Quarter of a century without Fitzroy: Is the AFL better or worse off?

[Rusty Brookes]

While Fitzroy only had 8,000 members at the time of the merger, it's worth noting Collingwood only had 20,000 or so at the same time. The AFL as an organisation was still stuck in the same old school mentality where crowd numbers were the only way to make money. They still hadn't quite grasped what a goldmine the TV rights were and of course, there's now the online revenue, game day advertising, corporate experiences etc. All those money making avenues that Fitzroy were denied.

Is the AFL better off now than it was in 1996? Absolutely in terms of being able to support smaller clubs. So the question shouldn't be is the AFL better or worse off without Fitzroy? It's could Fitzroy have been part of the AFL's future and still be competing in the AFL today? Given the model for making money is so much different now the answer would have to be yes. What that would have meant for Brisbane I don't know. Would they have been the early 2000s juggernaut without that kick from Fitzroy? Who knows?

It might have even got the AFL thinking about a third smaller stadium in Melbourne, something I reckon that would be great.

 

[laverton_nuffy]

Fitzroy were my 2nd team and I have always had a big soft spot for them.

To answer you question though, it is a national game now and besides the AFL charity baskets most have to walk for themselves. Fitzroy unfortunately were struggling and were not seen as a risk worth carrying.

More than that they were insolvent

In debt to a foreign country who called it in

Were being run out of a pub

Sad as it was… they were done

 

[Roylion]

So to relate to a book club - let's say the Wiggle book club consists of a bunch of books and some tables and chairs. They are all sold to the Waggle book club, including the register of members which is now to be known as the Wiggle Waggle book club.

Are the shareholder members of the Wiggle Book Club continuous members of said club, both before and after the sale of the assets? And as to the register of members sold to the Waggle Book club. Does that mean they are automatic members of the Wiggle Waggle book club, upon the sale being recieved?

Or did the Waggle book club merely rebrand to the Wiggle Waggle Book Club, after assets were sold to them to pay off debts of the Wiggle Book club, so that they could get some extra members?

Does the Wiggle book club still exist?

Selling the register of members does not mean the members of the Wiggle Book Club are now members of the Wiggle Waggle book club. Shareholder members of the Wiggle book club are still members of the same Wiggle book club, irrespective of whether the Wiggle book club have a temporary loss of assets or not. Having temporarily no books or table or chairs does not mean the Wiggle book club ceases to exist, especially when there are still paid up members of the Wiggle book club and the original executive committee still directs the club with the members' support and agreement.

The shareholder members and the original executive committee of the continuing Wiggle Book Club can immediately start acquiring new books, new tables and new chairs and hence continue to exist independently of the Wiggle Waggle book club which in itself is a rebrand of the originally called Waggle book club.

 

[Roylion]

More than that they were insolvent

No they weren't

In debt to a foreign country who called it in

Not due to be paid back until 2001. Ask the AFL why it was called in.

Were being run out of a pub

Administration offices and social club was at the three storey Charles Albion, (renamed the Fitzroy Club Hotel) just up from the Brunswick Street Oval which was in the process of being returned to as a training ground.

Sad as it was… they were done

Could have easily been saved. $2.7 million debt in total and 1.25 million of that was owed to Nauru.

 

[Toump Ass]

For those that argue that the Fitzroy Lions merged with the Brisbane Bears to become the Brisbane Lions in the AFL in 1997 - do you consider Fitzroy that is competing in the VAFA to be a entirely different football club to the football club that was apart of the VFL/AFL? So do you guys think the VFL/AFL version of Fitzroy from 1897-1996 is dead?

Of course.

A club in recess for two seasons during the greatest war in history is not the same as being in "recess" for over a decade, unable to play in even an amateur competition.

None of my ex-Fitzroy supporting mates care about the VAFA club. Why would they?

 

[footyfan1978]

Of course.

A club in recess for two seasons during the greatest war in history is not the same as being in "recess" for over a decade, unable to play in even an amateur competition.

None of my ex-Fitzroy supporting mates care about the VAFA club. Why would they?

What do they actually do now in terms of following footy or supporting any team?
Do they watch football at all at AFL level or too upset to want to?

 

[Toump Ass]

What do they actually do now in terms of following footy or supporting any team?
Do they watch football at all at AFL level or too upset to want to?

They mostly all just lost interest, some more quickly than others. Even my mate who went to all four grand-finals, as soon as the rebuild started he just cared less and less and eventually just stopped following the sport entirely. He said watching the flags was a hollow feeling; his family were diehards and I'm pretty sure they quit watching the sport entirely once their team were gone.

