For anyone looking for a bit of nostalgia. Head to Brunswick street oval during the footy season to watch Fitzroy play in the amateur association. They wear the old jumper, play the old song, buy a knitted scarf from the lovely old ladies, all the supports belt out CARN THE ROYS and you can have tea and cakes for $5 in the function room at half time. Pub across the road and right next to the city - what’s not to like! By far the biggest supporter base in the VAFA and it’s a fun arvo each time. I see it that I can have a bit of both - supported the Roys growing up and now Brisbane, but can enjoy the grass roots in red gold and blue too.

Excellent documentary

This is so interesting I’ve heard a bit about the Fitzroy legacy but not much about the Bears as well till now

Still brings tears to my eyes, I'm a proud 🦁 supporter through and through, I was a 16 year old when we merged and was at our last game in Victoria against Richmond at the MCG which should have been the actual last. I'm still a proud Brisbane Lions supporter to this day, we had a great run at the start of the 2000's and I'll never forget the joy and happiness I felt at the final siren in 01 when we beat the Bombers for our first premiership since 44 it was euphoric. Up the Lions for the 2020 season if it ever gets going lol.

Why doesn’t this channel have more attention

I like how the Brisbane 'Bears' mascot is a koala.

Very interesting documentary. While I live in America, but I chose the Lions to be my AFL club. I read up on the Bears, Fitzroy and the merger. After watching this, I’m glad I chose the Lions. Go Lions!

I note that the production of this documentary has been of the highest quality and respectful to the Fitzroy Legacy. Management often misjudges markets and seemingly applying financial rules to Fitzroy that were and are not applied to others is another one of those cases in point. Fitzroy has a long history and many supporters could not bear the pain of watching their club being berated at every opportunity in the news, hence the support slowly waned. In short they were worn down. Melbourne arguably could not support 10 clubs in the 1990's, however Melbourne quickly grew beyond expectations and TV rights have increased shifting the conditions in favor of operating in the Victorian Market. There is an arguable case that a foundation club like Fitzroy, given its underlying support and the growth of its home market could have survived and thrived if it had enjoyed some of the strategic support. Many comments are heard that there are now not enough games in Melbourne. Perhaps the Roy's could have assisted in filling the void? Let's hope this is not visited on any more clubs and the competition in general.

And now Browny works with Lynchie and Roosy on Fox Footy!

Kevin Murray was my grandfather's favourite "old" player and Pa wasn't even a Roy supporter so just goes to show how special of a player bulldog was back in his hay day

Absolutely fantastic documentary. Although I'm a very passionate life long Geelong supporter, I will never forget what it was like back in the Mid80s- through the 90s. With so many clubs battling to survive. It's truly is a fantastic story in the end with the three flags. Now the Lions are back as a force once again. Fantastic Club and even better supporters.

We owe it to Kevin to win another flag!! Come one Lions for 2020

Go Brisbane Lions! 🦁🙌

The colours, the link between players who played for Fitzroy and Brisbane. Seemed like destiny.

Jon Brown, always showed the most insane courage on the field.

As a Pies supporter I cried towards the end......Thinking about all the fans that had been following fitzroy for so long....to then have no team to follow........So much history for the club to be swallowed by another.

I was a passionate Fitzroy supporter and idolised Alastair Lynch growing up. Sad to see Lynchy leave end of the 1993. i also took a liking for Brisbane Bears in 94 when Lynchy went there. When Fitzroy merged with brisbane I was sad but happy I still think Robert Walls built that team to win that premiership in 2001.

Brilliant, thanks for uploading!

Great work thank you GO LIONS

Wonderful insight into the past, the heartache the indignity, the fightback and the success all rolled into one! Go Lions.

An inspirational documentary. Two clubs becoming one.

Yea the Bears

Great piece of history!

Excellent doco, one of the best I've seen on Aussie Rules. Even-handed, interesting people interviewed, good archival footage, etc.

