Ask the Fitzroy faithful for an immediate reaction to ‘North Melbourne’ and you might get one of two responses. A varied reaction to the Brisbane-Fitzroy-North Melbourne merger triangle of almost 24 years ago, or splendid memories of one of the great wins in Fitzroy history in 1983.
It is a topic relevant this week in what was originally to be Round 13 of the 2020 AFL season, when the Brisbane Lions were scheduled to play North Melbourne in Hobart on Saturday afternoon.
As our Coronavirus flashback series continues, we look at both. The failed merger push from North Melbourne which would have wiped the Lions name from the AFL landscape, and a Fitzroy win which provided the biggest form reversal in club history.
Firstly, an abbreviated summary of the merger.
Finalised on 4 July 1996, it was the biggest story of the AFL Centenary Year in 1996, when a proposed end-of-season union between Hawthorn and Melbourne to form the Melbourne Hawks fell at the final hurdle after Melbourne had voted in favour.
The Brisbane-Fitzroy merger came about because Fitzroy, a foundation club of the League in 1897, had reached a position of such financial hardship that they had nowhere else to go. It was literally merge or bust.
In May 1996 North Melbourne, themselves a smaller inner-city club battling to keep pace with the emerging AFL superpowers, had publicly proposed a union to form the North Melbourne-Fitzroy Kangaroos.
Enticed by a $6million merger carrot offered by the AFL the year before, North outlined the key terms and conditions under which they would proceed. They wanted a playing list of 50, a $400,000 salary cap allowance, and the right to trade Fitzroy players and retain draft picks.
It was a challenging time. There were concerns from long-suffering Fitzroy fans that the formal club name of North Melbourne-Fitzroy would quickly become North Melbourne, and concerns from opposition clubs that North, later to win the 1996 premiership, would become a superpower.
The North proposal was rejected overwhelmingly by the opposition clubs, and ultimately the clubs endorsed a merger with Brisbane that allowed with a playing list of 44, a $300,000 cap allowance reducing to nil in three years, an improved debt repayment schedule and fewer trade and draft conditions.
In truth, it was a whole lot more complicated than one option or the other. There were countless meetings and untold public and confidential negotiations.
Significantly, the Nauru Insurance Corporation, owed $1.25m by Fitzroy, had appointed an administrator to recoup their debts. This was critical. It took the decision-making power away from the Fitzroy Board and gave it to the Administrator. Suddenly it became all about the Fitzroy debt and their creditors.
In final negotiations, the Brisbane negotiating team of chairman Noel Gordon, CEO Andrew Ireland and fellow director Graeme Downie made a key move. They offered to exclude the Administrator’s fees from the pool of money available to the creditors, thereby increasing the pot of money.
The AFL Commission, headed by Chairman John Kennedy, presented final offers from Brisbane and North Melbourne to the Fitzroy Administrator and asked him for a recommendation. The Commission would then make a decision.
Thirty minutes later Kennedy emerged from the Board Room with the verdict. Brisbane had won. And the Brisbane Lions were born.
Significantly, the name ‘Lions’ and the Fitzroy colours were to be retained, and the long, proud history of Fitzroy was to be preserved and cherished.
The Fitzroy element of the Footy Flashback series that has run on www.lions.com.au is part of the ongoing commitment to the merger, the proud Fitzroy history, and this week to an extraordinary Fitzroy win over North Melbourne at Junction Oval in 1983.
It was Round 13 – Saturday 18 June 1983. Fitzroy, coached by Robert Walls, and North, under Barry Cable, each had a 9-3 win/loss record and shared top spot on the ladder with Essendon.
Fitzroy had gone on a seven-match winning streak from Round 2 which included 40-point wins over North and Essendon but they had lost two of their previous four games and given the critics reason to question their authenticity.
It was time for a response. And what a response it was. They were 35 points up at halftime and obliterated the Kangaroos 21-8 to 2-7 in the second half to win 34-16 (220) to 10-10 (70).
After a 33-point loss to Hawthorn in Round 12, this represented a 183-point turnaround.
It was a Fitzroy record that would never be broken. The Fitzroy total of 24-16 (220) in their demolition of North and their 150-point winning margin each ranked second in the club’s 1928 matches, behind only their 36-22 (238) score in a 190-point thumping of Melbourne at Waverley in 1979.
Full forward/ruckman Matt Rendell, later to win the club best & fairest award for the second year in a row, kicked a career-best eight goals to lead the rout. Rendell, later to play one last season with the Brisbane Bears as a favour to coach Walls and now a member of the Brisbane Lions Hall of Fame, took seven marks and had 19 disposals. He also had 27 hit-outs against legendary North ruckman Gary Dempsey in just his 54th game. And he kicked 8-0.
Bernie Quinlan, in his 293rd game, kicked seven goals on his way to a career-best season total of 116 goals that won him the 1983 Coleman Medal.
Quinlan, who turned 32 at Round 16, put together a season goal sheet that is unthinkable in the modern game. In 24 games he kicked 5-7-2-2-3-10-3-8-4-3-4-9-7-3-4-5-6-5-5-3-3-5-8-2. And he followed up with 105 goals in 23 games in 1984.
Mick Conlan, in his 119th game, also kicked seven goals on route to a season total of 51 which was good enough for fifth spot on the goal-kicking list.
Captain Garry Wilson had 25 disposals and kicked four goals in his 234th game, Leigh Carlson 27 disposals and three goals in his 87th game, David McMahon two goals in his 208th game, and Les Parish a career-best 39 disposals in his 58th game.
Twenty-three years later in 2006 Quinlan, Wilson and Conlan were three of seven members of this record-breaking side named in the Fitzroy Team of the Century. The others were Paul Roos, Gary Pert, Warwick Irwin and Richard Osborne.
Quinlan, Wilson and Roos were inaugural inductees to the Lions Hall of Fame in 2012, and were followed by Pert and Rendell in 2016, when Wilson was elevated to Legend status. Irwin, Osborne and coach Walls in 2019.
Also playing against North Melbourne on that unforgettable day almost 37 years ago was long-time Brisbane Lions recruiting boss and list manager Scott Clayton, current Lions recruiter Leon Harris, current Lions Board member Ross Thornton, former Lions Board member Laurie Serafini and utility player Daryl Cox who, like Rendell, later played for the Bears.
The Fitzroy side that day was:
B: Graeme Hinchen, Gary Pert, Lawrie Serafini
HB: Grant Lawrie, Paul Roos, Ross Thornton
C: Warwick Irwin, Les Parish, Leigh Carlson
HF: David McMahon, Bernie Quinlan, Richard Osborne
F: Mick Conlan, Matt Rendell, Leon Harris
R: Garry Sidebottom, Scott Clayton, Garry Wilson (capt)
INT: Daryl Cox, Glenn Coleman.
COACH: Robert Walls
