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- #1
I posted the following on the Brisbane Board a couple of days ago, to see whether any Roys who now follow the Brisbane Lions would be interested in making a comment about a serious football topic, that has a bearing on their club. However it appears that the Brisbane posters were more interested in talking about how they were going to beat the number of posts that the Kangaroo board currently have. The lack of response also appears to indicate little interest in Fitzroy or its current doings by Brisbane fans and maybe strengthens the case for a seperate Fitzroy board on Big Footy, where these sort of things can be discussed.
Anyway I'd be interested in Fitzroy people's views on the following. I hope to give some feedback from supporters to a couple of the directors of the FFC that I have regular contact with, as to what FFC should / could be doing in the future. If there is little to no response here (and I know there are few old Fitzroy supporters who read these boards) and who perhaps don't read the Brisbane Board, well that also says something about the FFC's future.
Where to now for the Fitzroy Football Club Ltd? The latest disappointing news is that apparently is the City of Yarra, in response to a Victorian State Government decision to cap the number of poker machines in the state has refused the Fitzroy Football Club’s application to manage pokies in their intended social club at Rising Sun Hotel. Rather than appeal the decision which could take two-three years to resolve, the FFC Ltd., has decided not to pursue the Rising Sun as an option for a social club. This is a bitter blow for the many people that support the Fitzroy Football Club.
An U/19 team which was intended to be run by the FFC Ltd., for the 2001 season has also not come to fruition at least for this year.
Apparently Fitzroy and Tasmania were talking about the possibility of aligning to place a team in the VFL. Despite being approached by Tasmania originally, the FFC board asked for the proposal in writing and received no further response. According to one Fitzroy director I know, the proposal had “cold water” (his words) poured over it, not by Tasmania, but by the VFL itself. Tasmania not wishing to jeopardise it’s entry into the VFL therefore dropped the proposal.
Preston and Fitzroy have also been talking, but while Preston are keen to have Fitzroy’s money and members (well over 1,000) they aren’t, according to my information, prepared to give enough guarantees about Fitzroy’s identity or corporate independence or enough representation on their board.
The question therefore is what should the FFC Ltd do in the future? On the face of it, it would seem that the board of FFC Ltd. as the last legally elected board should be the logical body that should manage the growing Victorian arm of the Brisbane Lions. However for various reasons this is very unlikely to occur. As it stands the Fitzroy ‘family’ remains divided. The VFL, who you would think stands most to gain from having at least a couple of thousand Fitzroy diehards attending it's fixtures on a regular basis appears to be deliberatly discouraging a Fitzroy presence and identity in its competition, which quite frankly I find very surprising.
In a way this division may spell the end of both the FFC Ltd. and also any aspirations that the Brisbane Lions have of building Victorian membership much beyond 3,000, even though it is obvious Brisbane’s supporter base in Victoria is much greater than 3,000. The board of the FFC Ltd. are confident that there is a great deal of latent support for ‘Fitzroy’ out there….. up to at least 60,000 Victorians they believe, but there is little for many of them to focus on without a fair-dinkum Fitzroy side, wearing the old guernsey etc. etc. in a senior Victorian or national side. It was hoped that Coburg-Fitzroy would fulfill this role, but this also fell through, for reasons totally beyond Fitzroy’s control.
FFC has three options open to it in the future in my view. It needs to justify its existence as a football club and run one-two-three sides in different competitions. Otherwise it will disappear completely due to lack of interest.
1. Pursue closer relations with the Brisbane Lions (reciprocal) and use those connections to lobby for a position in the VFL as a stand-alone team bearing the name 'Fitzroy', the colours and the emblem. This new club might have close ties with Brisbane in terms of sponsorship, membership etc and might also have FFC acting as the controller of the Victorian arm of the Brisbane Lions.
2. Continue to support the Fitzroy Reds and Fitzroy Juniors only from the Brunswick Street Ground and eventually establish an U/19 team to operate only in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
3. Continue to seek a completely independent "alignment" with an existing VFL club, or as some continually hope for, a Melbourne based AFL club to get back into senior Victorian football.
Any comments would be welcomed.
Anyway I'd be interested in Fitzroy people's views on the following. I hope to give some feedback from supporters to a couple of the directors of the FFC that I have regular contact with, as to what FFC should / could be doing in the future. If there is little to no response here (and I know there are few old Fitzroy supporters who read these boards) and who perhaps don't read the Brisbane Board, well that also says something about the FFC's future.
Where to now for the Fitzroy Football Club Ltd? The latest disappointing news is that apparently is the City of Yarra, in response to a Victorian State Government decision to cap the number of poker machines in the state has refused the Fitzroy Football Club’s application to manage pokies in their intended social club at Rising Sun Hotel. Rather than appeal the decision which could take two-three years to resolve, the FFC Ltd., has decided not to pursue the Rising Sun as an option for a social club. This is a bitter blow for the many people that support the Fitzroy Football Club.
An U/19 team which was intended to be run by the FFC Ltd., for the 2001 season has also not come to fruition at least for this year.
Apparently Fitzroy and Tasmania were talking about the possibility of aligning to place a team in the VFL. Despite being approached by Tasmania originally, the FFC board asked for the proposal in writing and received no further response. According to one Fitzroy director I know, the proposal had “cold water” (his words) poured over it, not by Tasmania, but by the VFL itself. Tasmania not wishing to jeopardise it’s entry into the VFL therefore dropped the proposal.
Preston and Fitzroy have also been talking, but while Preston are keen to have Fitzroy’s money and members (well over 1,000) they aren’t, according to my information, prepared to give enough guarantees about Fitzroy’s identity or corporate independence or enough representation on their board.
The question therefore is what should the FFC Ltd do in the future? On the face of it, it would seem that the board of FFC Ltd. as the last legally elected board should be the logical body that should manage the growing Victorian arm of the Brisbane Lions. However for various reasons this is very unlikely to occur. As it stands the Fitzroy ‘family’ remains divided. The VFL, who you would think stands most to gain from having at least a couple of thousand Fitzroy diehards attending it's fixtures on a regular basis appears to be deliberatly discouraging a Fitzroy presence and identity in its competition, which quite frankly I find very surprising.
In a way this division may spell the end of both the FFC Ltd. and also any aspirations that the Brisbane Lions have of building Victorian membership much beyond 3,000, even though it is obvious Brisbane’s supporter base in Victoria is much greater than 3,000. The board of the FFC Ltd. are confident that there is a great deal of latent support for ‘Fitzroy’ out there….. up to at least 60,000 Victorians they believe, but there is little for many of them to focus on without a fair-dinkum Fitzroy side, wearing the old guernsey etc. etc. in a senior Victorian or national side. It was hoped that Coburg-Fitzroy would fulfill this role, but this also fell through, for reasons totally beyond Fitzroy’s control.
FFC has three options open to it in the future in my view. It needs to justify its existence as a football club and run one-two-three sides in different competitions. Otherwise it will disappear completely due to lack of interest.
1. Pursue closer relations with the Brisbane Lions (reciprocal) and use those connections to lobby for a position in the VFL as a stand-alone team bearing the name 'Fitzroy', the colours and the emblem. This new club might have close ties with Brisbane in terms of sponsorship, membership etc and might also have FFC acting as the controller of the Victorian arm of the Brisbane Lions.
2. Continue to support the Fitzroy Reds and Fitzroy Juniors only from the Brunswick Street Ground and eventually establish an U/19 team to operate only in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
3. Continue to seek a completely independent "alignment" with an existing VFL club, or as some continually hope for, a Melbourne based AFL club to get back into senior Victorian football.
Any comments would be welcomed.
