Reduced Melbourne games in 2020

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I’ve thought the same thing. The current management reminds me of the Angus Johnson era where arrogance reigns supreme.

I think thats taking it a bit too far TBH. I agree they certainly should have handled the messaging better when the fixture was released, but I think overall this administration has been pretty engaged with the supporter base as a whole. I think you're either forgetting how bad that administration was or letting your emotion on this issue cloud your judgement. I'd suspect its more the second then the first
 
I think thats taking it a bit too far TBH. I agree they certainly should have handled the messaging better when the fixture was released, but I think overall this administration has been pretty engaged with the supporter base as a whole. I think you're either forgetting how bad that administration was or letting your emotion on this issue cloud your judgement. I'd suspect its more the second then the first

No way would we have gotten an apologetic email with an extra concession from the previous administration.
 

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Oct 17, 2000
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I can see why the Club didn't respond to that. The Club is not Fitzroy.

Given that the Brisbane Lions have donned Fitzroy jumpers on a number of occasions since 2003, at least one game in Melbourne wearing the FFC jumper (preferably the red one) would be some sort of compensation for the reduced games in Melbourne.

I've stated this elsewhere but to me the game against Collingwood on 4th July (coincidentally the 24th anniversary of the announcement of the 'merger') seems to be a perfect opportunity to reinforce the Fitzroy connection as part of a Victorian marketing exercise. Not only could the Club wear the iconic FFC jumper on the MCG (the scene of Fitzroy's last AFL match in Melbourne in 1996) it would also be against Fitzroy's (and arguably Brisbane's) arch-rival Collingwood. The Club could also work towards getting the actual Fitzroy Football Club to play their VAFA match at the MCG as a curtain-raiser to their own senior match. It happened in 2003 when the corresponding VAFA match was played at the MCG as a curtain-raiser, so why not again?

Lions training could be at the Brunswick Street Oval and the preceeding week to the match would also be about celebrating Fitzroy's rich VFL-AFL heritage, (the various footy shows on Foxtel and maybe free to air could run special Fitzroy-themed shows. The Front Bar for example might have Fitzroy guests).
 
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Oct 13, 2001
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Lions training could be at the Brunswick Street Oval and the preceeding week to the match would also be about celebrating Fitzroy's rich VFL-AFL heritage, (the various footy shows on Foxtel and maybe free to air could run special Fitzroy-themed shows. The Front Bar for example might have Fitzroy guests).

I'm not sure of the logistics of training at Brunswick Street but if it's feasible then hell yeah......why not?

As far as Foxtel, free to air, Front Bar etc are concerned, I can't imagine our club having anywhere near enough pull to influence programming priorities for what are commercial enterprises .

Granted, Fitzroy themed shows would be wonderful for those who are 100% emotionally invested in Fitzroy history.

I mean no disrespect but I can't imagine that that demographic would be significant in the eyes of the media you have mentioned

EDIT: I concur wholeheartedly that wearing the FFC jumper for one or more of our REAL Melbourne games would be a damn fine idea.
 
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I'm not sure of the logistics of training at Brunswick Street but if it's feasible then hell yeah......why not?

As far as Foxtel, free to air, Front Bar etc are concerned, I can't imagine our club having anywhere near enough pull to influence programming priorities for what are commercial enterprises .

Granted, Fitzroy themed shows would be wonderful for those who are 100% emotionally invested in Fitzroy history.

I mean no disrespect but I can't imagine that that demographic would be significant in the eyes of the media you have mentioned

EDIT: I concur wholeheartedly that wearing the FFC jumper for one or more of our REAL Melbourne games would be a damn fine idea.
I think you'd be surprised . I know a lot of people who've been lifelong Pies or Tiges supporters and their second club was always Fitzroy.

There's still a lot of interest in the heritage and history of the club particularly since Fitzroy has become the latte socialists location of choice.

Ironically the club would've prospered had it survived ,it's now all about making the most of what we can out of what remains to benefit the current Lions.
 
With respect to other media running with the Fitzroy story, I doubt it. The merger itself was ripe for a documentary/coverage for a long time and the only entity willing to do that was the club itself (although Fox ran it once we had done all the hard yards)
 
Oct 17, 2000
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I'm not sure of the logistics of training at Brunswick Street but if it's feasible then hell yeah......why not?

Why not indeed. It happened last season.


