Dear Mr Holmes

Re: Reverting to the Brisbane Lions traditional jumper

I write to request the club and the board seek to address the Club jumper and return the Fitzroy Lion to the jumper for Season 2014.  I am a Fitzroy supporter, I grew up in the clubs former recruiting zone and played against many players who had represented the Lions.  There are many Lions supporters in my region and we are conscious of the last real link with the Fitzroy Lions in Jonathon Brown, the Club’s Captain no less.  

I am now a lapsed Brisbane Lions member, despite my initial misgivings about the way my club was eradicated from the league and its carcass delivered to Brisbane, I was somehow able to reconcile my AFL support for an interstate club that I hardly ever get to see live anymore due to one thing; the classic Fitzroy Lion that was centrepiece of the clubs jumper.  No doubt you are well aware that a large portion of the Fitzroy supporter base were unable to reconcile their support for Brisbane and despite some attempts by the club to reach out to them, many are lost forever to the club and to the game.

In recent times the Victorian members have been given a pretty raw deal, through the decreasing amount of Victorian games that the Lions play in this state that we can access.   Neither I, nor any of my family are current members of the club, the cost is unable to be justified when I hold an MCC membership and given our involvement in local sport and the scheduling of the clubs games in Melbourne, it is impossible to attend games live.

My link with the club is tenuous, but more so for my children, who I have brainwashed to follow the Lions, because that was my team. I am getting to a stage where I think it’s wrong to force support of a club on them that is so far away, that we rarely get to interact with and more importantly wishes to disassociate itself from part of its heritage.  

The previous administration showed scant regard for all of the clubs supporters, but particularly the Fitzroy people when the comical “Paddlepo” was substituted for the Fitzroy Lion.  Fundamentally it must rank as one of the worst Marketing and PR decisions in Australia professional sports history, yet years on there is no acceptance by anyone in a position of authority that it was a horrendous mistake.

It has taken the recent return of the club’s classic jumper to the playing field to remind everyone how great the jumper is/was and how insipid our current offering is.  I urge the club to reconsider its position as soon as possible and correct this error and blight on the club.  It might just help some people reconnect with the club.

Yours sincerely

Stephen B