<P> However , the club was still struggling off - field . One of the Bears ' biggest problems was its lack of support ( both on and off the field ) in Melbourne , the location of most of its away matches . In mid-1996 , the struggling Fitzroy Football Club collapsed due to financial pressures and was seeking to merge its assets with another club . When a merger with North Melbourne in forming the North Fitzroy Kangaroos failed to win the support of the other AFL clubs , a deal for a merger was done between Fitzroy and the Bears . The new team was known as the Brisbane Lions , based at the Gabba , with Northey as the coach of the merged club . As such , the history of the Brisbane Bears as an individual entity ended after the 1996 season , with ten seasons of competition and the third - place finish in 1996 as its best performance . The Bears last match as a separate entity was a preliminary final on Saturday 21 September 1996 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground ( where the Bears played their first VFL / AFL game ) . It was against North Melbourne , their first and last ever opponents , the Bears lost by 38 points to North who would go on to win the premiership that year. When the team came off the MCG , the Bears were finished after a short and troubled existence . </P>
<P> However , the club was still struggling off - field . One of the Bears ' biggest problems was its lack of support ( both on and off the field ) in Melbourne , the location of most of its away matches . In mid-1996 , the struggling Fitzroy Football Club collapsed due to financial pressures and was seeking to merge its assets with another club . When a merger with North Melbourne in forming the North Fitzroy Kangaroos failed to win the support of the other AFL clubs , a deal for a merger was done between Fitzroy and the Bears . The new team was known as the Brisbane Lions , based at the Gabba , with Northey as the coach of the merged club . As such , the history of the Brisbane Bears as an individual entity ended after the 1996 season , with ten seasons of competition and the third - place finish in 1996 as its best performance . The Bears last match as a separate entity was a preliminary final on Saturday 21 September 1996 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground ( where the Bears played their first VFL / AFL game ) . It was against North Melbourne , their first and last ever opponents , the Bears lost by 38 points to North who would go on to win the premiership that year. When the team came off the MCG , the Bears were finished after a short and troubled existence . </P>
when did the brisbane bears merged with fitzroy
when did the brisbane bears merged with fitzroy
1996
1996