Fitzroy, the AFL and Fitzroy supporters

[Port Adelaide 1870]

I've read with interest the posts on FFC site here, I've travelled to melbourne to spend time in down town Fitzroy ( such a trendy town now). Its amazing how you can be transformed back to another era in Fitzroy, you can hear the clip clop of the horses hooves, the rattle of the trams, the young lads without shoes and their caps on, running from the general store with a haul of boiled sweets with Mr. Taddlestone yelling behind them.

The ladies with their bobbed up hair and elegant flowing saturday shopping dresses, accompanied by those fine Fitzroy "Dandies" in their sharply dressed Jackets, Bowler hats and waxed moustaches, watched by the underprivaledged orphans and unemployed men ( the effects of the depression of the late 1890's)...

The one thing that drew them all togethor was the Fitzroy Football Club.....

The formation of the VFL and the strength of this Strong Suburban Melbourne team were known throughout the colony of Victoria..

I've just read Dyson Hore Lacys book...

I am sorry for Fitzroy....

What do you guys do now ? who do you follow at the AFL ? secondly How do you follow another club ?

I honestly believe the AFL should have been formed as a Completely new comp not just a pseudo new comp...i.e. clubs from allover Australia making up a new comp.
That way clubs that were not capable of making the grade, wether it be financially or whatever. could have remained in their relevant state based comps and maintained their dignity and histories...

The F.F.C still exists from what I have read..The Brisbane Lions are not an amalgamation of the two clubs according to Dyson and the Fitzroy board...

Which team do you guys follow now ?

PA1870

 

[Fat Pizza]

I've found other ways of enjoying my weekends, but the Fitzroy Redz would have to be my favourite team. I watched 2 of their games last year.

I enjoy a variety of other sports. I watched the surfing at Bells Beach on Sunday, then the canoe polo at Albert Park on Monday. I was the clown in the stand, who yelled out "He's been doing it all day!", when a South Australian mongrel whacked a Victorian with his paddle in the first minute of Monday's match. Old habits die hard.

I also follow Garryowen in the Victorian Hurling & Gaelic Football competitions.

I also went to 2 Brisbane Lions games & 2 Coburg-Fitzroy games last year, but that was mainly to catch up with a friend.

 

[FitzroyJamesDio]

I reluctantly follow Brisbane Lions...i thought long and hard about following another team but couldn't bring myself to do it...beleive it or not collingwood was the one i would have gone to..but that didnt sit well in the end...i really didnt want to follow brisbane because that's what the afl wanted us to do in their master plan..but in the end i caved - in very difficult situation...i pretty much dispise the afl now and dyson's book pretty much spells it out in big bold letters as to how slimey they were...the agenda was set

i would have prefered to have a melb based club to take my son to (as it ended up he only attended fitzroy's last game at around one year of age)i still feel it pretty criminal how the afl took away the culture from so many fitzroy people

i follow the lions and enjoy the game..but it really isnt the same



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Fitzroy James Dio II

 

[IAMDASH]

What do you guys do now ? who do you follow at the AFL ? secondly How do you follow another club ?

I could not follow Brisbane. I was born in Melbourne and was a Fitzroy boy so I couldnt justify the bears. Maybe if it had of been a relocation similiar to South Melbourne I would have been in but it was the poorest excuse for a merger I have ever seen. I follow no one in the AFL. I would like to say I have totally lost interest in the AFL as I have never forgiven them but I love footy in general and like to watch the game at its highest level. I have probably been to about 10 games since 96.

I follow Mazenod in the VAFA as its me old school side and I have a few mates playing there. I regularly spend Satdy arvo's at the Notting Hill hotel or the Village Green punting me hard earned. I too also enjoy other sports and also work occassionally.


But if I had me choice I'd still rather travel halfway across Melbourne to get to the Western Oval, Optus, Victoria Park or wherever else the hell we were based on the other side of town to watch the ROYS

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See ya round

 

[CDFCLad]

Hi Port 1870,

As a South Aussie resident (have been for well over a decade, follow the Doggies in the SANFL hence the name!!) I have to say its good to see some non-Victorian people who actually know we still exist as a separate club. I've tried telling all my Adelaide mates, but will they listen..................references to the 'defunct' Fitzroy which Michelango Rucci (Advertiser Footy Reporter for the Vics here) seems always to refer us by don't help either!!

