COMMUTERS traveling along Brunswick Street were treated to a rare sight on Saturday as two teams in the colours of grand old clubs Fitzroy and South Melbourne fought out a thrilling contest on a traditional Melbourne battlefield.
In a scene reminiscent of times long past, VAFA D1 Section combatants the Fitzroy Reds, wearing the fetching maroon and navy blue guernseys of old Fitzroy took on South Melbourne Districts in the famous red and white colours of the Bloods on the Roy Boys’ old home ground, Brunswick St Oval.
“It helps to keep alive the histories of Fitzroy and South Melbourne, which Brisbane and Sydney are doing to some extent, but it’s important that those stories are told in Melbourne in a suburban setting as well,” Reds president Craig Little says of his club’s decision to don the heritage guernsey for the clash on the AFL’s Community Football Weekend.
“We both find ourselves in the same grade this year for the first time in quite awhile and it’s the first time since we’ve been at Brunswick St. Hopefully we can start a rivalry that will move up the grades.
“We’ve got a lot of old Fitzroy and South Melbourne people here, but hopefully it’s not a one-trick pony and its something we can build on and start getting people back in their thousands to Brunswick St Oval.”
With the city skyline looming large in the background, it’s hard to imagine the serene tree-lined ground was once a major football venue that saw a record crowd of 34,765 squeeze in for a Fitzroy home game in 1923.
The figure for Saturday’s encounter was somewhat more modest at around 350, but the willing contest was worthy of a number many times more than that.
A wasteful Fitzroy had managed just 2.10 by half-time but, urged on by fans around the ground and in the lone heritage-listed grandstand, the home side fought back to take the lead early in the final term before a Swans’ rally appeared to seal the result for the visitors.
However, with time running out, two quick goals to the Roy Boys had the crowd on tenterhooks with their side just five points down with barely one minute remaining.
The ball was swept forward for one last attack where Fitzroy’s Nick Percy, wearing the number seven guernsey graced by such football luminaries as Alan Ruthven and Haydn Bunton, set up his own chance at local immortality when he took a mark 35 metres out dead in front.
The siren blew as he trotted in to take his shot which curved then straightened to float through the big sticks and spark scenes of wild celebration on and off the field.
“We’re trying to build up this game as a real rivalry fixture and for the first one to be decided by a goal after the siren by a guy who couldn’t hit the side of a barn all day was just magnificent,” a jubilant Little says.
“A draw might have been a fitting result, but I’ll certainly take the one-point win. The good thing was a lot of people came here and watched footy at Brunswick St Oval for the first time in a long time and I reckon we’ll get all of them back.”
Victorious Fitzroy skipper Jimmy O’Reilly was presented with the inaugural Bill Stephen-Peter Bedford Trophy and both club legends were on hand to give the respective sides a pre-match pep talk.
“It’s just great to be able to come out and have a look at two of the teams that were foundation members of the VFL-AFL albeit in a suburban competition,” Bedford, the 1970 Brownlow Medallist from South Melbourne, says.
“It’s great to see the size of the crowd out here today. The jumpers just look fantastic and memories of earlier days flow quite vividly.”
The one-point win provided a fitting climax to a contest that was worthy of the historic ground that hosted 609 Fitzroy home games up until 1966 and which Little hopes to be able to further rejuvenate over the coming seasons.