I'm not sure if I'd follow AFL if my team wasn't in it, pretty hard for me to find time for my other hobbies as it is.

 

[terrybull]

But did it really? It looks like Bears and Fitzroy both lost out a bit of image in this AFL run merger. The old Bears image is all gone. It is really just gone half way between Bears and Fitzroy colours which is ok in look but if you were a Bears fan from start you now lost maybe the aspect you loved and identified most. But I was not a Bears fan so cannot really know for sure but from outside this AFL run merger allowed for the Brisbane name to be the identity of the club and Lions nickname now added to try to make Fitzroy fans happy but when it not in your location it not much but token gesture within a so called merger. I mean if they had honoured the idea of playing in Fitzroy jumper when in Melbourne that really would have felt something more meaningful and though they done that a few times and it looked wonderful, they not really honoured the amount of
games in Melbourne to satisfy the few remaning Fitzroy fans there was left. So when I look at it, it seems both Bears and Fitzroy fans both lost out in this AFL run merger. But if you Brisbane based and Bears colours and image was not the main reason you followed them, it easier to digest this merger and embrace this merger as the Brisbane Lions. I mean, as an outsider their jumpers are nice, they play in Brisbane so it has not failed in terms of a club in Brisbane for AFL but if I was an original Bears pioneer fan and had no say in it, I may just have been peeved at Noel Gordon and the AFL run merger and feel it not the club I joined up for from the start. I feel for the few that felt like that, just as I feel for Fitzroy fans that no longer had their club that played in the league since the beginning of the actual league be there anymore. Yeah, you can see a little of Fitzroy colours and Lions emblem with the Noel Gordon and AFL takeover of Bears and Brisbane and so it at least looks the closest to your old Fitzroy club in this league but how it all feels is very different for each original fan of Fitzroy and Bears supporters from before that event.

I will not stop Fitzroy fans that want to believe Brisbane Lions is a continuation of their club or stop those that see it as a "rebranding" or stop those that believe it is neither of these and both clubs were screwed in this deal by the AFL and it just a new entity from 1997 onwards. As an outsider all those are valid feelings to see for how each supporter may have felt and identified with the club they followed before 1997. That is the truth to me, that all takes are valid and to say it is only one of those and everyone has to believe that take only is the nonsense I do not buy that some try to sell as the only take on what happended for Bears and Fitzroy fans. Basically whatever makes each fan happy. I feel more for the ones that simply say my club died at end of 1996 and I not buying any version of events by the AFL or others that the club I followed still is there in the AFL. Similarly I felt for any South fans that simply felt once Swans left and relocated it was a different club for them and not the one they followed originally. How each person feels is their truth.


I dunno, i just feel mainly sad about it and do not see much humour in what happened.

As for University well ironincally they broke up into University Black, Blue and even Red after their league days and the Reds relocated to the suburb of Fitzroy and have the nice gesture of wearing something like the old Fitzroy jumper now and sounds like they will try to honour the history of Fitzroy which is really nice to see so that maybe the closest thing to the spirit of Fitzroy that still around in some form. Least it at one of their old grounds. Hey, a "rebranding" or "merger"of University Reds to Fitzroy Reds after their move to suburb of Fitzroy is at least something for a few old Fitzroy fans to make some joy from which is wonderful. May it long continue.

Meanwhile the ghosts of West Melbourne football club and their fans would feel differently about University Students club history as they apparently took over the ground Wests played on and then took the spot in the league they thought they could have themselves. Then with that atttempt to join the league over the Wests could not even continue to play in the VFA at the time and so that was the end of them.

Haven’t read the whole post (will do it later)

But apart from Location, the most important they lost was the name Fitzroy.

Would be better call the team Brisbane-Fitzroy Lions.

