Steve Harris is taking the Dockers apart
Roar Rookie By Marked, 21 Jun 2011 Marked is a Roar Rookie
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- 2011 AFL season, AFL, Fremantle, Fremantle Dockers, Rick Hart, Steve Harris
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“Culture is like the sum of special knowledge that accumulates in any large united family and is the common property of all its members,” said Aldous Huxley, author (1894 – 1963).
It was obvious to all Fremantle fans that former president Rick Hart loved the Dockers.
He once shouted a whole bar in Melbourne full of Dockers fans after a rare win.
Through his work, the Dockers had achieved their best result ever, a preliminary final appearance, following an extraordinary run of wins in the home and away season.
It came on the back of increased membership and momentum through the building of the brand of the club with such initiatives as ‘Purple Haze’ day, blow up anchors being given to children and everyone from the coach to the CEO promoting the club.
Members loved the work Rick Hart and others had done to bring the club to the point of financial stability and promise of on-field success.
Following Rick Hart’s presidency, it was expected a steady growth of membership would occur and the young players who had promised so much would deliver.
However, 2011 is quickly going down as the year that present President Steve Harris destabilised much of the good work that has been done amongst the members.
The fact that he originally supported their bitter rivals the West Coast Eagles has made them suspicious from the start.
In a move which threatened to split the membership, Harris removed the key aspect of the logo, the Anchor, and replaced it with something which many fans have labelled ‘embarrassing’.
While the new jumper has been applauded by some, the removal of the four colours, symbolising the Port heritage, has raised the ire of members.
Recent press speculation indicates that President Steve will also change the song and move the club from its spiritual base in Fremantle.
While many AFL fans deride the song, it is just as well supported by those sing it around Subiaco oval and at its rare appearances in Victoria.
The song is certainly unique, like the club which commissioned it from Ken Walther, who based it on a Russian folk song.
Many supporters are cynical of the process by which such radical change has taken place.
While members were asked their opinion on a new gurnsey, many see the process being flawed as there was not actual vote, something required at other AFL clubs, and no consultation at all on the new logo.
Now the news that Harris wishes to move the club is possibly the final straw. While there are rumours that the Dockers will have their new facilities based at South Fremantle, others wonder if Harris should be trusted.
Back in the formative years of the club around 10,000 fans marched from Fremantle to Subiaco oval to make the point that the heart of the Dockers is to be found in Fremantle.
Colours, logos, songs and location all form the identity of the club, along with classic wins and even disappointing losses. These form the culture and heart of the club, and are sometimes all the membership has to cling to.
In the short history of Fremantle, true sustained success is not something members have enjoyed. They have however enjoyed supporting a unique club, a peoples club, a Port club, a Fremantle club.
To many of the members, it seems Steve Harris is determined to remove every bit of heart from the club that he can.
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- 2011 AFL season, AFL, Fremantle, Fremantle Dockers, Rick Hart, Steve Harris
June 21st 2011 @ 11:26am
Gavin said | June 21st 2011 @ 11:26am | Report comment
What a load of rubbish. Steve Harris has done a great job transforming a jumper that was a joke into something that is actually admired (not despised) by opposition supporters. We don’t care that he worked at the WCE, a lot of our staff have done. Freo has also provided WC with a lot of staff. Good work Steve, keep it up!
June 21st 2011 @ 12:30pm
lemon said | June 21st 2011 @ 12:30pm | Report comment
gavin, please don’t say ‘we’. or ‘our’ for that matter. and you don’t transform a jumper. i think you work for steve. that much is obvious to me.
June 21st 2011 @ 4:09pm
crayfish said | June 21st 2011 @ 4:09pm | Report comment
Steve is taking away our identity. Take your Prado back to Joondalup mate.
FFC FOREVER.