As far as Foxtel, free to air, Front Bar etc are concerned, I can't imagine our club having anywhere near enough pull to influence programming priorities for what are commercial enterprises .

The suggestion wasn't about them changing their programming. For example the Front Bar would run exactly the same format but the guests might be former Fitzroy players that week.
 
Why not indeed. It happened last season.




The suggestion wasn't about them changing their programming. For example the Front Bar would run exactly the same format but the guests might be former Fitzroy players that week.
...and us current supporters who followed the transition having to listen to these past Fitzroy players bagging the Brisbane Lions, how Brisbane is not doing enough for the Fitzroy supporters, how their heart is not in the new entity, how they now lost interest in football or they now follow the" Upertimbactoo" thirds yadda yadda yadda
 
Expanding on my previous post, I do remember Pikey on the Front Bar and it shocked me how little connection he expressed and showed to Brisbane Lions and Leigh with which he won three Premierships. He expressed greater connection to North and Pagan. It saddened me and he is not the first Fitzroy ex player to do the same in the media and to some extent denigrate the Brisbane LIONS. I am sick of it. I am sick of having to read it here and watch it in the media.

IMO using the Edward Gough Whitlam "IT"S TIME" to cut the umbilical and let Brisbane LIons be it's own entity. Having less games in Melbourne when it’s clearly an economic and cultural benefit to our current club is a first step and an important one for the future. I'm in it for a lifetime ride. If some old Fitzroy supporters don't like it. Stiff t***ies.
 
Oct 17, 2000
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...and us current supporters who followed the transition having to listen to these past Fitzroy players bagging the Brisbane Lions, how Brisbane is not doing enough for the Fitzroy supporters, how their heart is not in the new entity, how they now lost interest in football or they now follow the" Upertimbactoo" thirds yadda yadda yadda

Why are you surprised?

Like Fitzroy supporters, former Fitzroy players remain divided on the Brisbane Lions, given the circumstances of 1996. Some support them and follow them closely, others do not.
 
Why are you surprised?

Like Fitzroy supporters, former Fitzroy players remain divided on the Brisbane Lions, given the circumstances of 1996. Some support them and follow them closely, others do not.
I'm not surprised I just had enough of the whining, whinging, bleating, on and on of people yelling at clouds. However you must admit there is a level of fascination watching, reading it, listening to it. Like drive by a car accident, can't help but slow down to see what's going on.
 

Dylan12

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IMO using the Edward Gough Whitlam "IT"S TIME" to cut the umbilical and let Brisbane LIons be it's own entity. Having less games in Melbourne when it’s clearly an economic and cultural benefit to our current club is a first step and an important one for the future. I'm in it for a lifetime ride. If some old Fitzroy supporters don't like it. Stiff t***ies.
If that is the attitude and I'm sure plenty at the club think that way, then de-merge the club and stop trading on the Lions name and go back to being the Bears.

You can't have it each way.

At least Sydney are aware of their roots, its such a shame that so many Brisbane supporters see those of us from the Fitzroy side of the family as a nuisance, despite only ever wanting what was agreed. :rolleyes:
 

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Dylan12

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I'm not surprised I just had enough of the whining, whinging, bleating, on and on of people yelling at clouds. However you must admit there is a level of fascination watching, reading it, listening to it. Like drive by a car accident, can't help but slow down to see what's going on.
Its funny that those of us that "whinge" and "yell at the clouds" because we are fighting for what was sold to us as a unique "merged" club should quieten down and do as we are told so you lot can carry on as if everything should be perfect.

Given that you lot support a "merged" club, it honestly staggers me that you are in fact surprised that you have a supposed "dissenting"group of supporters. Perhaps if YOU hate it so much then you should change clubs, because let's face it, as long as we stay a merged club, you are always going to have us "irritating old Fitzroy / Melbourne based supporters" spoiling it for you lot that want to live with your head in the clouds and only have one group of supporters that are happy provided they get their 12 games in Queensland each year.
 
You can't have it each way.

Actually, we can and we will. Hence why we trade under the Lions name and don't play 6 games in Melbourne.

as long as we stay a merged club, you are always going to have us "irritating old Fitzroy / Melbourne based supporters" spoiling it for you lot that want to live with your head in the clouds and only have one group of supporters that are happy provided they get their 12 games in Queensland each year.

Every kid born since 1996 has only ever seen a competition with the Lions in it. I doubt the calls to preserve Fitzroy's history will be as strong in 30 years.
 
