Melbourne Kangaroos???

[Dee Dee 1,105]

Mentioned by Eddie McGuire during post GF Fox Footy review. Said it was all but signed, sealed and delivered in the mid ‘80’s! Melbourne Kangaroos, play at MCG, train at Arden Street. For the life of me I can’t remember this being mooted. 
Can anyone fill me in please? (However, I well remember the Melbourne Hawks saga).

Of course Eddie may have just been trying to have a dig at the new premiers and making a bit of mischief (not sour grapes I hope)!

[TRIGON 4,783]

I'd never heard anything about it either.

[drysdale demon 4,752]

6 minutes ago, Dee Dee said:

Mentioned by Eddie McGuire during post GF Fox Footy review. Said it was all but signed, sealed and delivered in the mid ‘80’s! Melbourne Kangaroos, play at MCG, train at Arden Street. For the life of me I can’t remember this being mooted. 
Can anyone fill me in please? (However, I well remember the Melbourne Hawks saga).

Of course Eddie may have just been trying to have a dig at the new premiers and making a bit of mischief (not sour grapes I hope)!

McGuire talks a lot of sh*t a lot of the time. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by drysdale demon
spelling

[whatwhat say what 22,427]

if it fat [censored] farts does it leave a stain?

[Macca 16,890]

I highly doubt that is was signed, sealed and delivered but there were a few rumours about at the time

Mind you, there were rumours flying about everywhere as a lot of the clubs were carrying a lot of debt ... Saints paid their players 7 cents in the dollar to remain viable and Richmond had their save our skins campaign which saved them

Footscray & Fitzroy were broke (and nearly merged in '89) and South had to move North to survive.  The Pies were in financial strife in the mid 80's as well after their transfer war with Richmond

The VFL (AFL) Commission was formed in 1985 and not long after that, the draft started up as well as the salary cap.  There was a fair bit going on

Edited January 30, 2022 by Macca

[loges 6,767]

Apparently Jeff Kennet suggested it back in 2012. Came to nothing.

[Sir Why You Little 36,797]

It was talked about. I think a stumbling block was How many Board Members each Club could have. 
How Close it was to signing i am not sure. 
It was definitely in the era of the “Royal” light Blue Jumper

[Dee Dee 1,105]

34 minutes ago, Macca said:

I highly doubt that is was signed, sealed and delivered but there were a few rumours about at the time

Mind you, there were rumours flying about everywhere as a lot of the clubs were carrying a lot of debt ... Saints paid their players 7 cents in the dollar to remain viable and Richmond had their save our skins campaign which saved them

Footscray & Fitzroy were broke (and nearly merged in '89) and South had to move North to survive.  The Pies were in financial strife in the mid 80's as well after their transfer war with Richmond

The VFL (AFL) Commission was formed in 1985 and not long after that, the draft started up as well as the salary cap.  There was a fair bit going on

Yes, I certainly remember much of what you document above, but Eddie made such a big thing of the Melbourne Kangaroos supposedly near merger that I thought I’d honestly missed quite a big football story. However it was probably just Eddie being a little disingenuous. I suppose 2018 still hurts!

[daisycutter 29,523]

6 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

It was talked about. I think a stumbling block was How many Board Members each Club could have. 
How Close it was to signing i am not sure. 
It was definitely in the era of the “Royal” light Blue Jumper

round about that time there were many rumours of merger-talks involving many clubs (including those with no mfc content). i'm sure that in many cases this did involve at least initial exploratory discussions but most just petered out for all sorts of reasons 

[Demonland 70,902]

From DemonWiki: http://demonwiki.org/Mergers

"That year (1986) the club also had discussions with North Melbourne. The proposal involved Bob Ansett as president and John Kennedy coach of a side wearing the front of North's jumper and the back of Melbourne's, with the club training at Arden Street. The club was to be called Melbourne-North Football Club. The terms were not favourable to Melbourne, and when Ansett refused to compromise on what looked more like a takeover the deal was cancelled."

[Delusional demon 82 1,197]

1 hour ago, Macca said:

I highly doubt that is was signed, sealed and delivered but there were a few rumours about at the time

Mind you, there were rumours flying about everywhere as a lot of the clubs were carrying a lot of debt ... Saints paid their players 7 cents in the dollar to remain viable and Richmond had their save our skins campaign which saved them

Footscray & Fitzroy were broke (and nearly merged in '89) and South had to move North to survive.  The Pies were in financial strife in the mid 80's as well after their transfer war with Richmond

The VFL (AFL) Commission was formed in 1985 and not long after that, the draft started up as well as the salary cap.  There was a fair bit going on

That’s right I remember hearing that Collingwood were also technically insolvent in the mid 80s too

https://amp.theage.com.au/sport/afl/saving-football-new-documents-reveal-how-close-the-vfl-came-to-shutting-down-20160408-go1x0m.html

[Macca 16,890]

5 minutes ago, Delusional demon 82 said:

That’s right I remember hearing that Collingwood were also technically insolvent in the mid 80s too

https://amp.theage.com.au/sport/afl/saving-football-new-documents-reveal-how-close-the-vfl-came-to-shutting-down-20160408-go1x0m.html

So the Cats were in trouble as well

It seemed that the Blues, Dons & Hawks were the only clubs keeping their heads above water back in those days

All 3 of those teams were of course winning all the premierships in the 80's

Best thing that ever happened was the formation of the Commission and then the intriduction of the draft & the salary cap (and therefore, the abolition of transfer fees)

Although the merger talk (or takeover talk) continued on into the 90's

 

[Fritta and Turner 4,246]

11 minutes ago, Macca said:

Best thing that ever happened was the formation of the Commission and then the intriduction of the draft & the salary cap (and therefore, the abolition of transfer fees)

Totally agree on that.  And paying players out of a brown paper bag.  And after 20 years of misery the Dees finally had a modicum of success.

