Alternative guernsey | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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Alternative guernsey

Rampaging_Richo

Making the easy seem incredible
Dec 19, 2002
1,167
0
Melbourne
MC24, I admire your passion with this.

I think that the AFL will sooner or later dictate that all clubs will need to have an away strip. Now being realistic, if the TV networks ask enough, and use a bit of ransom over future TV contracts - it will happen.

So looking on from this, I think it would be best that the club be prepared and develop an away strip.

I love the tiges and have had about 10 jumpers over my life time. I love the tiger jumper and like you would hate to see it go if only for away matches, but Richmond plays in the AFL, and ultimately the AFL dictates these things.

Of course this may never, ever happen....
 

TigerFury

Eloquent Feral
Dec 19, 2002
289
0
Belgrave
A little more food for thought...

We do not own the intellectual property to our jumper design - the AFL do! It would be a simple matter for them to decline us the licence to use this design, instead allowing us to wear something else.

A little heavy handed? Probably! But possible nonetheless.
 

TigerFury

Eloquent Feral
Dec 19, 2002
289
0
Belgrave
...

I like our traditions and I think they're worth keeping, otherwise I wouldn't bother being a member of any Club.  If the traditions of Clubs do not separate them, then what does?

The permanent banishment of the white shorts is one tradition I would be happy to lose (along with the tradition of perennial mediocrity).

What must not be thought is that we are completely trading away our identity or tradition. We will still be the team in All-Black with the Yellow sash in the same manner as Manure are always the Red Devils, regardless of what away strip they wear.
 

Koalalill

Just looking for someone else to curse!
Dec 17, 2002
1,118
0
The constitution of the RFC is very specific on this matter. Any changes to our jumper must be voted on and approved by the members.

But RR you make a very important point that sometimes gets forgotten because it is the side of footy we all hate and that's the business side. Alternate jumpers while they are "a can do " rather than a "must do" is great avenue for revenue raising. And the RFC is no different to any other club in this regard - they must examine all means to maximise their revenues to ensure long term vialbility.
 

MC24

Tiger Superstar
Jan 14, 2003
1,147
0
Just when you thought it was safe.

My understanding is that this is a request from the AFL. It has nothing to do with survival. It seems to me that we are being asked to change our jumper to suit others. Never mind that many of us buy memberships to maintain our Clubs in the form we know and love. What then is the purpose of you and I being a member if someone who cares nothing about our Club has more of a say in running it than you or I do?

Let's get one thing straight, the way the AFL is run has absolutely nothing to do with logic. It has everything to do with emotion. Otherwise, logic would tell us that our Club should have ceased to exist over a decade ago and logic would also tell us that we shouldn't have ten teams playing out of Victoria. The AFL would do well to realise this, instead of turning this competition into nothing more than a business, because that type of approach will ultimately dissipate the intense support and interest in it. And we might as well be supporting Coles Myer, CSR or some other corporate entity, because that will be the level of emotion in the game. But let's not bring emotion into the argument, because that will only serve to show how much this competition has changed in such a short time. This is supposed to be a game 'for the people'. How can it be if the AFL ignores those who help make it the game it is?

Cont'd
 

MC24

Tiger Superstar
Jan 14, 2003
1,147
0
The 90's have successfully hoodwinked most into this survival thing. "If we don't sell our soul we won't survive" type mentality. As Diggler might say, twang. Even with our woeful record, 20 years of mediocrity has barely caused a ripple of change to our Club.

Don't people get it? The Richmond Football Club is here to stay forever. The bad times have only served to show us how strong it truly is. We don't need to give up anything, least of all our history and traditions, to survive.

How many Clubs have changed their name, jumper, colours and the venue they play at? Do they look any more likely to survive than before they started messing with tradition? I don't think so. The sad part is, no one bats an eyelid any more. This competition is becoming nothing more than a business. The AFL makes the deals and Clubs and its supporters make the necessary sacrifices. They say jump, we say "how high?" This is not the competition some of us once knew. Clubs once fought for their rights and no one more than our Club. When even the strong Clubs are being dictated to, you know that is a sign of things to come. But the AFL does it in such a way that no one even notices. Not even them.

When the emotion is taken out of any situation, no longer is there an attachment to it. Take the emotion out of footy and no longer is there an attachment to it. Read some of the views posted here. Logic and reason all around and there is nothing wrong with that. But it could be seen that the AFL has done a good job in dulling our senses to change? Is there nothing that is sacred?

Cont'd
 

MC24

Tiger Superstar
Jan 14, 2003
1,147
0
We're simply making it easy for the AFL to come in and make changes as it pleases. And don't be naïve enough to think that this is where the changes stop.

Others have won premierships and still can't draw a crowd with a pencil, while there are those who win them and can't make a profit to save themselves. Despite our Club's wrong doings over the years, we've still managed to draw crowds and make profits. What could bring about our downfall is the apathy caused by years of mediocrity. No amount of selling off of history and traditions is going to save ours or anyone else's skin.

Our strength is people. That is something we should never lose sight of. And it is up to the Club to 'win' back the people. That is their challenge. And I don't see how it's going to do that by showing signs of weakness now, by 'giving in' to any prevailing circumstances, when it never has in the past.

Other Clubs have sacrificed their identity because they have given up on their ability to survive in this competition any other way. We will become no more and no less than those Clubs if we now start to concede our history and traditions. Others may have given up on our footy Club to survive any other way. Knowing what I know, I never can.

