WHEN former Brisbane defender Chris Johnson trudged off the 'Gabba for the final time after the Round 22 match last year, a tangible link from the old Fitzroy to the new Lions went with him.
Johnson was the last of the original eight Lions shunted north when Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears wed in a shotgun marriage brokered by the AFL at the end of the 1996 season.
He was at first a reluctant conscript but gradually grew with confidence and stature and formed a key plank in Brisbane's triple premierships from 2001, the only one of the original Roy Boys to have played in those premierships.
The precocious forward-turned-attacking defender, a three-time AFL Aboriginal All-Star, wore the No.2 jumper throughout his 13-year career and was recently honoured at a gathering in Melbourne by a growing group of original Fitzroy fans who have ensured the club's past remains key to its future.
And while Johnson's retirement ended a physical link from the old to the new, Brisbane's revival of the original Fitzroy jumper in the Heritage Round a few years ago and this season's latest Fitzroy-inspired version for Melbourne games, has kept that connection very much alive.
Johnson, now assistant coach and occasional match-day runner at Brisbane, was special guest at the 400-strong gathering at the MCG and was presented on stage with former Lions players who had the No.2 jumper, including Kevin Murray, who played 333 games for Fitzroy, Brian Brown, whose 51 games ensured his son, Jonathan, went north to Brisbane under the father-son rule, and George Coates, Matt Dundas and Carl Dilena, who presented Johnson with a signed 1996 Fitzroy jumper.
Ironically, the jumper is now one of only a handful of original Fitzroy gear in Johnson's possession. He told the gathering that in 1996 he left the heater on in his caravan at the back of his parent's house. The heater burnt his van to the ground and his prized collection of Lions memorabilia with it.
DARREN MONCRIEFF
AboriginalFootball@westnet.com.au
Friday, August 1, 2008
Last Modified on 01/08/2008 01:10