In 1996 Fitzroy would merge with the ugly duckling Bears to become the Brisbane Lions. This was a merger in name only; the reality was it was a takeover. But to dedicated band of players, coaches and fans who’d stuck with their beloved club through thick and thin, the death of Fitzroy was a devastating blow.
A working-class club which had won eight Premierships - seven of them as a dominant force of the VFL’s first three decades - was not only being killed off, but stripped of its dignity.
Fitzroy again missed the finals by two points in 1961 and then slipped to tenth in 1962.
The next few years were forgettable ones with Fitzroy continually on or close to the bottom of the ladder. They finished last in 1963, 1964 and 1966, failing to win a game in 1964.
1966 also saw the last VFL match at the Brunswick St Oval after Fitzroy was unable to achieve a satisfactory lease from the Fitzroy council.
After considering offers from Preston and St Kilda, Fitzroy elected to share Princes Park (now Optus Oval) with Carlton for the 1967 season.
This ended Fitzroy's 83 year association with the Brunswick St Oval.
Two years later in 1969 the club moved to the Junction Oval at St Kilda where they stayed for a number of years.
After considering offers from Preston and St Kilda, Fitzroy elected to share Princes Park (now Optus Oval) with Carlton for the 1967 season.
This ended Fitzroy's 83 year association with the Brunswick St Oval.
Two years later in 1969 the club moved to the Junction Oval at St Kilda where they stayed for a number of years.
Moving grounds did not help Fitzroy to become successful.
Kevin Murray became captain in 1967, under coach Bill Stephen. The Lions altered their uniform again by adding a small Lion to the left breast of their guernsey in 1967.
In 1974, Fitzroy made further changes when they lightened the maroon to red and changed the white FFC to gold in readiness for colour television. They even wore gold shorts for away matches.
From 1960 to 1979, Fitzroy did not contest a VFL final series, with their highest position in that time, a respectable 6th in 1971, in a year that John Murphy won the club's best and fairest.
However in that nineteen year period the club was blessed with some fantastic players including the lionhearted Kevin "Bulldog" Murray who in 1969 at the age of 31 became the oldest player to win a Brownlow.
The League bosses who presided over the affair, not yet fully insulated by the billions of dollars in TV revenue that would flood the game with riches across the next two decades, sold it as a story of partial survival: Fitzroy would merge with the ugly duckling Bears to become the Brisbane Lions.
A working-class club which had won eight Premierships—seven of them as a dominant force of the VFL’s first three decades—was not only being killed off, but stripped of its dignity.
This was a merger in name only; the reality was it was a takeover.
But to dedicated band of players, coaches and fans who’d stuck with their beloved club through thick and thin, the death of Fitzroy was a devastating blow.