VLSG calls for six Lions games in Melbourne for 2016

The VLSG has called on the AFL to schedule a minimum six games in Melbourne as part of the 1996 merger agreement.

Clause 7.2 h)  of the 1996 merger agreement between the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Football Club (supported by an AFL document outlining AFL support for the merger) all clearly state that… “The Merged Club will play one half of the total number of home and away games per season at the Gabba and as many Melbourne based away premiership games as possible will be played at Optus Oval or the Melbourne Cricket Ground (but not less than 6) with any other away premiership games at any of Waverley, Optus Oval or the Melbourne Cricket Ground at which Melbourne based members of the Merged Club will have home ground status (in respect of which Brisbane Bears will make a contribution to gate receipts of an amount determined by AFL); ”

Due to circumstances that were not envisaged in 1996, Optus Oval (Princes Park) and Waverley Stadium is now no longer used as an AFL venue. However as this venue has been replaced by the Docklands Stadium (currently named Etihad Stadium), there should be no real reason why the AFL cannot continue to guarantee a minimum six games in Victoria.

While the VLSG does not necessarily support the staging of one of these six games at Kardinia Park (Skilled Stadium), we recognise that Fitzroy did play away games at this venue in the days of the VFL. However we oppose any mooted transfer of one of these six games to Tasmania as part of any separate North Melbourne or Hawthorn deal with the government of Tasmania to play games in Hobart and/or Launceston.

 

 

VLSG supports The Lions Roar campaign

The Victorian Lions Supporters Group (VLSG) has today thrown its support behind Queensland based supporter group ‘The Lion’s Roar‘ in seeking a Brisbane Lions member vote on whether to change the current Brisbane Lions jumper derisively known by many supporters as the “paddlepop lion”.

The Victorian Lions Supporter Group condemned in 2010 the decision by the Brisbane Lion board to break the merger agreement between the Fitzroy Football Club and the Brisbane Bears-Fitzroy Football Club (trading as the Brisbane Lions) in relation to the re-design of the Brisbane logo.

As such the VLSG fully supported the subsequent efforts of the board of the Fitzroy Football Club to seek a ruling on the validity of Clause 7.2 c) of the merger agreement dealing with the use of the “Fitzroy Lion” in the Victorian Supreme Court. Despite a settlement being reached on the logo, we remain appalled at the current bastardisation of the both the Lions logo and the Lions jumper which we believe contravenes both the terms and spirit of the merger agreement between Fitzroy and the Brisbane Lions. In the wake of the wearing of the three-peat commemorative jumper by the Lions against Essendon and Collingwood and the subsequent positive reaction from both Lions and opposition supporters, we firmly believe that it is time to give the Brisbane Lions members a vote on the current jumper – a vote which was denied to them in 2010.

We call on the Brisbane Lions board to conduct a member vote on the future of the current jumper by the time of the Lions Annual General Meeting scheduled for December 2013. We also call upon the Lions to offer up as one of the alternatives in that vote, the premiership jumper worn between 1997 and 2009.

The VLSG supports Fitzroy in logo dispute.

The Victorian Lions Supporters Group has condemned the move of the Brisbane Lions to re-design their logo and their jumper without the inclusion of the “Fitzroy Lion” as stipulated in the merger deed of July 1996.

Thirteen years after the AFL forced the ailing Victorian club to merge with the Queensland team, Fitzroy Football Club will early next week will lodge an affidavit seeking a ban on Brisbane’s use of its recently launched “Paddlepop” Lion.

The Most Faithful of Fans – By Some Distance

By Stephen Moynihan
September 21, 2003

As the Lions and Swans did battle in Sydney last night, more than 1000 kilometres away two Melbourne pubs were full to bursting point with the faithful remnants of the South Melbourne Swans and the Fitzroy Lions football clubs.

These fans have had to come to terms with their teams’ relocation interstate, but the faithful have not lost their Melbourne connection.