June 21st 2011 @ 4:38pm
chris van malssen said | June 21st 2011 @ 4:38pm | Report comment
we dont care what other supporters think of our jumper or our club
June 22nd 2011 @ 6:04am
amazonfan said | June 22nd 2011 @ 6:04am | Report comment
I was just thinking that myself.
Why should you care if opposition supporters admire your jumper?
June 21st 2011 @ 12:35pm
The Usual Suspect said | June 21st 2011 @ 12:35pm | Report comment
Good article. Harris has shown repeatedly that he is out of his depth running a football club. Whatever your view on the aesthetics of the jumper, he has displayed an appalling lack of leadership when it was needed to heal the divisions within the club. Divisions that he created through poor management of the change process. On the back of a successful season last year, one has to ask why membership numbers are down, crowd numbers are down and dissatisfaction with club is much higher that anybody would have suspected. Instead of trying to lead the club forward, all we see from Harris is him boasting at how much he is disappointing long standing members. The sooner the WAFC wake up to see how much value he is wiping from the club through his inept handling and replace him, the better football in Fremantle will be.
June 21st 2011 @ 2:15pm
Gavin said | June 21st 2011 @ 2:15pm | Report comment
Guess what guys? Change is a part of life. Just because the jumper has changed and in future the Freo song may change doesn’t mean the whole club is being torn apart. Quite the contrary – Freo is finding its feet after several years with a dud song and jumper and no one wanting to say ‘this isn’t good enough for a team in the AFL’, slowly the changes (pronounced IMPROVEMENTS) are being mad from within the club. As i said before, keep up the good work Steve.
PS. No i don’t work for him, have never met him, and have no association with him
June 21st 2011 @ 4:10pm
Balthazar said | June 21st 2011 @ 4:10pm | Report comment
Gavin, you have missed the whole point of the article.
These changes were imposed on the club’s supporters by a marketing agency.
The previous president loved the club because it forged a unique identity. I did too. If I had wanted to support a bland, generic, football corporation I would be an Eagles supporter.
I couldn’t care less what opposition supporters thought of the jumper and the extent of division is shown by your comment that the club is finally finding its feet. No it’s not, it’s losing its soul
June 21st 2011 @ 6:19pm
Wcefan said | June 21st 2011 @ 6:19pm | Report comment
WCE is a fantasic club. While I bleed blue and gold I like the fact that we are a professional outfit. This brings us money and support.
Freo are on their way to being 100% professional (note Rick hart going bankrupt in 09). They have really got it together with harvey and when they get their best team on the park they are top 4 quality. with professionalism comes sucess and with sucess come the fair weather supporters. All this talk of love and soul is what u talk about when u don’t win games.
I and 99% of fans would rather win
June 21st 2011 @ 9:04pm
Balthazar said | June 21st 2011 @ 9:04pm | Report comment
I fail to see how the changes made to the club name, logo and playing strip without adequate consultation of members can be equated with professionalism.
I am pleased that you like your club. However, your style of club is not for me.
And my views on the changes have nothing to do with the team’s current position on the ladder; the changes were made pre-season. It’s just that the club president does little to heal the divisions with interviews like the one recently in The Australian. Like others, I see this as poor leadership.
June 22nd 2011 @ 11:54am
Peter said | June 22nd 2011 @ 11:54am | Report comment
Rick Hart didn’t go bankrupt. Rick Hart (the person) sold his business (also called Rick Hart) a few years earlier to Clive Peeters (a Victorian based business).
Rick Hart (the person) had no interest in Rick Hart (the business) when Clive Peeters was put into receivership. Rick Hart (the business) was performing well at the time Clive Peeters (the business) went into receivership but the Clive Peeters side of things over east were struggling.
Rick Hart (the person) now has an interest in a new business Kitchen Headquarters which is going gang busters by all accounts.
Steve Harris is only managing director of The Brand Agency. It is owned, in majority, by the STW group which has a large stable of marketing and communications companies around Australia and the world.