(TBH I thought this thread, melbourne Kangaroos, was going to be about BBB or Steven Icke etc).

[Gavin Bell 0]

2 hours ago, Dee Dee said:

Mentioned by Eddie McGuire during post GF Fox Footy review. Said it was all but signed, sealed and delivered in the mid ‘80’s! Melbourne Kangaroos, play at MCG, train at Arden Street. For the life of me I can’t remember this being mooted. 
Can anyone fill me in please? (However, I well remember the Melbourne Hawks saga).

Of course Eddie may have just been trying to have a dig at the new premiers and making a bit of mischief (not sour grapes I hope)!

I do remember this, it was mooted around the time the Melb zhawks became a thing

[Dr. Gonzo 24,032]

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

From DemonWiki: http://demonwiki.org/Mergers

"That year (1986) the club also had discussions with North Melbourne. The proposal involved Bob Ansett as president and John Kennedy coach of a side wearing the front of North's jumper and the back of Melbourne's, with the club training at Arden Street. The club was to be called Melbourne-North Football Club. The terms were not favourable to Melbourne, and when Ansett refused to compromise on what looked more like a takeover the deal was cancelled."

The Melbourne Lions was much closer if I remember correctly (also 1986) - was all but signed, sealed and delivered until the MFC basically pulled a swifty to try and ensure we would have majority board members (think it was something like equal MFC/FFC board members but the MCC having a board member with a deciding vote?)

Probably what McGuire was thinking about.

[Wrecker46 2,938]

1 hour ago, Delusional demon 82 said:

 

https://amp.theage.com.au/sport/afl/saving-football-new-documents-reveal-how-close-the-vfl-came-to-shutting-down-20160408-go1x0m.html

Trading while insolvent is a a criminal offence where directors face fines or jail and to my knowledge none of the directors of any clubs listed have ever been charged with that.

I wouldn't read too much into it.

 

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,590]

In more recent times, Fitzroy and Melbourne were talking mergers late in the 1994 season.

[Ollie fan 3,228]

1 hour ago, Jontee said:

Totally agree on that.  And paying players out of a brown paper bag.  And after 20 years of misery the Dees finally had a modicum of success.

(TBH I thought this thread, melbourne Kangaroos, was going to be about BBB or Steven Icke etc).

Now that is a good thought!! We have had lots of great players come across from North - off the top of my head:  Steven Icke, Crosswell, Brian Wilson, Alan Jarrott, and now of course BBB. And I am sure that is just a fraction of them 

[Guest]

What is it with North making outrageous demands at the merger table? 
I always found that were going to ravage Fitzroy even though a lot of their supporters were in favor of it.
If they were to merge with us, wouldn't the obvious details be as follows?

Name: Melbourne Kangaroos
Jumper: Red yoke imposed over the blue and white stripes
Home Ground: MCG
Training Ground: Arden Street
Coach: John Kennedy
Playing list: 22 from each list (we were on the rise and North had a decent list at the time)

That said, I'm bloody glad it never happened and would have been ferociously against it.
 

[Dee Dee 1,105]

57 minutes ago, Ollie fan said:

Now that is a good thought!! We have had lots of great players come across from North - off the top of my head:  Steven Icke, Crosswell, Brian Wilson, Alan Jarrott, and now of course BBB. And I am sure that is just a fraction of them 

And of course Stan Alves and Crackers Keenan went the other way😁, As did R.D. Barassi !

[Rab D Nesbitt 8,300]

I had one of Rodney Grinter's player worn long sleeved guernseys until I sold it a couple of years ago to help fund some house renovations. Adidas made them at that time and it had a white tag inside the collar with three vertical blue stripes. That should have been our merger guernsey with North. 

I seem to remember a proposed merger between Fitzroy and Footscray around that time as well. Perhaps when the Lions had made the move to play their home games at the Western Oval. I can't recall whether they intended calling them Fitzcray or Footsroy though. 

[DeeZone 9,294]

5 hours ago, Demonland said:

From DemonWiki: http://demonwiki.org/Mergers

"That year (1986) the club also had discussions with North Melbourne. The proposal involved Bob Ansett as president and John Kennedy coach of a side wearing the front of North's jumper and the back of Melbourne's, with the club training at Arden Street. The club was to be called Melbourne-North Football Club. The terms were not favourable to Melbourne, and when Ansett refused to compromise on what looked more like a takeover the deal was cancelled."

That is strange Demonland I have no recollection of any deal with North I just assumed it was sour grapes from Ed I am sure that there would have been a stampede if the AFL had tried that on us.!!!

[Queanbeyan Demon 6,751]

4 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The Melbourne Lions was much closer if I remember correctly (also 1986) - was all but signed, sealed and delivered until the MFC basically pulled a swifty to try and ensure we would have majority board members (think it was something like equal MFC/FFC board members but the MCC having a board member with a deciding vote?)

Probably what McGuire was thinking about.

Yeah/Nah . . . doubt he was thinking Dr. Gonzo.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,590]

2 hours ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

I seem to remember a proposed merger between Fitzroy and Footscray around that time as well. Perhaps when the Lions had made the move to play their home games at the Western Oval. I can't recall whether they intended calling them Fitzcray or Footsroy though. 

My parents had a 1990 version of the Melways (published at the time of the proposed merger) and in the index it mentioned that the Western Oval was the home of the Fitzroy Bulldogs.

[radar 1,865]

Didn’t Carlton buy shares in North at this time too?

swans were  owned by the Dr. 
VFL or AFL bought the license back for one dollar I think. 
 

Collingwood were within 30 minutes of insolvency I believe - needed all of Galbally’s  and Jack Hamilton’s skill to avoid that.