I nominally follow Brisbane in the AFL, but they mean almost nothing to me. If they win, good, if they lose, woopty doo. I do go to see them when they play in Adelaide, but I go more to catch up with some Roys people I know who come over for it rather than support Brissy. I'm also a Fitzroy Reds fan first and foremost, cannot wait to go over there and see us play at Brunswick Street.

I thought things were finally looking up for Fitzroy with the Coburg-Fitzroy deal last season, alas it wasn't to be, but I doubt that the next club to leave the AFL will retain any vestige of a separate identity whatsoever, so we have been lucky in some small way. If we want to follow Brisbane, we can, but we also still have a solely Fitzroy team to follow as well (albeit in the Amateurs.) Will North Melbourne or Geelong have the same luxury if they either relocate or die? Not sure......

All the best.........and Ceeeeeeeeeennnnttraaaaaaaalllllllllssssssss

 

[Yippyio]

Im with you IAMDASH, i live in Lara near Geelong, and i still have Lara to support in the GFL but Fitzroy was our lives our footy team.
When Fitzroy died me and dad were depressed for months our love for footy was all but gone.
Our other family members thought what idiots upset over a footy club who cant win a game anyway!!
Then I bought the book Fitzroy By Dyson Hore-Lacy and we gave it around the family for them to read and now they understand how we felt. I remember in 1991 my brother was about 14 and he saved up $5 so he could give it to the tin rattlers.
Fitzroy is gone but our spirit will always remain in our hearts, those supporters who managed to watch Fitzroy for many years please treasure those times because i certainly do. I just hope when i am old and incapable i will think back all the years to the time of the Fitzroy Football CLub and remember the many moments there were.
We all fought for Fitzroy but in the end just couldnt save them.
Farewell the mighty Royboys!!!!!

 

[Mr Ripper]

I had no hesitation in jumping on the Brisbane Lions bandwagon.

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Olmy knows best

 

[Mobbs]

I follow the Reds now ... and am showing up at the little oval on Church St Richmond this Saturday.

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Hallowed be thy Roy

 

[Denno]

It took about a year, but I'm probably MORE passionate now (about the Brisbane Lions). I NEVER want to see my football team die again........

I have no interest whatsoever in the Redz, and hated Coburg-Fitzroy.

Thats my feelings........

[This message has been edited by Denno (edited 19 April 2001).]

 

[Mobbs]

Congratulations, Denno!

Between you and me, we love everybody

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Hallowed be thy Roy

 

[Joe Mama]

Although I mainly followed teams near where I lived ( first Kinglake, then Panton Hill and finally Mernda) before I moved to Dhurringile where I follow Murchison and Tatura, Fitzroy was a team that I really had a soft spot for and whenever I could get to Melbourne, I always went to see them.

Nowadays, I can't really be bothered with going to Melbourne to see Brisbane, I go to the occasional game but it feels hollow, compared to the joy I felt whenever Fitzroy won.

Because I don't live near Melbourne anymore, I don't have much interest in the Reds (although I think that it is a good concept with a lot of potential), and I only went to a few Coburg/Fitzroy games out of curiosity, my interest in elite football has dwindled and is concentrated on local football.


Go Tatura Bulldogs, Murchison Grasshoppers, Fitzroy Reds and Brisbane Lions

 

[Levo]

As the same with Mobbenfuhrer I started watching the Redz (they sold realy good pies, which is important at a footy game)very early, like 1997 along with Kots, Bill A, Joe Cantelmi, Ella, Kath, Jill etc actually that was about all of us, then we gradually got more and more, and I was drawn to Coburg as Fitzroy was in talks with them at an early stage, but shit it is not the same, at present it is the London Gryphons, only 'cause Zanotti started them and I was in touch with him through '99.

 

[Port Adelaide 1870]

Originally posted by Denno:
It took about a year, but I'm probably MORE passionate now (about the Brisbane Lions). I NEVER want to see my football team die again........

I have no interest whatsoever in the Redz, and hated Coburg-Fitzroy.

Thats my feelings........

[This message has been edited by Denno (edited 19 April 2001).]

So was it the Fitzroy Football club you were a part of and felt passionate about or just the team that played for it ?

PA1870

 

[Mobbs]

Fitzroy fans experienced shock, loss, misery, depression, upheaval and major life change, social change, cultural change.

Out of that incident sprung a number of options that were available for pursuit : the different versions of Fitzroy, other clubs, and no club at all.

