Short memory

If you read the history books you’ll see the same things happen again and again
Repeat repeat short memory they’ve all got it
When are we going to play it again

– Short Memory,  Midnight Oil

 

Last weekend the Gold Coast defeated Brisbane at the Gabba, the first clash for premiership points between the two Queensland clubs.  An exciting game, while it hardly heralded a new era, it certainly sent one south.  The Suns won, leaving Brisbane humiliated by its performance on the field and embarrassed by words uttered during the build up.

Monday 2 May, before the game, Brisbane’s Simon Black accused former team mates Jarred Brennan and Michael Rischitelli of being mercenaries for accepting contracts with the Suns.  The verbal trash didn’t end there.  Black suggested the AFL had been too generous in helping ensure the fledgling club was fast-tracked to success.  That point had merit, given the atrocious way the VFL treated the Sydney Swans during their formation and their abandonment of the Brisbane Bears on the Gold Coast in 1987.

‘The AFL has given them everything and some and they have been extremely fortunate the way they have come into the competition,’ Black said.

The Suns have been fortunate.  Access to uncontracted players from other clubs, priority draft picks and extra cash in the salary cap is a neat dowry.  AFL boss Andrew Demetriou is determined to make expansion a success.  Lessons have been learnt from his predecessors.

Black’s meek rant continued along a common theme, it just wasn’t fair.  ‘They have been benefactors of other clubs coming into the competition and not having immediate success, e.g. the Brisbane Bears.’

It took the Bears nine seasons to play in the finals and 15 to win a premiership.  The Suns don’t have that much time.  Demetriou wants the Suns to be premiers in six seasons, which is why they were given access to a gold stamp location, a stadium, the best players and all that cash. 

‘No doubt in time, two or three years they will be a very good footy side,’ Black said.  ‘But geez they’ve been given everything and some.’

How easy it would be to play for Brisbane.  Memory isn’t required, not when all those consecutive premierships get in the way, too much space for grandeur, not enough for grit.  Despite the abandonment, Brisbane was the AFL’s favourite for years.  Black, and most other people associated with the Brisbane Bears or Lions obviously aren’t historians.

In 1996, the Fitzroy Lions became the second AFL/VFL club, since University in 1914, to be dropped from the competition.  Unlike University, the Lions were given the chance to merge with another club.  For a long time North Melbourne was the accepted partner, until the night Noel Gordon appeared on Channel 9, and said the Bears were interested.

Gordon is the former president of the Brisbane Bears.  There are varying accounts of what happened when the merger with Fitzroy was finally settled but certain facts cannot be disputed.  North was being tough on the negotiations, wanting two extra players on the list and salary cap relief to accommodate the extra bodies.  Given how strong North was in 1996, the other clubs voted 14-1 against the merger, with North being the only ‘yes’ vote.

On 3 July, Gordon told the AFL to send the merger to Brisbane, less extra players and cash.  ‘We’ll do it your way,’ Gordon reportedly told former AFL boss Ross Oakley.  Keen to step up the expansion north of the Barassi Line, Oakley accepted Brisbane’s offer.

The merger between Fitzroy, a Melbourne club, and Brisbane stunned the industry.  North CEO Greg Miller was furious.  At the time this is what he said:

‘They told us and courted us on a premise that the AFL’s No. 1 strategic direction was to merge,’ he said at the time.  ‘They gave us a package, they gave all the clubs a package, which included things like player list sizes and money.
‘We took up the package, and then, basically no different to being a jilted lover, they jilted us at the altar because the truth of the matter is that the success of the northern states was their real number one strategic direction and merging was only number two.’
‘Even up to that last day, we were being told lies by the AFL that we were still the preferred option while the deal was being worked out behind the scenes with Brisbane.’

Having pinched the merger, Gordon made misery of it.  Two years later the Lions finished last.  Having being hailed a hero, the AFL watched on helplessly as Gordon was sacked as president in 1999.  For North fans, Brisbane’s wooden spoon was deserved misery.  Seeing Gordon go was just as satisfying.

But the AFL wasn’t finished with its northern assistance.  Wayne Jackson, the AFL boss from 1996 to 2003, having overseen Adelaide win back to back premierships, was worried about home sickness, commonly referred to as the go home factor. 