Play in the Bears jumper at home, the Fitzroy jumper away and merged jumper in Finals

Footscray also lost a lot of their identity by renaming themselves Western.
Same case Springvale to Casey

 

[terrybull]

But did it really? It looks like Bears and Fitzroy both lost out a bit of image in this AFL run merger. The old Bears image is all gone. It is really just gone half way between Bears and Fitzroy colours which is ok in look but if you were a Bears fan from start you now lost maybe the aspect you loved and identified most. But I was not a Bears fan so cannot really know for sure but from outside this AFL run merger allowed for the Brisbane name to be the identity of the club and Lions nickname now added to try to make Fitzroy fans happy but when it not in your location it not much but token gesture within a so called merger. I mean if they had honoured the idea of playing in Fitzroy jumper when in Melbourne that really would have felt something more meaningful and though they done that a few times and it looked wonderful, they not really honoured the amount of
games in Melbourne to satisfy the few remaning Fitzroy fans there was left. So when I look at it, it seems both Bears and Fitzroy fans both lost out in this AFL run merger. But if you Brisbane based and Bears colours and image was not the main reason you followed them, it easier to digest this merger and embrace this merger as the Brisbane Lions. I mean, as an outsider their jumpers are nice, they play in Brisbane so it has not failed in terms of a club in Brisbane for AFL but if I was an original Bears pioneer fan and had no say in it, I may just have been peeved at Noel Gordon and the AFL run merger and feel it not the club I joined up for from the start. I feel for the few that felt like that, just as I feel for Fitzroy fans that no longer had their club that played in the league since the beginning of the actual league be there anymore. Yeah, you can see a little of Fitzroy colours and Lions emblem with the Noel Gordon and AFL takeover of Bears and Brisbane and so it at least looks the closest to your old Fitzroy club in this league but how it all feels is very different for each original fan of Fitzroy and Bears supporters from before that event.

I will not stop Fitzroy fans that want to believe Brisbane Lions is a continuation of their club or stop those that see it as a "rebranding" or stop those that believe it is neither of these and both clubs were screwed in this deal by the AFL and it just a new entity from 1997 onwards. As an outsider all those are valid feelings to see for how each supporter may have felt and identified with the club they followed before 1997. That is the truth to me, that all takes are valid and to say it is only one of those and everyone has to believe that take only is the nonsense I do not buy that some try to sell as the only take on what happended for Bears and Fitzroy fans. Basically whatever makes each fan happy. I feel more for the ones that simply say my club died at end of 1996 and I not buying any version of events by the AFL or others that the club I followed still is there in the AFL. Similarly I felt for any South fans that simply felt once Swans left and relocated it was a different club for them and not the one they followed originally. How each person feels is their truth.


I dunno, i just feel mainly sad about it and do not see much humour in what happened.

As for University well ironincally they broke up into University Black, Blue and even Red after their league days and the Reds relocated to the suburb of Fitzroy and have the nice gesture of wearing something like the old Fitzroy jumper now and sounds like they will try to honour the history of Fitzroy which is really nice to see so that maybe the closest thing to the spirit of Fitzroy that still around in some form. Least it at one of their old grounds. Hey, a "rebranding" or "merger"of University Reds to Fitzroy Reds after their move to suburb of Fitzroy is at least something for a few old Fitzroy fans to make some joy from which is wonderful. May it long continue.

Meanwhile the ghosts of West Melbourne football club and their fans would feel differently about University Students club history as they apparently took over the ground Wests played on and then took the spot in the league they thought they could have themselves. Then with that atttempt to join the league over the Wests could not even continue to play in the VFA at the time and so that was the end of them.

West Melbourne was absorbed by North Melbourne after they tried to unsuccessfully enter the VFL. Their merged jumper was Blue and white stripes with a red sash.
North Melbourne (with West Melbourne) had to disband to re-enter the VFA again. The new North Melbourne ditched West and the red sash so Westies were no more.

The club to lose their ground was the true team from Essendon - Essendon Association.

The fake Essendon moved from EMCG to Windy Hill and booted them out. So the Juggernauts were also no more…

 

[footyfan1978]

Haven’t read the whole post (will do it later)

But apart from Location, the most important they lost was the name Fitzroy.

Would be better call the team Brisbane-Fitzroy Lions.

Play in the Bears jumper at home, the Fitzroy jumper away and merged jumper in Finals

I do not know. Never seen any merger that works anyway in terms of really satisfying the feelings of enough fans that embrace it with the similar passion they had for their first loved club.
I mean when I was a little kid and went to visit relatives in Adelaide for school holidays I remember there were clubs like Woodville and West Torrens and apparently they merged at some point to become an entity called Eagles but without either name they not really seem like they anything but another entity with origins from those two clubs as their history.
Maybe at community level footy in suburbs and country football it probably works better but at higher levels it always seems there is more loss and it just will never be the same for any supporters of the two clubs before such events.
Maybe at the higher levels of sport relocations are actually better than mergers because least you still may see your team on tv and it looks the same even if in different location now like what happened with Swans. But still, the fans of South that really loved seeing them in their suburb probably felt they mostly died for them and no longer have the passion despite the colours of their club still live on in Sydney and on tv.

