Football Federation Australia may be trying to keep a lid on expansion, but clearly no one is listening. There are now at least 10 bids to join the A-League in the public domain, three of them from Brisbane. Which is why the Roar need to clarify their identity, and their geography. Being the only team in town, indeed the only team in Queensland, is an easy out. But now there are others invading their space.

The catalyst has arrived with the pre-grand final launch of the Brisbane City bid, a club which clearly intends to celebrate its history, rather than ignore it. More on that later.

Ever since the Roar license left the control of the Lions Club nine years ago, there's been a pretence that the connection no longer exists. But it does, and always will. Sixty years ago, the club was formed by Dutch migrants as Hollandia. No amount of spin can bury that DNA. It's why the club wear orange, why they're called the Roar. Hollandia became Lions, who became the Roar. Ethnicity has nothing to do with it, heritage does.

Thankfully, sensibly, both parties have committed to celebrating the occasion.

John Ribot, the former Roar chairman who now controls the Lions Social Club at Richlands, told Fairfax Media recently: "All I know is there's certainly going to be a celebration of the 60th year ... it's being looked at at board level because they want to do something special."

Roar managing director Mark Kingsman is also planning a dinner, telling us at the start of the year: "You can't ignore your heritage, can you?"

Rapprochement? You'd like to think it's finally arrived. Having two separate gala events to celebrate the same occasion is clearly madness. After nine frosty years, maybe sanity will finally prevail.

Nick Meredith, a former Lions player (he even married the coach's daughter), is these days better known as a Fox Sports pundit, and he's hoping it will. "It's a great history, one to be proud of. What the Lions have built up over the years at Richlands [three football fields, including a mini-stadium, as part of a social club with 22,000 members] is the sort of base every A-League club dreams of. It makes so much sense for the two sides to come together again. What Brisbane City have shown within their bid is a mature attitude to the game's history. The Roar and the Lions need to do the same."

The history will provide identity. So then there's the question of geography. Brisbane is the largest metropolitan council in the country. It covers a staggering 1367 square kilometres. If the Brisbane City bid gets up it will be based at Ballymore. That's just 4.5km away from the Roar's home ground, Suncorp Stadium. Having two clubs sitting on top of each other helps neither.

Geography provides distinction, and tribalism. Another reason for the Roar to start thinking seriously about Richlands, where plans for a 14,500-seat stadium have been gathering dust, or perhaps even Ipswich, where North Ipswich Reserve is also due a substantial makeover. One club north of the river (Brisbane City) and one club for the south-west (Brisbane Roar). Makes sense?

This pre-supposes, of course, Brisbane City will win the race for the second license - ahead of less formulated bids from two other NPL clubs, Brisbane Strikers and Ipswich-based Western Pride. But until those bids reveal themselves, we can only say the Brisbane City bid looks impressive. Playing out of a refurbished Ballymore, which will involve improving transport links and providing innovative food and drinking options around the ground, is a good move. Connecting with Brisbane City, whose tidy boutique Spencer Park stadium is only 500 metres away, provides an equally important foundation. Both these factors bring down the cost base, something which can only help sustainability.

The material benefits of having a ready-made training base and a ready-made junior development program are clear. And then there's the value of identity. Founded by Italian migrants as Azzurri in 1952, there's been no attempt to hide that heritage in 2017. In fact it's a source of great strength, and pride, to bid chairman Rob Cavallucci. Good on him.

If you're thinking the future of the A-League in Brisbane has suddenly become a very fluid situation, you're right. How it pans out may partly be influenced by where longtime football backers Luxury Paints (owned by the Baradel brothers, who grew up at the Lions site and whose mother still lives there), and the Coffee Club, eventually park their cash. Either way one thing should now be abundantly clear to the only A-League club currently in town. Who are the Roar, and what do they stand for? Create something, or should that be re-create something. It's time to find out.