POBT
Brownlow Medallist
I agree. I’d much rather a shared historical record but I don’t think there’s consensus among former Fitzroy supporters about what that might look like. There are those fiercely protective of preserving Fitzroy’s history as being owned by the FFC and others who want to see every part of Fitzroy’s heritage represented in today’s game through the Lions. I’m not a former Fitzroy supporter so it isn’t my place to join that argument but I would rather find a way that unites rather than divides supporters. Trying to include Fitzroy records as Brisbane Lions records just seems to me to create too much angst so a 1997 start to official records will do me.I’m personally of the view that our records should relate to the Brisbane Lions only i.e. 1997 onwards and that the Bears and Fitzroy stats are stand alone and retained by the club.
What shits me the most is reading the AFL Record to see we’ve played a club X amount of times or a players records and it includes the Bears record between 87-96; yet Fitzroy’s is forgotten.
If it wasn’t just the Brisbane Lions records since 97, there wouldn’t be as much an issue.
However, if we’re talking corporate entities, as I understand it, the corporate entity playing the AFL is the one that joined the competition in 1987 as the Brisbane Bears.
If we want to quote ACNs and deeds of company arrangement, then the Bears’ record is the one that should be cited. The Bears, albeit following a rebranding and name change, won the three flags in a row - not the Brisbane Lions - a club which celebrates two histories and is forging a shared way forward. We all support ACN 054 263 573, not a footy club.
That all feels quite unsatisfying. When you reduce a footy club to its legal identity, you lose so much about what makes footy great. I don’t support an ACN - I’m not sure anyone does.