When the Lions almost became Bulldogs - The Age

[Roylion]

An article in The Age today...

It was sitting there wedged in the box, sliced between random papers, its black plastic binder half -broken, the transparent cover a window on what was inside and what might have been in football.

Matt Rendell was working through the old box at home throwing stuff out when he came across the folder.

The Victorian Football League letterhead was a moment of jolting nostalgia.

“Background to the Fitzroy Bulldogs” the title read. It is dated October 3, 1989.

It was the document confirming the official merger of the Fitzroy and Footscray football clubs. It is an aggressively bullish outline of the rationale of the merger and scopes out in detail how this merged entity will work and why it must work.

Full article

 

[FitzroyPete]

An article in The Age today...

It was sitting there wedged in the box, sliced between random papers, its black plastic binder half -broken, the transparent cover a window on what was inside and what might have been in football.

Matt Rendell was working through the old box at home throwing stuff out when he came across the folder.

The Victorian Football League letterhead was a moment of jolting nostalgia.

“Background to the Fitzroy Bulldogs” the title read. It is dated October 3, 1989.

It was the document confirming the official merger of the Fitzroy and Footscray football clubs. It is an aggressively bullish outline of the rationale of the merger and scopes out in detail how this merged entity will work and why it must work.

Full article

Thanks for posting this article, Roylion.
It's interesting to wonder what might have been.
Notwithstanding that the club was formed in 1883 and first played in 1884, had Fitzroy merged with Footscray it would've meant that we wouldn't have reached 100 years as a standalone entity in the VFL-AFL (1897-1996).
However, the flipside is the Fitzroy name would've survived in the AFL, which of course began the season after the failed merger talks with the Bulldogs.
I thought Leon Wiegard's comments summed things up for many Roys supporters (myself included).

“I’ve always felt that after Fitzroy merged (as the Brisbane Lions), it was not like barracking for your son,'' Wiegard said. ''It’s like barracking for your cousin’s son. There’s a connection there, but it is not the same.”

 

[Roylion]

There is a connection there - sure - but you and Leon Wiegard are right..."its not the same".

It nice to see the original Fitzroy Football Club still gpoing around in Melbourne - albiet in the VAFA. In many ways a merger with a Melbourne based AFL club would have been better. North Melbourne, Footscray and Melbourne were the clubs that we came closest to merging with.

I could have lived with the "Melbourne Lions'. Name of the city as the club name, MCG as our home ground, Fitzroy's colours red, royal blue and gold, and of course the Fitzroy lion as the club logo. And plenty of games in Melbourne.

 

[Len S]

Thanks for posting this article, Roylion.
It's interesting to wonder what might have been.
Notwithstanding that the club was formed in 1883 and first played in 1884, had Fitzroy merged with Footscray it would've meant that we wouldn't have reached 100 years as a standalone entity in the VFL-AFL (1897-1996).
However, the flipside is the Fitzroy name would've survived in the AFL, which of course began the season after the failed merger talks with the Bulldogs.
I thought Leon Wiegard's comments summed things up for many Roys supporters (myself included).

“I’ve always felt that after Fitzroy merged (as the Brisbane Lions), it was not like barracking for your son,'' Wiegard said. ''It’s like barracking for your cousin’s son. There’s a connection there, but it is not the same.”

Then there was the time he sold off Gary Pert !Weigard and brother were an odd couple.