 

[footyfan1978]

West Melbourne was absorbed by North Melbourne after they tried to unsuccessfully enter the VFL. Their merged jumper was Blue and white stripes with a red sash.
North Melbourne (with West Melbourne) had to disband to re-enter the VFA again. The new North Melbourne ditched West and the red sash so Westies were no more.

The club to lose their ground was the true team from Essendon - Essendon Association.

The fake Essendon moved from EMCG to Windy Hill and booted them out. So the Juggernauts were also no more…

I think you missed that University took over the lease Wests had at EMFC too, so they played in the VFL and a lot of West players took up with North but some others went to other clubs. Basically when read up history it seems like University took the spot in the league that Wests might have got if they had not been kicked off EMFC so that ground could cater for one of Essendon teams and University to play on. Must admit, the Essendon stuff does get confusing with them having an A team and VFL team at same time in this period.

 

[terrybull]

I do not know. Never seen any merger that works anyway in terms of really satisfying the feelings of enough fans that embrace it with the similar passion they had for their first loved club.
I mean when I was a little kid and went to visit relatives in Adelaide for school holidays I remember there were clubs like Woodville and West Torrens and apparently they merged at some point to become an entity called Eagles but without either name they not really seem like they anything but another entity with origins from those two clubs as their history.
Maybe at community level footy in suburbs and country football it probably works better but at higher levels it always seems there is more loss and it just will never be the same for any supporters of the two clubs before such events.
Maybe at the higher levels of sport relocations are actually better than mergers because least you still may see your team on tv and it looks the same even if in different location now like what happened with Swans. But still, the fans of South that really loved seeing them in their suburb probably felt they mostly died for them and no longer have the passion despite the colours of their club still live on in Sydney and on tv.

The team retained their Woodville-West Torrens. Not sure why they chose the Torrens Eagles though? Why not Warrior Eagles?

 

[Ticky009]

I do not know. Never seen any merger that works anyway in terms of really satisfying the feelings of enough fans that embrace it with the similar passion they had for their first loved club.
I mean when I was a little kid and went to visit relatives in Adelaide for school holidays I remember there were clubs like Woodville and West Torrens and apparently they merged at some point to become an entity called Eagles but without either name they not really seem like they anything but another entity with origins from those two clubs as their history.
Maybe at community level footy in suburbs and country football it probably works better but at higher levels it always seems there is more loss and it just will never be the same for any supporters of the two clubs before such events.
Maybe at the higher levels of sport relocations are actually better than mergers because least you still may see your team on tv and it looks the same even if in different location now like what happened with Swans. But still, the fans of South that really loved seeing them in their suburb probably felt they mostly died for them and no longer have the passion despite the colours of their club still live on in Sydney and on tv.

I love it when fans from other teams speak for us.

 

[terrybull]

I think you missed that University took over the lease Wests had at EMFC too, so they played in the VFL and a lot of West players took up with North but some others went to other clubs. Basically when read up history it seems like University took the spot in the league that Wests might have got if they had not been kicked off EMFC so that ground could cater for one of Essendon teams and University to play on. Must admit, the Essendon stuff does get confusing with them having an A team and VFL team at same time in this period.

West Melbourne was powerful but nearly bankrupt and North were a bottom team. They merged to make a more powerful entry to the VFL. I have read nowhere West folded because loss of ground…

 

[footyfan1978]

West Melbourne was powerful but nearly bankrupt and North were a bottom team. They merged to make a more powerful entry to the VFL. I have read nowhere West folded because loss of ground…

Not so much folding. They no longer had a ground as a club so that is why they and North tried to do some type of arrangement together but obviously ended up a bit of a farce and North really did more of a takeover after a token gesture of one year of a sash on their jumper.

 

[footyfan1978]

I love it when fans from other teams speak for us.

My Dad was a South Melbourne fan so I saw up close how he felt about it. Also old interviews of South fans gave a good insight into how some felt, not all of course, but some never got over the relocation.

 

[terrybull]

Not so much folding. They no longer had a ground as a club so that is why they and North tried to do some type of arrangement together but obviously ended up a bit of a farce and North really did more of a takeover after a token gesture of one year of a sash on their jumper.

They joined because West was nearly bankrupt and North wanted a powerful club to push their case in the VFL.

Nothing to do with the ground. Where did you read this?

 

[footyfan1978]

They joined because West was nearly bankrupt and North wanted a powerful club to push their case in the VFL.