Oct 17, 2000
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I'm not surprised I just had enough of the whining, whinging, bleating, on and on of people yelling at clouds.

I think most Fitzroy people who now support the Brisbane Lions just want what was promised in 1996.

I vividly remember attending a shareholders / members meeting in late 1996 convened by then named Brisbane Bears who stated that"
1. the Fitzroy Lion logo would be used forever by the Club.."in perpetuity"
2, Ther would always be six Lions games at least in Melbourne

and because of those reasons Fitzroy supporters should get on board with the "Brisbane Lions" and not join another Melbourne based club.

Both 'promises' have been broken.

However you must admit there is a level of fascination watching, reading it, listening to it. Like drive by a car accident, can't help but slow down to see what's going on.

If you find it tiresome, then the solution is obvious.
 

Dylan12

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Actually, we can and we will. Hence why we trade under the Lions name and don't play 6 games in Melbourne.

Of course you lot want it that way. :rolleyes:

I'd honestly welcome you and the Greg Swann's of the world to come out and say you have no interest in maintaining and fighting for what the "merged"club represented and stood for when the Merger Agreement was executed given such resentment to the club's Victorian fans. And if that is the case, perhaps Brisbane can go back to being the Koala Bears again.

Every kid born since 1996 has only ever seen a competition with the Lions in it. I doubt the calls to preserve Fitzroy's history will be as strong in 30 years.

Maybe, but I think you'll be surprised. Some actually do give a crap about a club's history, but I guess people like you are better served by continuing to beat down on anyone that fights for our club's history, or at least one aspect of it, because we "whinge" too much.
 
Of course you lot want it that way. :rolleyes:

I'd honestly welcome you and the Greg Swann's of the world to come out and say you have no interest in maintaining and fighting for what the "merged"club represented and stood for when the Merger Agreement was executed given such resentment to the club's Victorian fans. And if that is the case, perhaps Brisbane can go back to being the Koala Bears again.



Maybe, but I think you'll be surprised. Some actually do give a crap about a club's history, but I guess people like you are better served by continuing to beat down on anyone that fights for our club's history, or at least one aspect of it, because we "whinge" too much.

No point going back to the Koala Bears when we can just ignore the merger agreement tbh.
 
Oct 17, 2000
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Expanding on my previous post, I do remember Pikey on the Front Bar and it shocked me how little connection he expressed and showed to Brisbane Lions and Leigh with which he won three Premierships. He expressed greater connection to North and Pagan.

No he didn't. And even if he did (which he didn't), it was North Melbourne that picked him up after Fitzroy left the AFL, after Brisbane rejected him.

It saddened me and he is not the first Fitzroy ex player to do the same in the media and to some extent denigrate the Brisbane LIONS.

What are you talking about? I've just re-watched the interview. Denigrate the Brisbane Lions? From the Front Bar on 15th September.

After agreeing with Mick Molloy that Brisbane keeps the connection with Fitzroy Pike says "The merger has really worked well." He calls the Brisbane Lions three peat premiership team "Very special" and then at the end he picks Richmond as the premiers, but says the Lions are still there. "Good Luck to the Lions."

Let's go to an interview done with Mike Sheahan "Open Mike" on August 27th, 2012 where Martin Pike said the following about Brisbane. He called the Brisbane era an "amazing" time, he wasn't negative towards Brisbane at all...other than perhaps what he got paid which was about $150,000 a year.

"
 

LionsMaw

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If that is the attitude and I'm sure plenty at the club think that way, then de-merge the club and stop trading on the Lions name and go back to being the Bears.

You can't have it each way.

At least Sydney are aware of their roots, its such a shame that so many Brisbane supporters see those of us from the Fitzroy side of the family as a nuisance, despite only ever wanting what was agreed. :rolleyes:

Sydney was never two clubs being put together so it's easy to make the fans of the swans happy because the only history the swans have had has been Sth Melb.
 

Paul Mac

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Expanding on my previous post, I do remember Pikey on the Front Bar and it shocked me how little connection he expressed and showed to Brisbane Lions and Leigh with which he won three Premierships. He expressed greater connection to North and Pagan. It saddened me and he is not the first Fitzroy ex player to do the same in the media and to some extent denigrate the Brisbane LIONS. I am sick of it. I am sick of having to read it here and watch it in the media.