How ironic that the reason they didnt want north and fitzroy to merge was the fear of a 'super team' - look what happened 5 years later

Back in 1996 Robert Walls almost got the Bears into a Grand Final the year before the merger. He was 1 win away from getting into a Grand Final, I was at that North Melbourne V Brisbane Bears game and it was just nerves that got them stunned in the first quatre.

All the stories told in this documentary were fantastic but none better than the stories of Kevin Murray, an absolutely beautiful man!

This was fantastic. I grew up a Hawks fan but lived in QLD. When the Bears moved to the GABBA and stated to play well my loyalty to the hawks wained. But when the merger happened I could not support the lions. But living in brissie I have always had a soft spot for them and was so happy for them when they claimed the three peat and enjoyed wthing there talented group play.

I wouldve liked to have seen Brad Boyd and Chris Johnson be interviewed. Get more of a players perspective from that final year at Fitzroy.

Awesome. Thanks!

There it is what a great doco Ive been looking for this for ages I was a near 7 at the time of the merger thanks for the upload and I can also say if I was a Fitzroy supporter I wouldn’t follow Brisbane not because of our losses to them in the Grand Finals but because Fitzroy were Victorian and should of merged with another Victorian club I still believe Brisbane are the bears with Fitzroy heritage and it wasn’t a merger it was a takeover like Mconnell said

Still brings a tear to my eye every time i watch this :(

Great doco.

Ok, that was Awesome!!

Brilliant doco

I really feel for Fitzroy supporters ... the merger from their perspective is the worst thing to happen to a Club of local supporters. I went through the exact same thing with my Rugby League team in the 80's ... Balmain Tigers merged with our hated enemies, Western Suburbs Magpies! At that point I quit watching Rugby League forever and have never followed the comp since - that's how hard that merger hit it me so I know EXACTLY how Fitzroy supporters must have felt and perhaps still feel to this day. Happily however, Fitzroy did not merge with another hated local Melbourne AFL Club ... can you imagine that as an alternative? Brisbane are my Club and I will say this - I take into account the back story and History of Fitzroy Football Club - fear not, the memory of Fitzroy lives on with the Brisbane Lions every time we take the field - take that to heart.

Yes definitely

What a beautiful video, I really love how the AFL expanded the great game and how they didn't just throw Fitzroy under the bus but actually recognised the contribution they gave to football. The fact Jonathon Brown went to Brisbane was significant too, he was a Victorian and for him to go play for the Brisbane Lions was so imprtant to them succeeding. Good times ahead for Brisbane

It is not a real merger. It was just a reason for the AFL to keep the Lions moniker. The Lions received a buck load of cash and Chris Johnston. The rest of the players were crap and not worth keeping. Fitzroy should have been pushed into the state level competition and probably would still be existing today.

Great doco. Whilst the merge was necessary the FFC were not treated with the respect and dignity they deserved from neither media, the AFL nor the wider footy community. Noel Gordon a great example of this. I’ll be cheering the Lions today (GF Day 2023). Good luck Roy Boys!

The passion Kevin Murray speaks with is so heartwarming. What a legend.

Ross I love your honesty

The man that started it all my local footy team are gonna merge so we can have two teams there’s so much things that AFL Barwon are doing and no one wants to give the club up.My dad was a Fitzroy fan and he just didn’t know what to do the merge changed everything for all the OG lions fans it didn’t deserve to happen but Fitzroy to the end.

Interesting to see how they spliced the promotional Brisbane Bears video with new footage. Lovely documentary that gives light to the Bears story and tells the tale some know of the Lions proud history yet horrible financial decision making that led to their demise.

