The Fitzroy Bulldogs was a proposed Australian rules football club which was to have formed from the merger between the Fitzroy Lions and the Footscray Bulldogs, and was to have competed in the Victor
Footscray's off-field position in the 1980s was hindered by deteriorating facilities at the Western Oval.
The North Fitzroy Kangaroos was a proposed professional Australian rules football club which was to have formed from the merger between the Fitzroy Football Club and the North Melbourne Football Club,
The main grandstand at the Brunswick Street Oval, built in 1888, stood in a state of disrepair and did not meet minimum VFL stadium safety regulations from 1966 onwards