Merger
The Fitzroy Lions and the Tragedy of 1996
Published on 1. June 2021
392 pages
978-1-925556-67-4 (ISBN)
Description
In 1996, the 113-year-old Fitzroy Football Club played its final game in the AFL. Financial pressures brought about by the steady professionalisation of the AFL respected neither the worth of the club's history nor the passion of its fans. Out of time and money, on 4 July 1996 Fitzroy was forced into a merger with the Brisbane Bears - creating the League's first, and thus far only, merged club.
MERGER tells the story of that fateful year, from boardroom drama and intrigue to the wind and mud of the Whitten Oval, capturing the profound tragedy of Fitzroy's doomed plight.
'The demise of Fitzroy is a deep wound rather than a scar. A tear in the fabric of the game that will never truly repair.' - from the Foreword by Gerard Whateley
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Content
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Foreword
- Prologue
- Introduction: The Poor Citizens
- Chapter One: Heart and Soul
- Chapter Two: The Boys from Old Fitzroy
- Chapter Three: The People's Club
- Chapter Four: The Centenary
- Chapter Five: The Option of Last Resort
- Chapter Six: Once More to the Barricades
- Chapter Seven: Deals, Rumours and Ultimatums
- Chapter Eight: Exploring Other Options
- Chapter Nine: The High-Water Mark
- Chapter Ten: Sealing the Deal
- Chapter Eleven: A Tough Day at the Office
- Chapter Twelve: The Long Week
- Chapter Thirteen: One Day in July
- Chapter Fourteen: A Mixed Response
- Chapter Fifteen: Selling the Merger
- Chapter Sixteen: Custodians of the Jumper
- Chapter Seventeen: The Long Goodbye
- Chapter Eighteen: A Touch of Sadness
- Chapter Nineteen: Loose Ends
- Chapter Twenty: Death is Not the End
- Conclusion: Counting the Cost
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Endnotes
- Acknowledgements
- The Author
- Copyright
- Back Cover
