I was born in 1967 and grew up in the 1970s before and after color television became established in Australia. I can remember watching Collingwood play North Melbourne in black and white, and not having a clue which team was which.
Most of my early football memories come from the radio. At Traralgon, where I grew up (100 miles from Melbourne), we could hear the ABC regional station 3GI, which in those days used to broadcast Melbourne races along with the VFL. We could just pick up 3LO (Melbourne), and it came through okay with uninterrupted football on car radios with good antennae.
The local stations, 3TR and 3UL, covered racing or played music. Jack Dwyer on Melbourne’s 3KZ barely faded in and out.
So it was not unusual for me to sit in the car on Saturday afternoon trying desperately to hear Fitzroy on 3LO or 3KZ, scanning across to 3DB (between races) or 3GI, to hear the Fitzroy game if that’s where it was being broadcast.
Nearly all Saturday afternoons from 1975 to 1979 were spent this way. The optimum was to have Fitzroy broadcast on ABC, so I could switch from the local station when a race was being run, to 3LO.
Some of the big Fitzroy names in that era were Garry Wilson, Warwick Irwin, Bob Beecroft, Ron Alexander, Laurie Serafini and John Murphy.
I only got to see two or three VFL games a year live, and rarely Fitzroy, because my Dad would only visit Waverley or a ground where Carlton was playing.
My recollections of the Lions players are therefore aural, or from football cards, which I used to collect. I have no visual memories of them in action.
Television coverage then was restricted to three games per week and one quarter or less per game. Fitzroy didn’t feature much in TV coverage until the late 70s and early 80s.
I have seen video tape many times over the years of Micky Conlan running in to kick the winning goal against Essendon in the 1986 elimination final. Apart from a few sketchy recollections, that’s where my visual memories begin.
Fitzroy v Carlton in the fog
Update: Mention was made in comments about Fitzroy playing Carlton in the fog at Junction Oval in 1971.
Carlton fullback Geoff Southby described it thus:
Geoff Southby and Paul Shanahan from Fitzroy in the fog.
“The game commenced in brilliant sunshine with clear skies. The score were almost even at half time and as we were leaving the ground at the half time break, I noticed a fog building over the Albert Park Lake. On our way out onto the ground after the break, we were amazed to find a thick fog had completely covered the Junction Oval. It was a real “pea souper”!
“I found my way to Full Back and to Paul Shanahan, who was as amazed as me by the fog. We could barely see 25 metres in front of us. The game continued with players, coaches, umpires and spectators completely confused by the incredibly restricted vision. The game should have been called off but it continued.
“Every now and then, an unidentifiable Fitzroy player would emerge out of the fog with the ball about 20 metres away from and look for the goals and/or Paul Shanahan. It was like playing blind. I am sure Ron Barassi was regularly sending the runner down to the scoreboard end just to see what the score was!
“It was the second last game of the home & away season and we needed to win our last two games to make the final four. To our disgust we lost to Fitzroy that day and finished fifth that year. There is a great “Herald” photo of myself and Paul Shanahan taken from behind us from the goals at one end. It really shows how thick that fog was that day.”
With thanks to Blueseum.
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It sounds like I, a St Kilda supporter, have probably attended more Fitzroy games than you, a Fitzroy supporter.
I’ve already mentioned the "Big Carl" classic of 1966. The only other game involving Fitzroy that stands out in my memory was in 1970 at the Junction Oval against Richmond.
What was I doing at a Fitzroy v Richmond match? That’s what I wondered too! It’s a long story, but I’ll try to keep it short:
My girlfriend at the time was a mad keen Richmond supporter. Every Saturday she’d go off to see the Tigers with her (school) friends and I’d go to see the Saints with mine.
I didn’t mind that arrangement because I knew a lot of people in the St Kilda cheer squad who all came from wealthy Brighton.
I wasn’t a member and I only hung around them because the squad mainly consisted of girls (well, and Molly Meldrum too, but what’s the difference?)
Someone must have dobbed me that I might have become too friendly with some of the Brighton girls because, out of the blue, my girlfriend insisted I go with her to the Fitzroy – Richmond game and "stay away from all those girls".
I guess it was meant to be a sort of punishment, and that’s exactly what it was – for the first half of the game at least.
I’d seen many St Kilda games at the Junction before they moved to Moorabbin in 1965 but I’d never seen a VFL match so poorly attended. There was no more than five or six thousand in the crowd, as I recall.
Richmond were the reigning premiers under coach Tom Hafey and by half time had built a huge lead over the hapless Lions. My girlfiend was loving it but I was bored out of my brain.
In the second half though a miracle started to unfold. Richmond went to sleep and the Roy Boys came stormimg home threatening to snatch a remarkable victory.
I got a bit carried away and started barracking for the Lions, much to my girlfriend’s displeasure. I couldn’t help it; it was so unexpected.
In the last quarter a big Fitzroy bloke (Lazarus, I think) kept taking mark after mark and slotting them through. The Roys got up in the dying minutes and (stupidly) I cheered along with all the Lions supporters.
I turned to my girlfriend, who by now was in tears, and no matter what I said or how much I apologised and consoled her, it was all too late – this relationship was over for good because I’d committed the ultimate betrayal (even worse, it seemed, than flirting with other girls!)
I didn’t mind breaking up over the Fitzroy victory though because it meant I could go back to watching the Saints and to mixing it with the cheer squad.
I think the newspaper carried a headline that read something like, "Lazarus raises Lions from the dead".
They could have added, "And sends young boy back to the clutches of Molly and the girls".
Twitter: mgorey
says:
Living near the Junction Oval put you in poll position for Fitzroy games.
We must have had the wood on Richmond in 1970. We beat them at the MCG that year in front of the Queen in the only "royal" game and the first Sunday game. The crowd at the game you saw was actually 14,541, second biggest of the round.
I thought that was also the year we beat Carlton in the fog, but a web search showed that to be 1971.
Hi there Michael,
I’d like to ‘borrow’ your memory about 3GI for our website! ABC Gippsland (as it is known now) turns 70 years old this October and I am building a website of ‘memories’ to recognise this anniversary.
Please let me know!
Amelia Chappelow
ABC Gippsland’s Online Producer