Nothing to do with the ground. Where did you read this?

It was certainly related to the ground but it might have been related to their financial situation why they were kicked off the ground so can still be both right. I read about it around a month ago but not sure where exactly because I was reading Colin Carter's book which then lead me to read up more stuff about Wests both online and in other books so cannot be sure exactly where. Will see if can find a source to shed more light in the week. Sleep beckons so will not happen now.

 

[yodellinhank]

West Melbourne was absorbed by North Melbourne after they tried to unsuccessfully enter the VFL. Their merged jumper was Blue and white stripes with a red sash.
North Melbourne (with West Melbourne) had to disband to re-enter the VFA again. The new North Melbourne ditched West and the red sash so Westies were no more.

The club to lose their ground was the true team from Essendon - Essendon Association.

The fake Essendon moved from EMCG to Windy Hill and booted them out. So the Juggernauts were also no more…

Juggernauts merged with North. There's a theme that emerges. And to think people wanted the 'roys to merge with north...

 

[JPetro83]

For sentimental reasons we miss them but let's be honest, they had to go.. its just a shame on how they went. there should have been rules, they should only have been allowed to merge with another VIC club and at the time it SHOULD have been Footscray.. that "marriage" would have worked and from outside looked like a good fit.
Hindsight is great, if Fitzroy had their time again they would have taken the offer back at the end of 1986 to relocate to Brisbane (same offer South Melbourne got to move to Sydney) at least then Fitzroy would have kept its flags, history, colours etc just as South did.
The AFL only got better after the mid 90s

 

[footyfan1978]

It was certainly related to the ground but it might have been related to their financial situation why the were kicked off the ground so can still be both right. I read about it around a month ago but not sure where exactly because I was reading Colin Carter's book which then lead me to read up more stuff about Wests both online and in other books so cannot be sure exactly where. Will see if can find a source to shed more light in the week. Sleep beckons so will not happen now.

Had a very quick browse in Colin Carter's book and could not locate it, if it mentioned in there. Probably is but could not find it. So I may have come across on Trove article or something else. Really do not remember but just a quick look on internet there is a little about it on Wiki I will paste below:

As you can work out from timing of North and them trying to join up and enter the VFL it never happened and instead of them joining the VFL that year it was Richmond and University and note University were leased the ground. Obviously at that point they would want to return to the VFA , but now without a ground to play on they were up shit creek without a paddle. North got back in and still had their ground. Wests without a ground were rooted so their players would have mostly gone to North but fairly sure others went to Essendon, University and Melbourne in some article I read last month.

​

West Melbourne Football Club ( WBFC ) Played in Victorian Football Association ( VFA )​

"The club won its first and only senior premiership in 1906 by defeating Footscray in the Grand Final, 7.8 (50) to 5.9 (39).

As juniors, the club played at the West Melbourne Recreation Reserve, but it was not up to Association standards; so, upon rejoining the VFA in 1899, the club became based at the North Melbourne Cricket Ground, sharing it with the North Melbourne Football Club. In 1907, the club moved to the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, sharing it with the VFL's Essendon Football Club.

At the end of 1907, West Melbourne merged with North Melbourne. The combined club applied to join the Victorian Football League – although even before they had applied, the merger had been likely owing to West Melbourne's weak financial position, and West Melbourne's eviction from the East Melbourne Cricket Ground after only one year, owing to the University Football Club being leased the ground. The combined North Melbourne/West Melbourne application was rejected by the VFL, and the VFA expelled both clubs for their disloyalty and the
merger never formally took place. North Melbourne and West Melbourne both disbanded, but North Melbourne was revived under a new committee shortly afterwards, and wore a red sash on a blue and white guernsey in 1908 to reflect the colours of both North and West Melbourne.

At the end of the 1908 season, an independent West Melbourne club was revived under the new name City of Melbourne; it applied for, but was not granted admission to the VFA, and it disbanded. North Melbourne was upset by the move. The red sash representing West Melbourne's history was later dropped from North Melbourne's guernsey."

