The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, competing in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in 1996 through a merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Football Club, adopting an identity, logo, song and guernsey based on those of Fitzroy.[1] The club’s colours of maroon, blue and gold were drawn from both Fitzroy and the Bears.[2]
Design and History
The Brisbane Lions’ visual identity has evolved through three distinct emblems since the merger. In 1997, the club unveiled its first merger emblem, consisting of the golden Fitzroy Lion on a badge of maroon and blue, used from 1997 until the end of 2001.[3] In 2002, the club introduced a new emblem in the shape of a football, emblazoned with the words “Brisbane Lions” and featuring the Fitzroy Lion located within the “o” of Lions.[3]
In late 2009, the club announced it was adopting a new “forward-facing” lion emblem, which was introduced for the 2010 season.[4][5] The change sparked a legal dispute with the Fitzroy Football Club, which claimed the decision breached the 1996 merger agreement requiring the traditional “side-on Fitzroy-style” lion to be used in perpetuity.[4] Fitzroy launched legal action in December 2009, and the matter was headed for the Victorian Supreme Court before the two parties entered mediation.[4]
The dispute was settled in July 2010. As part of the agreement, the two clubs acknowledged that the side-on Fitzroy-style Lion “symbolically represents the historic merger between the Bears and Fitzroy and the first 13 years of the Brisbane Lions competing in the AFL.”[6] Under the settlement, the traditional sideways lion would appear alongside the newer version for the next 14 years on official club stationery and club publications, and on the Lions’ official website for seven years.[4]
The forward-facing lion design was also applied to the club’s playing guernsey, where it earned the derogatory nickname “Paddle Pop Lion” among fans.[7] The cartoon-style lion was introduced in 2009 and was emphatically rejected by supporters.[8] A grassroots campaign led by a group of fans calling themselves the Lions’ Roar lobbied for months to have the old Fitzroy lion restored to the playing guernseys.[7] At the club’s annual general meeting in December 2013, members voted to revert to the premiership guernsey featuring the traditional side-on lion, which was reinstated for the 2015 season.[7][5] The forward-facing lion was retained as the club’s corporate logo but removed from the playing uniform.[8]
The front-facing lion remains Brisbane’s major logo today, and was painted on the MCG turf when the club won its fourth premiership under the Brisbane Lions moniker in 2024.[9]
Meaning and Symbolism
The side-on Fitzroy-style Lion has been explicitly recognised by both clubs as symbolically representing the historic merger between the Bears and Fitzroy and the first 13 years of the Brisbane Lions competing in the AFL.[6] The reinstated guernsey featuring the side-facing lion was a nod to Fitzroy’s history, which dates back to 1883.[7]
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