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At a time when A-League clubs desperately need to consolidate their fan bases, with crowds hitting a new low at an average of 8,300 heading into the final round of the regular season, Football Federation Australia (FFA) and clubs such as Melbourne Victory and Newcastle Jets are seemingly doing their best to alienate supporters with their ignorance of football fan culture.
First to the Newcastle Jets, who yesterday announced they would be replacing their familiar gold colours with vastly different home and away strips (see photo above), which, according to the club, incorporates “Newcastle’s recognised colours of Red and Blue while honouring the Jets six-year A-League heritage with Gold detail.”
In other words, the Jets are taking on the colours of the defunct Newcastle Breakers from the NSL days and, principally, the Newcastle Knights NRL club, who will soon come under the control Tinkler Sports Group, owned by Nathan Tinkler.
The change makes sense from a Tinkler perspective, with the Jets and Knights set to share the same image and branding, playing out of the same stadium and uniting Newcastle behind the same colours.
But what of the identity the Newcastle Jets have built up over the last six seasons? Fans have a connection to the gold. It’s their club’s identity, which is unique to them, and that’s not something that should be taken for granted or just whisked into the detail of a new shirt.
Gold details are unlikely to satisfy the angry fans. They could have at least kept the gold shirt as the away strip, as opposed to the black and white stripes, in a compromise that would retain some link to the Jets’ past.
As Newcastle’s supporter group, The Squadron, told FourFourTwo: “Our gold strip is distinctive, it is easily recognisible at the local and national football levels as the Newcastle United Jets and has been associated with passion, pride and success over the six years since the A-League commenced.”
Now the Jets’ identity has to be shared with an NRL club. Novocastrians can get away with wearing Knights or Barcelona shirts (or Juventus and Newcastle United shirts to away games) rather than Jets shirts. The identity of the club is now a shared entity rather than being unique to their football club, and that’s part of the attractiveness of supporting a club – their uniqueness.
Yes, without Tinkler the Jets would have been dead already, so he has some right to mould the club into his grand vision for a Newcastle ‘super club’. And perhaps this is another example of a compromise football fans in this country have to make given the game’s status. But the fans should have been heard, and they weren’t.
The Squadron campaigned heavily yesterday to stop the change but to no avail. The pertinent question is why there wasn’t a greater dialogue between the supporters and the club on how to incorporate the gold identity into the new-look.
“Embarking on a major change by removing the gold from the home strip without any consultation whatsoever, I believe you risk unnecessary angst and potential alienation of many loyal supporters,” The Squadron said.
The press release from Newcastle states: “Jets supporters should be assured that in the future, in line with the policy that the Tinkler Sports Group has offered Newcastle Knights fans, Members approval will be required to change the team name, colours, location or home ground.”
It’s a bit late for the fans that resonate with the gold of the Jets. Their reaction in the coming days and in their final home match of the season at EnergyAustralia Stadium tonight will be fascinating.
The Jets rebranding is just the latest example of the A-League failing to grasp the importance of football fan culture.
Melbourne Victory’s Northern Terrace supporter group has been in disagreement with the club having had enough of over zealous security reportedly confiscating supporter items, evicting fans for handing out flyers, discouraging them from using drums and megaphones, and taking down certain banners.
Flares are one thing, as there is a public safety issue, but to discourage your active supporter base – the biggest supporter base in the league – from developing its own culture shows that the FFA has no understanding of what a football fan culture.
The FFA and clubs need to appreciate the difference between football fan culture to the AFL and rugby league. In those codes, with constant action, fans do little aside from yelling at the umpire and the odd chant of the club’s nickname. Football is different, with more sophisticated songs, chants, banners and music, because of the longer buildup in play.
Their attempts to control and mould this behaviour makes a complete mockery of this season’s A-League slogan, “Fan Made”, with its adverts showcasing the very supporters that they are now drowning out.
The lack of faith the governing body has in the fans is reaching the point of paranoia. The employment of Hatamoto to monitor fans created an atmosphere of tension and suspicion that started the divide between active supporters and the clubs/governing body.
Over-zealous security is just an extension of those more cunning tactics. At the recent Adelaide United versus Central Coast Mariners match at Hindmarsh, I counted around 35 Central Coast Mariners fans hoarded in the away supporters bay guarded by around ten security and police personnel.
Why the FFA, stadium management, security personnel, whoever, feel compelled to assign one guard for every three fans shows the lack of faith the governing body has in them. The misguided inherent fear that football fans will revert to the NSL at its worst seems to still pervade the FFA’s thinking, showing a high degree of ignorance.
Security at other Australian sporting events is paltry compared to A-League matches. I counted around ten security personnel marshalling the bank of supporters standing under the Adelaide Oval’s historic scoreboard at the KFC Big Bash final, with two of those poor fellows charged with breaking up a drunken fight late in the night.
Until the governing body and clubs show some faith in the fans, encouraging rather than discouraging a fan culture, the game will be stuck with low crowds and no atmosphere. Without those active supporters the league cannot survive. Period. So working with them and treating them with respect is imperative.
Rather than being something that needs to be weeded out of the game, the FFA should embrace this fan culture. It’s what makes an A-League match exciting to go to and could be a real point of differentiation from the other codes. Who wouldn’t want to be at the stadium to hear the chants, see the banners and be part of that atmosphere?
There’s a lot of doom and gloom around the league at present, despite the progress made on the field this season.
Across the ditch, Wellington Phoenix owner Terry Serepisos has debts of over $3.5 million and his companies, including the one that owns the Phoenix, face liquidation; Perth Glory owner Tony Sage is auctioning off his Ferrari (of all things) to raise money for the club, which is facing massive losses after a disastrous campaign; Sydney FC’s football strategy continues to confound its fans, Gold Coast’s population are still to prove they deserve an A-League franchise; and all the while North Queensland Fury lie on their deathbed.
The last thing the A-League needs, at this critical juncture, is for clubs to alienate its active fans. Yet that’s exactly what they’re doing with their ignorance.
Follow Adrian on twitter @AdrianMusolino