West Melbourne Football Club - Wikiwand

The West Melbourne Football Club was an Australian rules football club which played in the Victorian Football Association (VFA). Its senior side competed in the...

www.wikiwand.com

 

[royboy42]

I do not know. Never seen any merger that works anyway in terms of really satisfying the feelings of enough fans that embrace it with the similar passion they had for their first loved club.
I mean when I was a little kid and went to visit relatives in Adelaide for school holidays I remember there were clubs like Woodville and West Torrens and apparently they merged at some point to become an entity called Eagles but without either name they not really seem like they anything but another entity with origins from those two clubs as their history.
Maybe at community level footy in suburbs and country football it probably works better but at higher levels it always seems there is more loss and it just will never be the same for any supporters of the two clubs before such events.
Maybe at the higher levels of sport relocations are actually better than mergers because least you still may see your team on tv and it looks the same even if in different location now like what happened with Swans. But still, the fans of South that really loved seeing them in their suburb probably felt they mostly died for them and no longer have the passion despite the colours of their club still live on in Sydney and on tv.

My brother saw every Roys game in Victoria from 1949 to their last. After their sacking, he never went to another AFL or VFL match...and he hated and loathed Brisbane. And he was not alone.

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

I think Fitzroy left the league at a time when it was struggling with identity.

If it was able to get back to Brunswick Street Oval as a training ground, then hung on until the inner north of Melbourne gentrified then I believe that Fitzroy would currently have one of the most unique identities within the AFL.

Imagine a "Hipster" themed AFL club that would be coming into it's own now as the children of the Millennials who moved to the northern suburbs (Fitzroy/Northcote/Thornbury) were now becoming an age to go to the footy.

Kind of what the Bulldogs are these days. You could say a large chunk West is being gentrified now. Lovable loser kind of narrative up until 2016.

 

[raymond35]

I always wonder did Noel Gordon ever ask what Bears fans and members from their 1987 to 1996 time period thought or he and the AFL just did not even care what the Bears supporters thought and just did their from above merger without a moments thought about them. Would love to have heard about it but was all just lost in the bigger and more tragic loss of Fitzroy from the league after being one of the 8 founding clubs for the league in a century before.

I was in Queensland at the time and got the impression the Bears members had pretty much no say in it at all.
I remember a meeting was called where supporters were told what was happening and the new jumper was presented, it was on the news which was rare to see much AFL news on tv at the time.
There was little enthusiasm from the crowd in attendance, but they just had to accept it and adjust.

 

[Roylion]

For sentimental reasons we miss them but let's be honest, they had to go..

They didn't really. Very saveable according to Greg Swann who was one of the team who came in to discharge the debts.

The AFL had $12 million to spare to give to clubs that merged, yet couldn't find $1 million to help Fitzroy.

A team didn't HAVE to go. It was AFL policy to try and keep the league to 16 teams, if possible. With Port Adelaide due to come in 1997, the commission wanted to keep the pressure on small Melbourne clubs to go. Fitzroy were seen as the weakest at the time and despite some valiant efforts to seek alternatives so Fitzroy could remain in the competition, the AFL stymied them all to get their overall result.

there should have been rules, they should only have been allowed to merge with another VIC club and at the time it SHOULD have been Footscray.. that "marriage" would have worked and from outside looked like a good fit.

The VFL was trying to steer a middle course between expanding into a national competition and not alienating large sections of its heartland, through mergers or expulsions. It's strength was built n the foundations of traditionalism and tribalism and it needed to be careful not to dilute that too much. Fitzroy recognised fairly early on that it needed to possibly merge.

That's why Fitzroy sought mergers with Victorian clubs such as:

• Melbourne (Melbourne Lions - 1986, 1994). Called off both times by Melbourne on the verge of a public announcement - especially in 1986. From my point of view the "Melbourne Football Club - Fitzroy Football Club Ltd." trading as the 'Melbourne Lions' would have been the best.
• Footscray (Fitzroy Bulldogs - 1989). Ended by a massive fundraising effort by Dogs supporters. (The proposal should have been the Footscray Lions playing out of the Western Oval, instead of the Fitzroy Bulldogs playing at Princes Park.
• North Melbourne (North Fitzroy Kangaroos - 1996). Foiled by the AFL whose preference was boosting the Brisbane Bears with $6 million and players.

Fitzroy wanted their supporters to be able to watch football in Melbourne with some vestige of Fitzroy in that new club. In the end, to do that, the Club exited the AFL competition.

Hindsight is great, if Fitzroy had their time again they would have taken the offer back at the end of 1986 to relocate to Brisbane (same offer South Melbourne got to move to Sydney) at least then Fitzroy would have kept its flags, history, colours etc just as South did.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

And I'm not so sure anyway. Fitzroy's preference was to remain in Melbourne, so their supporters could actually watch their team, instead of just five-six games a year. Hence they favored a merger where their name and colors coud have been retained somehow. That's why they pursued a merger with a Melbourne club where that might have been achieved.