In 1996, the AFL celebrated its 100th season of competition. The previous decade had seen the competition expand nationwide, elevating teams from Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney, culminating in 1990 when the Victorian Football League was rebranded as the Australian Football League. However, as the game expanded beyond Victoria, many of the smaller teams struggled. The shortage of funds made it difficult to attract good players and win against larger, wealthier teams, which in turn made it harder to raise money, driving them further into debt and less able to compete.

The most beleaguered club were the Fitzroy Lions. Despite being a founding member of the VFL, with many celebrated players among its ranks (including Haydn Bunton Sr), the club hadn't won a premiership since 1944, was mired in debt, and had no permanent home ground. The AFL proposed three solutions: relocate the club, merge with another club, or expel the club from the League. Seven merger proposals were rejected (or avoided) before the decision was taken to combine the Fitzroy Lions with the Brisbane Bears, with the club based in Brisbane. For many supporters, this was no better than dissolving the club entirely, and was proof that money, more than people, mattered in Australian Rules Football.

On 25 August 1996, the Fitzroy Lions played their final game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the stands filled with over 48,000 spectators, many of them Fitzroy supporters. The tone is sombre, with Seven Network commentator Sandy Roberts frequently describing the day as emotional, not just for the players and their supporters, but for all followers of AFL. Fitzroy was defeated by their opponents, Richmond Tigers, losing by 151 points (187-36), but those fans in attendance were defiant in their support for their team, as noted by Roberts following the final whistle: listen to the Richmond theme song, but it is the Fitzroy flags that are flying.

Among the crowd, several are holding signs, with messages that reflect the feelings of club supporters, from sorrow (‘We’ll Miss You’) and gratitude (‘Thanks for the Memories’) to outright rage (‘Brisbane No!’, ‘F—k the AFL’), which the Seven Network cameras, cannot or chose not to obscure. But the most powerful expression of that support comes when thousands of Fitzroy Lions fans swamp the field as the team exits the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the final time, serenaded by their club song.