IMO using the Edward Gough Whitlam "IT"S TIME" to cut the umbilical and let Brisbane LIons be it's own entity. Having less games in Melbourne when it’s clearly an economic and cultural benefit to our current club is a first step and an important one for the future. I'm in it for a lifetime ride. If some old Fitzroy supporters don't like it. Stiff t***ies.
i remember watching this episode with Pikey on the Front Bar and i cant remember it coming across this way at all. Think i will have to rewatch again to ensure i did not miss anything.
 

royboys4eva

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Expanding on my previous post, I do remember Pikey on the Front Bar and it shocked me how little connection he expressed and showed to Brisbane Lions and Leigh with which he won three Premierships. He expressed greater connection to North and Pagan. It saddened me and he is not the first Fitzroy ex player to do the same in the media and to some extent denigrate the Brisbane LIONS. I am sick of it. I am sick of having to read it here and watch it in the media.

IMO using the Edward Gough Whitlam "IT"S TIME" to cut the umbilical and let Brisbane LIons be it's own entity. Having less games in Melbourne when it’s clearly an economic and cultural benefit to our current club is a first step and an important one for the future. I'm in it for a lifetime ride. If some old Fitzroy supporters don't like it. Stiff t***ies.


Less games in Melbourne - that will work!! Some people just don't get it. The Richmond game at the G in round 23 would have seen close to 7/8000 Fitzroy supporters there. How many non Vic teams would get that support?

Terrible take. BTW how did Jono Brown end up at the Lions ?
 
Personally I think the Fitzroy link is a great asset and one the club does fairly well these days acknowledging despite some pretty hefty negative implications financially at a time we're struggling with debt and are under the thumb of the AFL. I think its something that continues to be worth working and fighting for and I completely understand those who wil continue to do so, and applaud you for that.

However I can also see that having a certain few be very loud and angry every time there's a slight negative though is starting to wear some people down, to the point where others start taking the whole lump it or leave it angle.

Certainly be upset when things such as the melb games (which is a big thing) ends up like it has this year (i'd be pretty pissed too) but there's rarely any acknowledgement of the things the club does well with regards to its fitzroy fans engagement, more of a "ok thats nice but what else are they doing" sort of mentality. If the focus is always on the negative aspects and the positives are treated with a high degree of dismissiveness then don't be shocked if some rile against that.

Like usual the issue isn't with the argument, its the way its being argued, without any acknowledgement of the counterpoint or the fact that there are things out of the clubs control.
 

Dylan12

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Personally I think the Fitzroy link is a great asset and one the club does fairly well these days acknowledging despite some pretty hefty negative implications financially at a time we're struggling with debt and are under the thumb of the AFL. I think its something that continues to be worth working and fighting for and I completely understand those who wil continue to do so, and applaud you for that.

However I can also see that having a certain few be very loud and angry every time there's a slight negative though is starting to wear some people down, to the point where others start taking the whole lump it or leave it angle.

Certainly be upset when things such as the melb games (which is a big thing) ends up like it has this year (i'd be pretty pissed too) but there's rarely any acknowledgement of the things the club does well with regards to its fitzroy fans engagement, more of a "ok thats nice but what else are they doing" sort of mentality. If the focus is always on the negative aspects and the positives are treated with a high degree of dismissiveness then don't be shocked if some rile against that.

Like usual the issue isn't with the argument, its the way its being argued, without any acknowledgement of the counterpoint or the fact that there are things out of the clubs control.
FWIW, I've always commended the club on its treatment and recognition that Bulldog Murray / Arthur Wilson gets, the fact our new draftees are sent down to Melbourne each year to tour the Fitzroy museum and speak to Arthur (even more relevant given Fitzroy wasn't around when our draftees were born) and of course everything that Sam Lord and the Melbourne office does. Throw in the Fitzroy Historical Society functions which I think the club has some involvement with. You'll never hear me say a bad word about a lot of what some sections of the club does.

I'm not saying you personally, but I don't think any of us perceived "whingers" that fiercely stick up for our Fitzroy roots, also don't recognise the club for its ongoing efforts. I know I and many others let the likes of Sam Lord know of our gratitude because they get it. I know I may come on strong with respect to Fitzroy and what us Melbourne fans deserve and what we were "sold" but if it isn't for us minorities, then perhaps some our history will be forgotten in time. I'd like to think our passion does make a difference and whether the Brisbane based fans with no connection to Fitzroy care or not, we will continue fighting and not be silenced, because we do care.
 

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