For decades during the VFL, interstate players had crossed the border, players for a few years and quit their Melbourne clubs to go home.  When the competition expanded, interstate players were hounded by clubs from their home state to return to Tara.  Jackson figured money would help convince interstate players to stay put, so he gave Brisbane and Sydney a $600,000 salary cap concession.

Effectively, Jackson gave the Lions and the Swans enough money to retain their stars.  The argument, at preventing the go home factor, was ridiculed by the industry.  Given the merger of 1996 and the AFL’s desire for success beyond the Barassi Line, the extra cash was just an unfair advantage, a generous handout to guarantee success.

Brisbane played consecutive finals series from 1999-2004, playing in four grand finals and winning three consecutive premierships.  They set a modern day record and deserve to be ranked among the greatest VFL/AFL clubs in the history of the game.  But while they were winning grand finals, clubs like North Melbourne and Fremantle were handicapped, unable to pay more than 93% of the salary cap due to debts and poor membership.

With the capacity to pay more than $1.5 million more than some clubs, it’s no wonder Brisbane won three premierships.  Sydney also benefited from the extra cash.  The Swans, believe it or not, also received an allowance to cover the extra costs of living in Sydney.  They played in six consecutive finals campaigns, two grand finals and won a premiership, having built a list with extra cash that no other clubs, aside from Brisbane, had access to.

On 18 February, 2004, the AFL Commission agreed to review Brisbane’s salary-cap concession for the second time.  Brisbane officials were angry that their slush fund was under threat.  Three consecutive premierships obviously wasn’t enough.

Former Lions coach Leigh Matthews, in an interview with The Age, suggested success was a burden.  ‘Not a lot of things have happened, have they, in the past eight months,’ Matthews said.  ‘Except that we won the premiership.’

Matthews hinted that lobby groups, or aggrieved presidents from other clubs, had debated the extra funding with heated passion, and wanted it scrapped.  ‘The AFL will do what the AFL does,’ he said.  ‘It’s not something that’s in our control.’

Brisbane chief executive Michael Bowers said there could be legal issues if the concession was abolished. ‘We have made long-term plans on the basis of last year’s ruling and we’ve gone into contracts in good faith with our players.  Will we challenge any change in the rules, as I said, we have long-term contracts in place.’

Bowers was disappointed the salary cap concessions had arisen again, after being debated eight months previous.  ‘The fact is that all that has happened since then is that we won last year when no one expected us to and we kept our players when no one expected us to.’

Brisbane was able to keep its players because they generously offered to take a pay cut, but those generous offers were scoffed at by many in the industry, given the Lions had a lazy $600,000 to spread around.  Bowers didn’t care.  He’d presided over a premiership club within the rules.  Removing that extra funding, he said, didn’t make much sense.  ‘Every time a club wins a premiership are you going to investigate them and review their internal workings and cut them off at the knees?’

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire led the demands for the money to be taken off the Lions.  ‘Collingwood’s position is that it supports a level playing field and a fair and equal system.’  The Magpies had lost two consecutive premierships to the Lions, so McGuire had a vested interest.  But he was supported by Carlton president Ian Collins and Essendon boss Peter Jackson.

On 24 November 2004, the AFL announced Sydney and Brisbane would lose their go home allowances following the 2006 season.  The money remained long enough for Sydney to win a premiership and Brisbane to win three, within five seasons.

The AFL’s outlay certainly paid dividends.

Don’t feel sorry for the Brisbane Lions.  Don’t pay attention when the players complain about handouts or draft concessions gifted to the Suns.  Brisbane and Sydney benefited from AFL assistance, money and players no other clubs received, to ensure they were successful. 

Simon Black is a triple premiership player, a Brownlow medallist, a Norm Smith medallist and a future legend of the game.  Surely he can remember all those accolades, and how they were bestowed upon him, because that’s how the AFL wanted it.

Black and his club benefitted from AFL generosity.  It took legal threats to convince the AFL to dump the concept.  It is inconceivable that Black found the gumption to complain about the Suns and their expansive leg-up.

He needs to check out that room filled with memorabilia, take a really good look, and imagine how different his life would’ve been if he’d been drafted by Richmond or Melbourne.

That should jog his memory to how things actually happened.

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