I intended to write about Origin today but something that happened on the weekend got right up my nose – and it is still stinking.
How on earth could the Newcastle Knights play the Wests Tigers dressed in a predominantly orange strip?
I’ll admit I missed the first few minutes of the game but I tuned into Fox Sports and, in an instant, had no idea which team had the ball, and which team was defending.
I had to wait for the commentators to tell me that the really tall and rangy ball carrier was Willie Mason – perhaps he was Aaron Woods, sans headband? Were the Knights in possession or was it the Tigers?
Confusion reigned in my head, and I swear that was without a solitary beer! Goodish game, but it really bugged me until the very end.
I was uncomfortable watching the Knights playing in orange. The club’s traditional, premiership-winning colours are indelible in my head, but what I was watching wasn’t Newcastle. Couldn’t be.
It was the Tigers playing some team in white who were, in fact, the genuine Wests Tigers.
With subsequent research, I learnt that the Knights were playing in this unfamiliar strip and colours because of a sponsorship deal with the NSW Mining Council. Fluro orange being the colour worn by working-class miners.
I reasoned that playing in some orange might be fair enough one day – clubs have to pull a sponsor dollar from somewhere, and the Newcastle district has a powerful mining backbone – but which genius decided that this orange strip would be worn against the famously orange and black Tigers?
It was Dumbsville to the power of ten. Hello Knights’ marketers? Is anyone at home there, or even close to being awake?
I spoke to a number of league fans, TV watchers who expressed similar frustration over this absurdity. The promotion was a total bummer, a waste of money for the good-intentioned folk of the Mining Council, but I won’t stop there.
Our NRL clubs are selling their images and souls far too cheaply and way too often.
I am all for a splash of pink here and there if monies are raised for the wonderful breast cancer cause, but why should it be on club’s traditional jerseys or playing strips? Surely, pink shorts and socks would suffice.
Over the past five or so years, I have frowned deeply at the TV screen as well as newspaper photos depicting NRL stars in alien jumpers. Have you have ever wondered who was playing in a particular game because of ‘promotional’ jumper changes?
There have been times when I did not recognise the Brisbane Broncos, the New Zealand Warriors, the Canterbury Bulldogs and even the Manly Sea Eagles. In one game, the Eagles were sent out in an army-style, camouflage strip. It was a shocker and from the fans I spoke to, it did not work.
In the main, the joint-venture St George Illawarra club has maintained the traditions and reverence that accompanies their world-famous red V on a white jumper, but there have been times when the club has strayed to the whims of the marketeers.
Call me a traditionalist, a dinosaur – whatever. I am all for progress, but I don’t like this tampering with jumpers one bit. Clubs have to get a dollar somewhere but I say leave the jumpers alone.
Youngsters keep asking their parents to buy them the jumpers their heroes wear in the glorious heat of battle down at the local ground. For many, it becomes a serious and attainable goal to rise through the ranks and wear that very jumper one day in the National Rugby League.
How many kids have received mixed messages from jumper changes this year, and in the past few seasons? Do Penrith juniors dream of the day when they can become pink Panthers? Do up-and-coming Knights aspire to don the coal-miner orange strip, or the famous red and blue garb worn so proudly and brilliantly by The Chief, The Johns boys and Robbie O in the past?
Rugby league needs to hold onto its traditions fiercely. I understand that clubs need different home-and-away strips but that is where this marketing madness should end.
Storm Boy
Guest
Poor Tim. Maybe the Blues can play in black and the Maroons in white.
Rick
Guest
Absolutely agree. Had the same difficulty when I tuned in to watch - saw the gold jumper and assumed it was the Tigers. The NRL could do worse than insist that teams have one strip. This signifies the team and ensures tradition. The switch to trendy colours and multiple jumpers does nothing for tradition or club loyalty. I would suggest that it is one of the reasons for the reduced numbers attending games.