Being diehard fans and supporters, every supporter had the opportunity to direct themselves in any way they saw fit.

It is not the right of anyone, Fitzroy fan or not, to judge a Roys fan upon his decision. Every decision is right, for that person, and they have the right to choose. I should hope they were able to choose without coming under fire from others who might have chosen differently.

That's why I, who is not interested in Brisbane, has nothing but full support for those who directed themselves to the Brisbane Lions. That is why I, who supported Coburg-Fitzroy, and now the Reds, have no ill-feeling towards Roys fans who don't like them.

I am happy to say that so far, I have been afforded the same respect from those whom receive it from me.

'By destroying us, you only made us stronger.'

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Hallowed be thy Roy

 

[Port Adelaide 1870]

Originally posted by Mobbenfuhrer:
Fitzroy fans experienced shock, loss, misery, depression, upheaval and major life change, social change, cultural change.

Out of that incident sprung a number of options that were available for pursuit : the different versions of Fitzroy, other clubs, and no club at all.

Being diehard fans and supporters, every supporter had the opportunity to direct themselves in any way they saw fit.

It is not the right of anyone, Fitzroy fan or not, to judge a Roys fan upon his decision. Every decision is right, for that person, and they have the right to choose. I should hope they were able to choose without coming under fire from others who might have chosen differently.

That's why I, who is not interested in Brisbane, has nothing but full support for those who directed themselves to the Brisbane Lions. That is why I, who supported Coburg-Fitzroy, and now the Reds, have no ill-feeling towards Roys fans who don't like them.

I am happy to say that so far, I have been afforded the same respect from those whom receive it from me.

'By destroying us, you only made us stronger.'

I agree totally, we must respect everones right to free choice...

What really interests me is why people make the choices they do. Especially after passionately following, defending and arguing for a club or cause. What is the rationale used in adopting something else,
what is the rationale for the " Choice ".
I completely accept and respect the individuals right to choose whatever "fits".


This has always been a fascinating study.

PA1870

 

[Port Adelaide 1870]

The other aspect is that of "tribalism".
When the tribe is defeated on the football field, it can re group and play the next week or plan for the future.
With Fitzroy, over a century of "tribe", old and new was wiped out, broken up and "forced" ( in as much as, their club no longer existed and a new choice had to be made...a forced choice in Football terms )to become members of other more dominant tribes, or just be outcast into minor "tribes" i.e. VAFA ( No offence intended )

Making the free "choice" to join another tribe must have and must still be anguishing for many....


PA1870

 

[UK Roy]

For me the anguish goes on. My head says support Brisbane but my heart has never been in that. This year I will follow the Reds.

5 years on I still feel angry, my hatred of the AFL (the people that run it, not the other Clubs) is stronger than ever.

I will never criticise other Fitzroy supporters for who they now follow, although I am saddened that has now split us up from a common cause.

Maybe one day, just maybe.

Fitzroy for ever!

 

[Fat Pizza]

Originally posted by Port Adelaide 1870:

Making the free "choice" to join another tribe must have and must still be anguishing for many....


PA1870

I liken this to religion. To me, it is like being told my God doesn't exist any more, but I can take my pick of any of the other Gods.

 

[killer]

I followed Brisbane for about 3 months(minutes?),until, it was clear they
weren't ever going to put the ex 'Roy players on the field. (how many games did Barker Clayton and Hawking etc play in Brisy? like to see that stat.)
Oh yeah, took them till June to send
me the membership card.

 

[killer]

I now follow Sturt in the SANFL
- much more fun

 

[CDFCLad]

As I am devoted to Central District in the SANFL now..........I have to agree the SANFL is just about the best league one could imagine, tradition, great banter at matches, some huge crowds at times, good beer, $8.00 to get in and for a family of 2 Adults and 2 kids it costs $16.00.

AFL has lost the plot. Something like $50.00 for a family to see a game of football here in SA, bloody ridiculous.

BTW Roys in Melbourne, what sort of crowds do the Reds get? Couple of hundred, or very few................

 

[Olmy]

Firstly PA1870 - that was a fantastic start to your initial post! I really enjoyed it!

In regards to who I support now - well, it's quite a simple equation for myself - anything that in some way resembles Fitzroy!

For instance, I am looking forward to attending Fitzroy Redz games this season, at the Brunswick St. Oval. I also take an interest in how the Fitzroy Juniors teams are going.

