Football trophy won by mysterious club in 1896 comes home to Launceston
Updated
An 1896 premiership football trophy won by a Tasmanian club has been returned to Launceston after being displayed in the wrong museum for 15 years.
The Fitzroy Football Club, based in Launceston in the late 1800s, won the Daily Telegraph Trophy more than 120 years ago.
The prize, which consists of a velvet-covered base holding a mounted emu egg, had been erroneously displayed in the Fitzroy Football Club Museum in Melbourne.
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery director (QVMAG) Richard Mulvaney said it was an important part of Launceston's sporting history.
"It's easy to understand how the mistake happened," he said.
Hobart-based Fitzroy historian Adam Muyt said the Fitzroy Launceston Club had no connection to its Victorian counterpart.
"I was contacted by the Fitzroy-Brisbane Lions Historical Society and asked to find out about this mystery trophy that Fitzroy hadn't won," he said.
"Someone in Tasmania has donated it to Melbourne Fitzroy Football Club, and we don't know who that was."
Three teams played in the 1896 premiership, with Fitzroy taking out the title against Launceston and Railways.
Mr Muyt said there were are least three teams named after Melbourne teams playing in northern Tasmania at the time.
"There was a Hawthorn at Beaconsfield and an Essendon playing in Launceston around the time of Fitzroy, and Essendon became the North Launceston Football Club and they wear red and black to this day," he said.
History of club a mystery
QVMAG history research officer Ross Smith said the history of the Fitzroy Launceston Football Club was not known.
"The history of the Launceston-based Fitzroy club at the moment appears lost in the mist of time," he said.
"The first references I believe are in 1892.
"After the 1897 season, where they played again in the local senior competition, there doesn't seem to be any further matches played by that local club."
The gold-plated footballer figurine, which broke off the top of the trophy while being transferred to Launceston, will be fixed before the historical piece is displayed at QVMAG in Launceston.
Topics: sport, australian-football-league, launceston-7250, tas, fitzroy-3065, vic
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