Rick
Guest
Absolutely agree. Had the same difficulty when I tuned in to watch - saw the gold jumper and assumed it was the Tigers. The NRL could do worse than insist that teams have one strip. This signifies the team and ensures tradition. The switch to trendy colours and multiple jumpers does nothing for tradition or club loyalty. I would suggest that it is one of the reasons for the reduced numbers attending games.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
No I am sure it will be Four & Twenty Pies. I'm sure whoever is prepared to pay a princely sum for a premium event ,will reap the rewards.12 million sets of eyes over 3 matches ,is a marketeer's dream. Qantas Wallabies,QBE Swans,the list is endless. After all rugby league is a fully professional sport at NRL/SOO and International level,so maximising revenue is expected ,as it would be in any sport,including those who have poker machines as a back up.
AR
Guest
Maybe the Bundaberg Rum NSW Blues..? Anything's possible!
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
If they are prepared to up the ante XXXX can do as they wish,although doubt a Qld brand name would want to support NSW..GIO are the u20 Origin and associate SOO sponsors,who knows maybe QBE next time . Yep and the money the code is making from the SOO series is exemplified in today's Telegraph,of course Melbourne would want a slice of the action.
OneJayBee
Roar Rookie
Interesting when you look at NFL, possibly (??) the worlds most commercial sport, yet there is no advertising on the outfits other than the NFL licensing logo.... Mind you I reckon most of their shirts are boring as batsh#t!!!...
Beny Iniesta
Guest
"And their (Liverpool's) tradition goes back a lot further than Collingwood's" Ignorance must be bliss Chris. Must be bliss. Collingwood - Established February 12, 1892. Liverpool - Established June 3, 1892. Hmm - looks to me like Collingwood have a longer tradition than Liverpool mate. Collingwood - First Premiership - 1896 (VFA), 1902 (VFL). And many more after that (11 VFL Premierships by 1936). But only 4 VFL/AFL Premierships since in the last 78 years. Liverpool - First Titles - Lancashire League (1892-93), Football League Second Division (1893-94), Football League First Division (1900-01), FA Cup (1965). First main title coming in very similar years - Collingwood (1902) and Liverpool (1901). The histories of these clubs are eerily paralleled in many ways. I am not even a Collingwood supporter (St. Kilda - established 1873), nor Liverpool supporter (Fulham - established 1879). 2 clubs with longer histories than most of their peers - although clearly not successful histories!. You need to learn your history before adopting the cultural cringe mate!
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
It does make one wonder why VB's parent company (Foster's) didn't use one of their other brands though. Having a giant VB on the players' chests does look a bit out of sorts for a team representing NSW. Wouldn't Crown (still a Victorian beer I know) have been a little less contentious?
AR
Guest
Fantastic. Who knows, next year might be XXXX!
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
Only bidder for the showcase event LOL?.Top bidder by a country mile,I understand.
Grey nurse shark
Guest
Football united the pink is for woman/ breast cancer so id leave that one alone if i was you!
paul craggie
Guest
You spoke for the many Marko. I can't watch anymore so tacky and confusing are the Jersey's. People want something uplifting with a bit of style and consistency. Something dependable that they can relate too away from their everyday life. That commercial with the fans wearing what too rarely are the team colours is perhaps the ugliest commercial on t.v and infact repels me from the game. Seriously Who would want to be associated with that motley crue. How Dumb can league administrators be.
Ninja
Guest
Thank God I thought I was the only one. I'm all for these special rounds and any good cause- but some of these designs are just outrageous. Like Storm's jersey last week looked more like Cows than anything else; Bulldogs became the Storm, and Warriors as usual have different jersey for every round. Knights' orangeness against the tigers last round was a wtf moment. Felt dizzy watching those game..
Paul Nicholls
Roar Guru
Do you think one day the warriors might change jerseys at half time?
Stephen Towler
Guest
You should try being in the UK, they seem to change every week!
Chris
Guest
Raiders wore a blue and white jersey on St Patrick's Day a couple of years ago. Work that out.
Haradasun
Guest
I'd love for manly to just keep a traditional jersey for all home/away games. If they want to go the $ route, then they should design a unique 'finals' jersey for every time that they make the finals. That would actually make them collectable and with some relevance and even over time some tradition no?
Tad
Roar Rookie
Poos and wees are good colours for Hawthorn.
Tad
Roar Rookie
Chris Kettlewell said And their tradition (Liverpools) goes back a lot further than Collingwood’s. Actually it doesn't, Collingwood a relative latecomer to the Australian Football is actually older than Liverpool.