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Reni Maitua during the NRL Round 10, Penrith Panthers v Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks match at Penrith Stadium, Saturday, May 16, 2009. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Renne McKay)
It’s not surprising that clubs are becoming more and more difficult to recognise. Even Ray Warren and Phil Gould were dumbfounded by the predominantly white-with-black-stripes strip being worn by Penrith against Parramatta on Friday night, which differed from the ‘official’ home and away strips of the club.
Both commentators struggled to explain the reason for this (not to mention that this jersey was greatly similar to the new Broncos away strip used in the second Friday night game).
Now, I have nothing against the ideology behind these strips.
I think it’s great that NRL clubs show their support for women and their fight against breast cancer, as well as celebrate the role of indigenous Australians in our game. There,s also a great sense of nostalgia one can gain from watching their team take the field in a heritage jersey.
But it’s becoming harder and harder to find a club that wears the same jersey from one game to the next.
Now, before you start thinking I’m just some whinging old fart that refuses to accept that times are-a-changing (I’m only 23′ by the way), there are several reasons why the merry-go-round of jerseys has negative affects on the game.
1. Identity: it’s harder for fans to support a team when they play in a different strip every week. A team’s jersey is a symbol of everything that team stands for. Changing it every week cheapens this identity and makes it harder for fans to show their support.
2. Pride: I’d love to hear a Panthers player say: “When I was a kid, I always wanted to grow up and wear the brown and white jersey. Then it was the black, red, white and yellow; then it was pink; but now it’s the teal.” Players and fans alike take pride in their teams’ jersey and this is important.
3. Jersey sales: The idea behind flooding the jersey market is that fans will always want to buy the latest jersey and this will translate into increased sales. However, these cashed-up, die-hard fans make up only a small number of the NRL community and instead fans are discouraged from forking out $159.99 on the grounds of, “Oh, the jerseys only going to be change next week anyway…”
How do I know this? I manage a sports store. It’s my job to know this! I’m seeing more and more customers turned off by a perceived ‘cheapening’ of team colours.
When I was a kid falling in love with league, every team had a home and away jersey, and this was usually just the team’s colours reversed when playing a team with similar colours. After several years, a team may have updated its jersey, while still sticking to traditional colours.
And this would generate excitement amongst fans.
There are, of course, repeat offenders: Penrith, Brisbane, Warriors and Melbourne have played in several wild and whacky combos over the last ten years or so. Other teams have shown a bit more stability: Dragons, Rabbitohs, Eels and Raiders are some obvious examples.
However it doesn’t just end with jerseys.
The Bulldogs have had more home grounds in their existence than spectators to fill them, and now they share ANZ stadium with Souths (which isn’t even in their area). Games are being taken away to other grounds, such as Wellington, the Sydney Football Stadium, Adelaide or Gosford (which will soon be exclusively for the Bears if we have our way).
And how many teams have had half their players calling themselves ‘co-captain’?
It’s imperative for the game to evolve to survive, but does it have to come at the expense of the clubs’ traditions and identity?
It’s possible for the game to evolve while still clinging onto the things we know and love. Is it too hard for clubs to keep the same home and away strips year in year out’ which actually reflect club colours?
There could still be opportunity to wear heritage jerseys or women-in-league jerseys without suffering this loss of identity. Am I the only one that would like to see a bit of tradition maintained when watching teams take the park each week?
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