Adelaide in the AFL is the same club as The SANFL Magpies, in fact the only reason the Crows was formed was because IIRC in 1989 or 1990 the PAFC formally applied to join the AFL and its bid was approved by several Victorian clubs (I know Carlton was one of them) but the other SANFL clubs threw a massive tantrum over it, and thus The Adelaide Crows was created.

 

[footyfan1978]

Shoulda, coulda, woulda

Fact is the WA and SA supporters deserted their traditional clubs in favour of supporting new franchises in the VFL. No one else is to blame for their downfall but them.

Fitzroy were shafted and white anted by the league/Oakley for a decade before finally being excluded in 1996. A completely different set of circumstances.

WA and SA supporters should have kept following their local clubs, that would have seen the VFL expansion fail and they could have pushed for a differently formed national league. They made their bed now they can lie in it.

Agree with most of this but it not all on the supporters to blame. If the leagues had agreed to not compete for fans times on same day they could have followed both. So it the admin fault of these too.

 

[Roylion]

When did University Reds start? 1940s or 50's?

1955

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Shoulda, coulda, woulda

Fact is the WA and SA supporters deserted their traditional clubs in favour of supporting new franchises in the VFL. No one else is to blame for their downfall but them.

Fitzroy were shafted and white anted by the league/Oakley for a decade before finally being excluded in 1996. A completely different set of circumstances.

WA and SA supporters should have kept following their local clubs, that would have seen the VFL expansion fail and they could have pushed for a differently formed national league. They made their bed now they can lie in it.

Cool. Doesn't make the league any less of a Victorian wankfest.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Cool. Doesn't make the league any less of a Victorian wankfest.

Well yeah it's an expanded VFL, what do you expect?

 

[raymond35]

Cool. Doesn't make the league any less of a Victorian wankfest.

Well don't watch it then

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Well don't watch it then

How about you stop telling other people how to live their lives?

 

[iameviljez]

Just so sad. I think this is where it sent them on the nomadic path to what would unfold decades later.

I still wonder when did Fitzroy lose their decent following. I am sure they must have been well followed 100 years ago.
Just seems odd when went to school as a kid there was virtually not a Fitzroy fan to be found. It is just weird fall off over decades.

Apparently Robert Walls once said that he saw the writing on the wall at the end of 1983.

Fitzroy had just had their best season since the war. Finished third on the ladder, a win behind first. Got done by Hawthorn in an all-time classic Qualifying Final after a five goal comeback. Quinlan kicks the ton... and membership going into 1984 decreases.

 

[Partridge]

Just so sad. I think this is where it sent them on the nomadic path to what would unfold decades later.

I still wonder when did Fitzroy lose their decent following. I am sure they must have been well followed 100 years ago.
Just seems odd when went to school as a kid there was virtually not a Fitzroy fan to be found. It is just weird fall off over decades.

I was at school in the '80s and there were always some Fitzroy fans in the class. More than North for instance.

Doncaster was their zone in Melbourne.

 

[Partridge]

Quinlan played for us before moving to the Roys.

The older members of my family are still upset that we sold him (it was done just to keep the club’s head above water)

Great player and even better bloke.

I know a Dogs supporter who openly admits he lost interest when Quinlan left.

Genuinely great player and I only saw his last few years.

 

[justlookingaround]

Apparently when Fitzroy beat Collingwood the whole suburb turned into one big street party.

It was never a sectarian or religious rivalry as far as I know. Collingwood was a dirt poor Irish Catholic suburb in the 19th century and Fitzroy was working class too. The hipsters only moved in in the 80s/90s.

On a separate note I was travelling on a train a few years back and got chatting to an elderly woman who grew up in Ascot Vale. She told me that when Essendon won everyone would come out of their houses and party on Saturday night. If they lost the doors were shut.

Man I wish I grew up during that time of high social capital.

 

[iameviljez]

Man I wish I grew up during that time of high social capital.

It had a dark side, too. Don't want to be a housewife when the team loses.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

It had a dark side, too. Don't want to be a housewife when the team loses.

But that still happens today...

 

[JackFlash]

Fitzroy was one of the most successful clubs pre-WW2 and won 7 flags, they were one of the big four, but sadly for them, it all changed afterward and their last win was in 1944 (Their 8th). Melbourne, Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond and later Hawthorn buried them by the 1990s. The loss of their home ground at Brunswick Street was a devastating blow they never fully recovered from. Fitzroy was ideally located, easy to get too and had a lot fans.

 

[timokane]

Apart from Collingwood and Carlton the Roys did not have anyone else.

Ill say a spicy one with richmond but thats about it.

Also Footscray during the now failed merger of the dogs and roys.

 

[bresker]

It had a dark side, too. Don't want to be a housewife when the team loses.

Apparently things between Fitzroy and Collingwood got spicy on the suburb borders…

I’ll tell you another fascinating story I read from the early days . Before Port Melbourne lost its character , in the early days it was filled with hardass dockworkers and their families . Visiting teams got to the point where they were too afraid to win , because after the game adults and kids would lever up the flagstones from the streets and use them to smash the windows of the opposing team’s train home !

I wish I still had the book I read this stuff in , I got it from the library 30 years ago .

 

[giggler99]

Fitzroy was one of the most successful clubs pre-WW2 and won 7 flags, they were one of the big four, but sadly for them, it all changed afterward and their last win was in 1944 (Their 8th). Melbourne, Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond and later Hawthorn buried them by the 1990s. The loss of their home ground at Brunswick Street was a devastating blow they never fully recovered from. Fitzroy was ideally located, easy to get too and had a lot fans.