June 21st 2011 @ 3:27pm
Jonathan said | June 21st 2011 @ 3:27pm | Report comment
ooh Gavin we’ve now got a jumper that is admired by opposition supporters. We’re liked by the cool kids?
Is that really that important? Who the hell cares what opposition supporters think about Freo?
Toughen up.
Change is a part of life is it? Have a chat to the Pies then. You know the current premiers and rusted on black and white stripes.
Steve Harris is probably the only club president that doesn’t really support the club of which he’s the president.
June 21st 2011 @ 3:42pm
Matty T said | June 21st 2011 @ 3:42pm | Report comment
Gavin,
The new jumper has neither gained the club members or onfield success. Instead, the changes have divided the membership, which is why we have conversations like this.
Good work you reckon? Show me some results before I’ll agree.
June 21st 2011 @ 4:11pm
Gavin said | June 21st 2011 @ 4:11pm | Report comment
Jonathon, you cite one example of a club not changing and because they were the premiers last year you think they are correct in not changing? What about all the clubs in the AFL and other state leagues that have changed their jumpers and even their nick names, such as East Fremantle, West Perth, etc did they lose their culture because of it? No. That is what the article above is suggesting and it is a load of rubbish!
June 21st 2011 @ 4:23pm
The Usual Suspect said | June 21st 2011 @ 4:23pm | Report comment
Gavin,
I was a part of the change down at East Fremantle. It was done on a far more professional basis than the current administration could ever hope to claim. All the changes were discussed in detail with the members and we were part of the change process all the way through. It was realised by East Fremantle that changing nearly a century of tradition would be uncomfortable for a lot of members and they were treated with respect and honesty. That is something Harris wouldn’t understand. Had he handled the change process with any degree of understanding and showed leadership through the process, he could have avoided the divisions he he has created through poor management. Instead, he has mocked the membership, hidden behind security guards and generally portrayed himself as the complete pillock he seems to be!
June 21st 2011 @ 5:03pm
Nicholls said | June 21st 2011 @ 5:03pm | Report comment
Gavin, I and many others supported that Jumper, that logo and the song for sixteen years, proudly, passionately and loyally.
Now your telling us it was all a waste of time. Which Club do you support, because I doubt if its the Frematle Football Club.
June 21st 2011 @ 5:19pm
Matty T said | June 21st 2011 @ 5:19pm | Report comment
Gavin, can you name me one successful club that has removed half of it’s club colours?
June 21st 2011 @ 6:20pm
Gavin said | June 21st 2011 @ 6:20pm | Report comment
Matty, how about naming one succesful club that has 4 colours? Oh thats right no one other than Freo had four colours. Note the past tense in the word HAD. Common sense tells you that four is too many.
How about i name a club that changed their whole colour scheme and is now arguably the most successful sporting club in Australia? Heard of Port Adelaide? They were originally majenta something similar (they wore it in heritage round a couple of years back), and at some point many many years ago their administration had the good sense to change it. There were probably people crying foul that they loved those colours and the club wouldn’t be the same, etc, etc But i’m sure they got over it.
The club is more than just the jumper alone. And yes Nicholls i do barrack for Fremantle. Why would i bother to comment here if i didn’t?
June 21st 2011 @ 6:28pm
Matty T said | June 21st 2011 @ 6:28pm | Report comment
The club is indeed more than just a jumper, but how has changing the club colours made the club better?
Can you attribute the success of Port Adelaide to the changing of it’s colours? It is struggling financially to survive in the SANFL whilst other clubs that have kept their original colours are going strong.
June 21st 2011 @ 6:59pm
Freo Lad said | June 21st 2011 @ 6:59pm | Report comment
Gavin says: “How about i name a club that changed their whole colour scheme and is now arguably the most successful sporting club in Australia? Heard of Port Adelaide?”.
Port Adelaide are about to go bust Gavin – they’ve got few supporters, few sponsors, no cash, are on the bottom of the ladder, and they’ve just sacked half the board. How do you rate success Gavin?