I agree with so many of the emotions expressed here already. Hollow victory, extremely sad day for football. I too sang the 'Roys song that day.
It was and still is, in it's original form, the second best club song in the league. I still remember it vividly.
"Oh were from Tiger.. OOps
"We are the boys from old Fitzroy we were the colours, red, gold and blue.
We will always fight for victory and we'll always see it through
Win or lose, we do or die
In defeat we always try
Fitzroy
Fitzroy
The club we love so dear
Premiers we'll be this year"
When I was a kid my best mate was a Roys man just like his dad. Of course me and my Dad were Tigers, but the cool thing was that when one of our dads couldnt take us to the footy, the other would. So Fitzroy became my second team.
I got to go to games at the Junction Oval, Princess Park and the like, which was an eye opener for me as my dad only used to like going to the MCG or VFL park. Which was completely understandable since we lived at the foot of The Dandenongs. On that note... the greatest growth area in Melbourne, the eastern corridor, has been robbed of a stadium that should have been torn down and re-built a section at a time, ALA the MCG. But that's another issue altogether. Haha.
Anyway following Fitzroy as my second team allowed me an extremely rare oppurtunity... the chance to see a side I liked and wanted to see do well, play finals football!
Twice I got to run on the ground and pat Bernie "Superboot" Quinlan on the back after he had scored his 100th goal for the season. Unfortunately Tiger success at the time was as rare as rain in Melbourne.
But geez did they have some awesome players in that time. Anyone know who is responsible for their recruiting in the 80's? They always seemed to have a knack of getting very high quality players. It would be interesting to know what the person responsible for that is doing know... anyone know?
How good was it watching the following great players for the 'Roys (apologies for those I forget)
Micky 'The Tank' Conlan. Brilliant player, great to watch.
Laurie Serafini. Give me him as a fullback over SOS any day of the week. Tough and skilled.
Garry Pert and Paul Roos, they speak for themselves, but both brilliant players that I wished were at the Tigers.
Garry Wilson. Hard as nails. The helmeted one was quick, had great skills and was brilliantly consistent.
Lynch. Can you see why I want to know what that recruiter is up to now?
Even after CFS he was a champion.
What he may have been able to achieve if not for that we will never know. But he had freakish ability from day one.
Similar to Boyd who was a massive talent cruelly cut down by injury.
Matt Rendell. Brilliant, smart tap ruckman who was extremely damaging when used up forward. Great player.
Ross Thornton, Ross Lyon, Brendon McMormick, Michael Gale (I loved the way he played his footy), Paul Broderick, aplayer who wore 17 whos' name escapes me for now, Graham Wright, Lee Carlson, Richard Osbourne, etc etc.
They played a great brand of footy.
RIP Fitzroy Football Club. The game is poorer for your loss.
I took a few pics that day, albeit from the former Ponsford stand. I can't remember if any are on the PRE pics page, but I would be happy to forward them to anyone who wants them.
As a few of you said that is one of the saddest days ever in football. Right alongside The TJ lap of honour.
I was fortunate enough to witness both. In a painful kind of way.
I will always have very good memories of the club that was Fitzroy.
It was and still is, in it's original form, the second best club song in the league. I still remember it vividly.
"Oh were from Tiger.. OOps
"We are the boys from old Fitzroy we were the colours, red, gold and blue.
We will always fight for victory and we'll always see it through
Win or lose, we do or die
In defeat we always try
Fitzroy
Fitzroy
The club we love so dear
Premiers we'll be this year"
When I was a kid my best mate was a Roys man just like his dad. Of course me and my Dad were Tigers, but the cool thing was that when one of our dads couldnt take us to the footy, the other would. So Fitzroy became my second team.
I got to go to games at the Junction Oval, Princess Park and the like, which was an eye opener for me as my dad only used to like going to the MCG or VFL park. Which was completely understandable since we lived at the foot of The Dandenongs. On that note... the greatest growth area in Melbourne, the eastern corridor, has been robbed of a stadium that should have been torn down and re-built a section at a time, ALA the MCG. But that's another issue altogether. Haha.
Anyway following Fitzroy as my second team allowed me an extremely rare oppurtunity... the chance to see a side I liked and wanted to see do well, play finals football!
Twice I got to run on the ground and pat Bernie "Superboot" Quinlan on the back after he had scored his 100th goal for the season. Unfortunately Tiger success at the time was as rare as rain in Melbourne.
But geez did they have some awesome players in that time. Anyone know who is responsible for their recruiting in the 80's? They always seemed to have a knack of getting very high quality players. It would be interesting to know what the person responsible for that is doing know... anyone know?
How good was it watching the following great players for the 'Roys (apologies for those I forget)
Micky 'The Tank' Conlan. Brilliant player, great to watch.
Laurie Serafini. Give me him as a fullback over SOS any day of the week. Tough and skilled.
Garry Pert and Paul Roos, they speak for themselves, but both brilliant players that I wished were at the Tigers.
Garry Wilson. Hard as nails. The helmeted one was quick, had great skills and was brilliantly consistent.
Lynch. Can you see why I want to know what that recruiter is up to now?
Even after CFS he was a champion. What he may have been able to achieve if not for that we will never know. But he had freakish ability from day one.
Similar to Boyd who was a massive talent cruelly cut down by injury.
Matt Rendell. Brilliant, smart tap ruckman who was extremely damaging when used up forward. Great player.
Ross Thornton, Ross Lyon, Brendon McMormick, Michael Gale (I loved the way he played his footy), Paul Broderick, aplayer who wore 17 whos' name escapes me for now, Graham Wright, Lee Carlson, Richard Osbourne, etc etc.
They played a great brand of footy.
RIP Fitzroy Football Club. The game is poorer for your loss.
I took a few pics that day, albeit from the former Ponsford stand. I can't remember if any are on the PRE pics page, but I would be happy to forward them to anyone who wants them.
As a few of you said that is one of the saddest days ever in football. Right alongside The TJ lap of honour.
I was fortunate enough to witness both. In a painful kind of way.
I will always have very good memories of the club that was Fitzroy.