I think a lot of it has to do with Fitzroy not capitalising on all the European immigrates arriving in the 1960's and settling in the inner North. Where as Richmond Collingwood and Carlton did. Fitzroy were virtually permanently stuck on the bottom of the ladder in the 60's unfortunately paid a big price in later years (some could be said for South Melbourne on the other side of the Yarra). While Richmond and Carlton picked themselves up and won premierships and gained a lot of the immigrate support at the time which is still prevalent today. Collingwood well.. Collingwood is Collingwood always making finals and Grand Finals will always attract fans no matter what they are a juggernaut in any era. Mix that up with the loss of their home ground at Brunswick street and you can see why the club plummeted.

 

[giggler99]

Apparently things between Fitzroy and Collingwood got spicy on the suburb borders…

I’ll tell you another fascinating story I read from the early days . Before Port Melbourne lost its character , in the early days it was filled with hardass dockworkers and their families . Visiting teams got to the point where they were too afraid to win , because after the game adults and kids would lever up the flagstones from the streets and use them to smash the windows of the opposing team’s train home !

I wish I still had the book I read this stuff in , I got it from the library 30 years ago .

One of the big reasons why Port Melbourne wasn't invited in the breakaway VFL in 1897

 

[iameviljez]

I think a lot of it has to do with Fitzroy not capitalising on all the European immigrates arriving in the 1960's and settling in the inner North. Where as Richmond Collingwood and Carlton did. Fitzroy where virtually permanently stuck on the bottom of the ladder in the 60's unfortunately paid a big price in later years (some could be said for South Melbourne on the other side of the Yarra). While Richmond and Carlton picked themselves up and won premierships and gained a lot of the immigrate support at the time which is still prevalent today. Collingwood well.. Collingwood is Collingwood always making finals and Grand Finals will always attract fans no matter what they are a juggernaut in any era. Mix that up with the loss of their home ground at Brunswick street and you can see why the club plummeted.

Worth remembering that Fitzroy’s 1944 flag was won in a very compromised competition, but their previous one was 1922.

They really got squeezed out by the two powerhouses in Collingwood and Carlton, and it happened long before the 1960s.

 

[NetworkNerd]

Went to high school with a guy named Conlan... obviously mad Fitzroy parents. I think he switched to North after the merge.
Always seemed like a small club for decades with a bunch of hardcore supporters and some casual barrackers but not the big pool of people to draw a membership income from.

Which is sad... as others have mentioned in a parallel universe they could be this cool hipster club but not to be.

 

[iameviljez]

Which is sad... as others have mentioned in a parallel universe they could be this cool hipster club but not to be.

Would have taken a miracle for them to survive.

IMO only two of South Melbourne, StKilda, the Dogs and the Roys could have survived the 80s. As it was, the Roys defied reality for six years after that, but it was a phyrric victory.

 

[giggler99]

Worth remembering that Fitzroy’s 1944 flag was won in a very compromised competition, but their previous one was 1922.

They really got squeezed out by the two powerhouses in Collingwood and Carlton, and it happened long before the 1960s.

Yeah exactly thats why if they had read the tea leafs it was vital for them to capitalise on the immigrants moving into the area at the time by being successful like Richmond and Carlton did but they didn’t by always being on the bottom and it lead them down a road of extinction years later.

 

[JackFlash]

I think a lot of it has to do with Fitzroy not capitalising on all the European immigrates arriving in the 1960's and settling in the inner North. Where as Richmond Collingwood and Carlton did. Fitzroy were virtually permanently stuck on the bottom of the ladder in the 60's unfortunately paid a big price in later years (some could be said for South Melbourne on the other side of the Yarra). While Richmond and Carlton picked themselves up and won premierships and gained a lot of the immigrate support at the time which is still prevalent today. Collingwood well.. Collingwood is Collingwood always making finals and Grand Finals will always attract fans no matter what they are a juggernaut in any era. Mix that up with the loss of their home ground at Brunswick street and you can see why the club plummeted.

Agreed, Fitzroy was the dominant team in the first 25 years of VFL existence but hung in there competitively until the end of WW2, then struggled for decades before finally folding.

 

[Roylion]

Yeah exactly thats why if they had read the tea leafs it was vital for them to capitalise on the immigrants moving into the area at the time by being successful like Richmond and Carlton did but they didn’t by always being on the bottom

The football club had very poor facilities at Brunswick Street that were owned by the Cricket Club and had no power to improve the facilities which meant that it became more difficult to attract good players. After 1968 when country zones were introduced and the club moved to the Junction Oval for the 1970 season, Fitzroy's on-field fortunes improved winning 12 games in 1971 (and finishing 6th) with finals in 1979, 1981, 1983, 1984 and 1986.

and it lead them down a road of extinction years later.

Being forced to leave the Junction Oval after 1984 led to a nomadic existence which saw very little chance to raise revenue and gain a supporter base. Incidentally Fitzroy had the 4th highest membership of all 12 clubs in 1981.

 

[Mofra]

I know a Dogs supporter who openly admits he lost interest when Quinlan left.

Genuinely great player and I only saw his last few years.

We were broke so lost some absolute champions in the 70s & 80s - Quinlan hurt a lot among the older doggies fans, ditto Templeton