Acknowledgement of Country
I would like to pay my respects to the First People: the traditional custodians of the lands and waterways of Ngunnawal, Ngunawal and Ngambri Country. I would like to acknowledge that this geocache has been placed on what always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.
It was only the other day that Mr Hunters Sr (my father) told me about the one time in AFL history that a game was played at Bruce Stadium in Canberra, which also happened to be the first AFL-league game played in Canberra altogether. That day, 27 May 1995, between the Fitzory Lions and the reigning premiers, the West Coast Eagles. Final score, Eagles won 12.10.82 to Fitzroy's 8.6.54.
What's really interesting is that in 1995, Fitzroy were hoping to host a majority of their home games that year (7 out of 11) in Canberra. At the time, Fitzroy were experencing significant financial struggles and looking for any means of revenue and sponsorship. The ACT Government were also considering upgrades to Bruce Stadium, under the condition that there would need to be 2 national teams playing at the Stadium (the first one being the Canberra Raiders, the second being Fitzroy). Many would argue that Bruce Stadium still needs upgrading to this day. However, Fitzroy's proposal for to play regular Canberra games was denied by the AFL because at the time, AFL boss Ross Oakley didn't want to send the AFL's "worst product" to Canberra, which wasn't a far-off assessment given that Fitzroy had frequently resided in the bottom part of the ladder, even winning the wooden spoon in 1995. Eventually, Fitzroy merged with the Brisbane Bears at the end of the 1996 season to form the Brisbane Lions. How different things are now, with the Brisbane Lions currently back-to-back premiers.
When researching this historic game, another interesting and exciting thing for me was recognising a lot of the names on both teams, including ex-premiership coaches and players, a Norm Smith medalist, and 2 iconic names involved with my own AFL club, the Bulldogs (formerlly known as Footscray). This Wherigo cache pays tribute to that! This is a simple, flat loop walk on the dirt and concrete tracks surrounding Bruce Stadium, with 8 virtual locations about 8 famous names involved with the Fitzroy v West Coast 1995 game. Answer a simple multiple choice question at each location about each person, then once you reach the final location, you will be presented with the GZ coordinates.
Download the cartridge at the following link: https://www.wherigo.com/cartridge/details.aspx?CGUID=8b9442a1-8b4d-4748-a8a5-b56c3defb27d
***FTF honours goes to Tankengine***