Teared up a bit watching their last game tbh

not an afl fan but very interesting

F**k that was gutsy, tear in my eye

Not a lions fan, I follow Sydney. But the old man is an old Fitzroy fan. Very interesting watch

To this day, I still believe the dissolution of the Fitzroy Football Club was a disgrace.. the league propped up fledgling interstate clubs for decades.. I’m glad we lost the rich history of a founding member of the VFL to have the privilege of the soulless Gold Coast Suns in 2022…

It’s so easy to tell other clubs what to do. As long as yours doesn’t merge

Despite what Victorians believe like the bible, Aussie Rules in Victoria is the least relevant indicator for the AFLs success. National expansion will determine where the league sits in 20 years, and international expansion will determine where the league sits in 30-60 years

It was the Fitzroy president at the time Leon Wiegard that voted for West Coast to enter the competition after getting the money from the West Coast power brokers which helped Fitzroy survive into the next season

Couldn’t keep Fitzroy alive in Victoria yet the AFL approves crap like the Gold Coast Suns and wont let them die if that’s not a kick in the arse for all Fitzroy fans I dong know what is

I wonder how north felt about merging? Were their fans pissed off about their team being joined with the lions?

Well..a super-team was still formed

This is really interesting as a crows supporter

I love the pie's have since I was 8 years old. I was born and bred in QLD, but I'm sorry lions ...the pie's!😢

Didn't Fitzroy own a soccer team in the 70s called Fitzroy Alexander, who played a few years at the Brunswick Street Oval?

Lived in Hervey bay in 95,used to ring up channel 7 every week and give them shit, Maryborough I think,I told ya didn't I mate,I told em alright,met leppa at the local bombers ground in the ninetys,got some good pics,I remember the kids driving him crazy,on ya leppa,

So glad my dees don’t merge with hawks. Won a flag without wiping our history

I’m so glad that hawthorn and Melbourne didn’t merge

What about Paul roos

Although Fitzroy was the team Footscray nearly merged with it was never really hated by the club. It really helped that they were helping them by being tenants at their ground. When they died it hurt Footscray a lot. This must never happen again. We’d lose more fans to soccer

The word merge is wrong. This was a takeover.

I still think there should be more mergers but instead of mixing the jumpers it should be one team gets the home jumper and one team gets the away jumper

Shouldn't never have happened!!! Afl gives money to gws some of the other Melbourne teams as well!! One of the oldest clubs in Aussie Rules. I felt for that club. And in till this day the afl are a DISGRACE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know if Nauru ever got their money back

As an Essendon supporter I think about that the bears and lions shouldn’t of combined

If Fitzroy stayed then crows or Collingwood besides port Adelaide would have won more flags

That merger was one of the greatest blights in football history. Fitzroy still exists as a footy club now playing at a level below the VFL... and they are in partnership deal with a club that has zero to do with the suburb of Fitzroy. It’ll never happen but it’ll be a great day if Fitzroy were readmitted to the league. The AFL was just determined to scrap a Melbourne club for more interstate clubs. Was a disgrace what happened to Fitzroy.

What a fantastic documentary. Best decision to merge Fitzroy with the Bears. Enormous respect for Ross Oakley. People can carry on about how they think he never cared about Fitzroy, but his duty was to the League and making sure the competition remained viable. Having Fitzroy’s proud history be adopted into Brisbane was another step in the direction of expanding the comp to what it is today. Brisbane embraced Fitzroy and its heritage far greater than any other Club would have done. That’s just common sense to know that. Fitzroy lives on through the Brisbane Lions, as attested by Kevin Murray. 💛

Two things we learned from this documentary- Robert Walls is a racist 24:40 and a homosexual 28:23

Oakley should've got rid of his own club St Kilda who had only had 1 premiership to Fitzroy's 8!

'i'm from melbourne, why would i barrack for a club called brisbane??' pick another club, you've got 10 of them lol.

I went for the bears at the time and didnt want fitzroy which in the end was the reason me leaving and going to collingwood my dad had being trying for years to get me to collingwood

Alan is so disconnect from reality

There are too many teams in Victoria, 4 more should go, saints dees dogs and north