The following letter was written and submitted to the club via email on 24/10/2009:

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to express my extreme disapointment at hearing the news of apparant changes to our club jumper. As a Brisbane Lions Lions AND ex Fitzroy member, I would personally see it as a disgrace if the tradition Fitzroy logo was scrapped from our jumper. To me, and many other Fitzroy supporters that I know, this is the last truly recogniseable symbol of Fitzroy connection to the Brisbane Lions. The Lion should be a permenant fixture on our jumper, no questions asked. I would well and truly have second thoughts about joining up next season for a membership, as I have not had a membership for a couple of years now due to travel.

I am 22 years old and have followed Fitzroy/Brisbane for my entire life. It would cause me great sadness to see the Lion removed from our jumper, and  I would definately have serious reservations about my allegiance with the club, despite my undying love for all things Brisbane Lions. I appreciate that you will have many emails sent on this subject however I would like some form of correspondence from the club about the reasons for this line of thinking. I believe the Brisbane Lions epitomise great culture and respect, and some of this has to do with the great tradition instilled in the club via Fitzroy.

I look forward to hearing your repl, and thankyou for your time.

Matthew C

————————————————————————————-

At the time of writing the above letter, I was not a member and my email was dismissed without reply. Four years on, my feelings have not waned.

I was at the game against Essendon where the players wore the ‘commemorative’ jumper. The players certainly lifted for this game; anybody who was there would agree. One may argue this was not due to the design, rather the emotion attachmented to it, but to those people I would ask, will there be that emotional attachment to the current lion in ten years time? I doubt it.

The current administration has been a vast improvement on the last. However the fact that the jumper issue continues to be ignored is still a major cause of heartache for me and other Brisbane Lions supporters, particularly in Victoria. 

All I can ask is that the members are given a voice on the issue. I have faith in the club and it’s direction, and I hope this issue is resolved in a fair and prompt matter.

Regards,

Matthew C 

Member # *******