Once a Jolly Ruckman ....
The kerfuffle first came to light on 13 June when the Wednesday Sporting Globe devoted a front page column to a move by the club secretary, Ward Stuchbery to change the tune of the song from "La Marseillaise" at the request of the French Consulate in Melbourne who considered the use of the music by a sporting club as offensive to the French nation.
Stuchbery had agreed, suggesting that he personally preferred retaining the words, but somehow adopting them to the tune of "Waltzing Matilda".
The Globe reporter issued an appeal for fans, Fitzroy or otherwise, to come up with a different tune, either using the existing wording or a completely new song, and the following week suggested a "terrific" response to Stuchbery's request.
Amongst the well-known tunes suggested were "MacNamara's Band", "A Long Way to Tipperary" (the Globe somewhat cheekily suggesting that perhaps the permission of the Irish Ambassador would be required for this pair), "Scotland, The Brave", "Roll Out The Barrel", "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean", "The Road to Gundagai", "Lille Marlene" and another (unknown to the author, "Who Where You With Last Night" which sounds rather more like what a policeman might say after he taps you the shoulder on the street.
The most popular suggestion retained a French flavour, The Gendarme's Duet (the chorus "we'll run them in, we'll run them in" perhaps an appropriate match for "Fitzroy! Fitzroy").
Forgetting the policeman's tap on the shoulder and perhaps the lilting tones of Lilli Marlene as a little out-of-reach of a boisterous dressing room, the others are probably all sturdy enough to have been used. (Hey! "Gundagai" was used for the Preston Wanderers song when I played in in the 1960s; still remember every word.)
The idea of a change fell flat - there was never any further mention in the Globe, and given Fitzroy around the time were proposing a move from the Brunswick Street ground to Preston City Oval, maybe the idea of another change may have proved too much for the Fitzroy faithful.
The Globe did, however, reveal that the song originated 1952 and was the work of two players, Bill Stephen and Stan Vandersluys (who never played a senior game) who penned the word while on an end-of-season trip.
The "Pink Paper With a Punch" also laid out the words as they were at the time - although not expert on the later version, there appears to be a couple of minor variations over the year ...
We are the team from old Fitzroy, my lads
We wear the colours, maroon and blue
We have always fought for victory
And we always see it through
Win or lose, we do or die
And in defeat we always try
Fitzroy!, Fitzroy!
The club we love so dear
Premiers we will be this year
Footnotes
""La Marseillaise" was written and composed in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle during the French Revolutionary Wars, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin". The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic's anthem in 1795. It acquired its nickname after being sung in Paris by volunteers from Marseilles marching on the capital.
Comments
Brian Membrey 21 June 2014
Since publishing the above article, I've checked the actual French anthem against the Fitzroy song and discovered the latter is just nine lines selected from 21 of the Anthem - for instance, "Fitzroy! Fitzroy!" is the seventh line in the song, but line 12 ("Marchons, marchons!"- "Let's march, let's march") in the Anthem - a comparison of the two (both English and French lyrics) is at www.ozsportshistory.com/melbournerules/frenchrevolution.html
Terry Logozzo 24 June 2014
I believe the Fitzroy song is the most stirring and inspirational of all the VFL/AFL songs.
The Brisbane Lions version is poorer for not having the rousing drum-beat of the Fitzroy version. I vividly recall going to games at the Junction Oval in the 1970's and being flooded with emotion when the song was gustily belted out by supporters singing at the end of a winning game ( and marvelling that supporters of other teams did not belt their own song when they won at home-this, to me, suggests the greatness of the tune and its moving lyrics). My spine would tingle when I heard it-and still does when I sometimes listen to it on YouTube)
The original Fitzroy version is still played over the loud speakers at Fitzroy Reds VAFA home games at the Brunswick St Oval. The Fitzroy Junior Football Club (with about 500 male and female players, one of the biggest junior football clubs in Australia) also have the original Fitzroy tune as their club song. Sometimes a parent plays the tune DURING Fitzroy JFC games, but I am happy to hear it even though my boys play for another junior team! It evokes memories of the old Royboys and is a romantic reminder of our football past and culture.
Bill Stephen chose the "French" tune on a Fitzroy trip to Perth in 1952, travelling to Perth by train over 2 nights and 3 days. The lyrics took about 10 minutes to create, with Stephen choosing the first line- and he invited other players to each create their own line after his. The other players who each contributed a line were D.Furness, N. Broderick, K.Wright, K.Ross, C.Davey and J.Mcgregor. Amazingly, Fitzroy never had one recognised long term victory song before this! (This information is from A. Muyt's book 'Maroon & Blue')
Long Live Fitzroy!
Brian Membrey 25 June 2014
I can only agree with Terry's first line! And the audio version at the Wikipedia site quoted is probably the most stirring of La_Marseillaise I've come across!
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