Similarly, I enjoyed supporting the Coburg-Fitzroy Lions last season - until the concept had cold water poured on it by unfortunate circumstances and the Richmond Football Club.

Basically, if the existing Fitzroy FC has an involvement, I'll be interested!

I guess though, elements such as the colours/jumper, name, and theme-song of a club are the most important part in how I relate to a club/team.

In that regard, I doubt I would be too keen on supporting a club, even if the FFC were involved, if Fitzroy were not represented somewhere in the name, jumper or colours.

I'm also looking forward to seeing the Brisbane Lions play against old Fitzroy rivals like Carlton, Richmond, Geelong, Footscray, North Melbourne, and Collingwood, at traditional grounds such as Princes Park, Kardinia Park, and the MCG.

When the merger occured, I wasn't sure whether I'd support, or even follow, the Brisbane Lions, or any other club, for that matter. I despised (and still do), the manner in which the merger was handled, in which Fitzroy (and it's supporters), were treated as nothing more than an exploitable commodity.

However, after a while, I decided, somewhat reluctantly at first, to at least give the Brisbane Lions a go. I didn't purhcase a membership for their first two seasons of operation - as I believed that the Board (as well as the administration) of the time, primarily lacked enough "visionaries" (or those in a capacity) to seriously offer Fitzroy supporters more than "just a team" to support. (It might be a harsh comment, and some may disagree, and fair enough - but that's certainly how it felt at the time, it's only with the benefit of hindsight that you could make different or similar observations).

At the start of the 1999 season, after Alan Piper was appointed as President, and Leigh Matthews as coach, I decided that the first steps were being taken as by the club, to establish itself as being a club, apart from that of the Bears, and Fitzroy, whilst still being representative of those two entities.

This was when I bought a membership, and have for every season since.

I would still like to see the Brisbane Lions endeavour to build a Fitzroy/Lions community in Victoria (one that's on a long term basis). I don't think, that at the moment, the Brisbane Lions are offering themselves as a long-term option for Victorian supporters. Perhaps if they were to have greater links/involvement with the Fitzroy entities and interests in Victoria, it would help to provide some sort of cognition - a reason for people to 'decide' to support the Brisbane Lions, instead of another Victorian club.

Personally, while I would have liked a "better deal" for Fitzroy at the time of the merger, I do appreciate the fact that the club has tried to incorporate facets of both the Bears and Fitzroy, in areas such as the jumper/colours, the name, and the song. These things are all important - while, perhaps there could have been a few more things done, I am prepared to overlook some of those feelings from '96, in order to support a 'new' club at the top level, which also has reference to the club that I supported previously - Fitzroy!

Perhaps that's a compromise - but I don't think Fitzroy supporters are in much of a position to do much else, unfortunately.

(For the record, I'd still like to see an "FFC" on the jumper somewhere - ala the Western Bulldogs).

I'll always be a Fitzroy supporter - I just happen to be a Brisbane Lions supporter as well. I'm not saying the Brisbane Lions 'are' Fitzroy, but to me, in regards to my personal support, they are both one and the same (and I don't mean that as any disrespect to Fitzroy supporters who don't support BL, or to BL supporters who weren't or aren't Fitzroy supporters, it's just how I relate to being a Fitzroy/Lions supporter!).

CARN THE ROYS!!!

 

[Denno]

Originally posted by Port Adelaide 1870:
So was it the Fitzroy Football club you were a part of and felt passionate about or just the team that played for it ?

PA1870

What are you trying to say? OF course I was passionate about Fitzroy, the club. Didn't give a stuff who played for them. (Well - sort of did.....)

 

[Mobbs]

I don't think the rationale actually CAN be explained. I'd reckon it's like jotting down the blueprint for our souls, scrolling through it, and pointing at the part that defines what we would do in this circumstance.

From an analytical, or philosophical, point of view ... its wacky ... very hard to figure.

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Hallowed be thy Roy

 

[Mobbs]

Originally posted by Denno:
What are you trying to say? OF course I was passionate about Fitzroy, the club. Didn't give a stuff who played for them. (Well - sort of did.....)

I think my passion was mostly directed towards the bit PA1870 has referred to a couple of times, the tribalism.

Then comes the club.

Then comes the social aspect.

Then the blokes that bled for the Roys.

They all get a guernsey.

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Hallowed be thy Roy