"Former Fitzroy captain and champion half forward Owen Abrahams died in Melbourne on 31st January. He was 72.

He kicked 232 goals in his 132 senior matches with Fitzroy between 1954 and 1962, and 29 goals in nine matches for Victoria, including a bag of seven in a game against Western Australia in 1959 in a 178-point win at the MCG.

In a low-scoring era, Abrahams was a key to Fitzroy kicking big scores under coach Len Smith.

The Royboy faithful at Brunswick Street would sing out "Abie my boy" when he weaved his goalsneak magic.

Abrahams was a tall, rangy half-for-ward flanker whose resourcefulness was a feature of the Fitzroy attack from the time he came to the Lions from the amateur team Commonwealth Bank.

He was a relatively "old" recruit and was almost 21 when he made his debut. In a low-scoring era a half-for-ward flanker who could score freely was a huge asset.

Abrahams' best single tally was eight. He played in the club's three finals appearances in 1958 and 1960. One of his most memorable displays was in the 1958 first semi final against North Melbourne when he was shifted to center half forward in the final term and got them to within four points at the finish.

In a 1961 match report of a rare Fitzroy win over Collingwood at Victoria Park, Lou Richards described "Fitzroy's famed forward line merry-go-round", of which Abrahams was a key component.

His late teammate Kevin Wright described this forward set-up for the book Fitzroy: For the Love of the Jumper:

"We used to have team meetings with Len Smith and one day I talked to him about rotating Owen Abrahams, Wally Clark and I around the forward line. It left the goalsquare open and "Abie" would drop back into the goal square, Wally would move to the half forward flank and I would go to center half forward. Then Wally would come back and do the same as I would do and the full back wouldn't know what was going on. The three of us used to form what was called in the papers from there on "the Fitzroy merry-go-round"…We just had to look at one another and all of a sudden you'd just shake your head and we'd go on."

Abrahams was vice-captain to "Butch" Gale from 1957 to 1961 and in his last season was honoured with the captaincy of his beloved Lions.

It was a tough year as the club was struggling and he was shifted to the center.

He was the club treasurer the following year and in 2001 his football life was capped by being named in the Hall of Fame.

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New Competition, Same rivals Brad Beitzel Mordialloc-Chelsea Leader 8th May, 2006

A NEW football derby will be struck in the VAFA's C Section next Saturday at Gerry Green Reserve yet it will have some familiar rivals.

Macgeorge kicked three of his team's nine goals as they lost to the Fitzroy Reds by 13 points on a soggy Brunswick St. Oval last Saturday. With no more than a goal separating the teams during the match (playing for the Norm Johnstone Cup). The Reds kicked two goals to finalise the result during time-on.

The cup was struck in 2000 by Mordialloc accountant and Fitzroy supporter Bill Atherton, in honour of Norm Johnstone, a Mordialloc resident who played for league football for Fitzroy in the 1940s and 1950s. It is only the third time the cup has been played for and the Vultures have won it twice. "