Dear Brisbane Lions,

I am an ex-member of the club.  I stopped renewing my membership in 2010.  

The paddle-pop lion has been a complete and abject failure.  It has demonstrated a total disconnect between club administration and members.  

The numbers do not lie.  Consider the 3 years pre-2010 and 3 years post-2010 (2010 was a transition year – the year the ‘paddlepop’ lion was introduced and the club susequently ignored correspondence from supporters and members with many becoming progressively dissilusioned as the year progressed.  

Average members 2007 – 2009 = 24,158

Average members 2011 – 2013 = 21,200

Average crowd 2007 – 2009 = 28,716

Average crowd 2011 – 2013 = 20,443

That is a drop of 3000 members and an average crowd drop of 8,275.  I want to stress that the years I’ve used specifically excludes the premiership window years as I recognise that member and crowd numbers are inflated during period of sustained success.   

I do not have to supply numbers on the losses the club has been recording since the ‘paddlepop’ lion was introduced or our dismal ladder placings.  You know what those numbers are.  The key point I want to emphasise is that membership and crowd figures CLEARLY demonstrate dissatisfaction with the club.  This should not be ignored. 

There is so much pride in the Fitzroy lion.  It was not so many years ago we played in 4 consecutive grand finals in the jumper.  Even in the subsequent rebuild period we could still strike fear into the opposition and won a number of games in which we were not the favourite.  This trend has continued to this day with the recent win over Essendon at ridiculously long odds.  The ‘paddlepop’ lion on the otherhand has only been associated with failure.  Time to let it go.  

Regards Luke S

Member, pre 2010