Cont'd
 

MC24

Tiger Superstar
Jan 14, 2003
1,147
0
People are fooled by thinking that this is about our survival. It's about anything but. This is about the AFL losing touch with people and the game. These decisions are based on logic. The more logic involved in this competition, the less attachment there will be to it. Someone should realise this before it's way too late. Scoff if you must, but there is logic in what I say.

And anyway, why is this such a huge problem now? Is it because of the way the game is played, rather than because of the jumpers? How about making the keepers of the game responsible for the fact that players swarm like bees around the ball these days. Fix the game, instead of making sacrifices in other areas to compensate for a lack of ingenuity.

How much more can some Clubs sacrifice? There are those that have all but stripped themselves bare of any tradition and still that is not enough to ensure their survival. What is there left for them to change? Being who they were was not enough to ensure their survival; being who they are now is still not enough.

I like my Club's history and traditions and I want to keep them. And no amount of logic will sway my views, because I know that this is not about survival, it's about retaining our identity, because it's worth keeping and because we are confident in our own ability to succeed the way we have always been.

Regardless of rules or circumstances, the strong Clubs have always proven themselves to be strong and not by caving in at the first sign of pressure. We know our footy club can survive the tough times … it always has and always will.

End
 

Dean3

Older than I've ever been
Dec 17, 2002
2,954
0
Melbourne
MC24, IMO there's a lot of truth in what you say, but it might actually be possible to change our jumper in a way that celebrates our traditions or even more closely resembles our jumper of yesteryear.
As you rightly point out, jumper confusion has arisen recently due to the speed and congestion of the modern game. Today's game is all about a blink of an eye, a flash of colour and a split-second decision. Maybe we only need to make a minor change to fix the problem - like continuing the sash around the back a little, just to get some more yellow into the mix, and it might just look like our jumper used to be. Might also keep our major sponsor happy, if it looked a bit like a swoosh! I'm not forwarding this as THE solution, just opening the possibility that an optimum solution may be achievable: one that helps solve the confusion, and also satisfies the traditionalists and the marketing gurus.
Let's not close our minds to the possibility.
 

MC24

Tiger Superstar
Jan 14, 2003
1,147
0
Agree with what you say Dean. I'm not opposed to changed. Things are ever changing and all things evolve with time.

What I'm opposed to is the way change seems to take place in the AFL and the reasons it takes place.

To me, many of the changes don't add to the game, they take away from it.
 
A

admin

Guest
The idea of making clubs have alternative guernseys has raised it's head again.

Where has this come from mt? The club? The AFL? General speculation?

This thread is pretty amusing to me, especially if people want to change the jumper for easier differentiation, but also want to get rid of the white shorts.
The only think I have against white shorts is that we usually lose when we play in them.
Jumpers tucked into white shorts make it miles easier to pick players imo.
White goes with anything, and it looks fine when it's in the middle of our jumper and socks imo. That's just personal taste though.

If this is about the AFL forcing change for changes sake thay can get lost.

If it's the clubs idea I'll consider the proposal put forward, but it would have to be pretty convincing for me to vote for new jumpers.

There can be a million pre season jumpers to cash in on for all I care, but people only have so much money to spend.

If it's about making money a novel approach could be to play some consistant footy and sell more memberships. It's time the club gave something to the members instead of wanting to bleed them dry.

Somehow I doubt this thread is based on club opinion though?

Go Tiges.
 

mightytiges

The greatest Tiger of them all - Jack Dyer R.I.P.
Dec 16, 2002
1,195
0
Where has this come from mt? The club? The AFL? General speculation?
.
Just general talk, rosy, over the last couple of weeks with some designs being displayed on the net. There's nothing official from the club or the AFL.

I knew most tiger fans are passionately against the idea like MC24 (from memory one of the surveys had our supporters as the least in favour of a alternative strip) but wanted to know if they would consider changing their opposition to the idea if it promised to guarantee the club's long term survival and contributed significantly to producing healthy profits each and every year.
 

MC24

Tiger Superstar
Jan 14, 2003
1,147
0
Rosy, here is an article I came across last year and printed it out.  Don't remember which site it came from, but perhaps this might shed some light on the matter.

"Tigers want to stay yellow and black
By Nabila Ahmed
July 27 2002

Richmond president Clinton Casey last night reiterated the club's unwillingness to find an alternative strip for matches such as last night's game between the Tigers and Essendon, where a clash of jumpers can confuse spectators.

The AFL raised the issue in a recent meeting of club chief executives.

But speaking at the pre-match function at the MCG, Casey said neither Essendon nor Richmond wanted to find an alternative uniform.

"The AFL are starting to come to us and say, 'You must look for an alternative strip.'  But neither of us believe that our supporters find it difficult to identify our players on the ground," he said.

"Personally, I've never had anybody say they had difficulty distinguishing our players when we're out there against the Dons.  We used to be able to do it back when we had black and white television, so I don't know what the problem is."

Casey paid tribute to retiring great Matthew Knights at the function, saying it was significant that "one of the club's true champions" had nominated pulling on the Tigers' strip for the first time as the highlight of his 15-year career.

"That's what this great club's all about: the jumper, the black and yellow," he said.

"We must never ever forget that.  We must return back to those days.  We need to make sure that our players and our staff, our members and our supporters re-commit to that jumper and what it represents. ..."
 
A

admin

Guest
" We need to make sure that our players and our staff, our members and our supporters re-commit to that jumper and what it represents. ..."
It's not about how much you like the colours....I'd expect a Hawks player to feel the same with their yuk colours.
It's the ingrained tradition.
Onya Clinton and Knighter.
This supporter is committed, ha.
(Thanks for posting this MC24.....great article and very relevant. :) )
 

MC24

Tiger Superstar
Jan 14, 2003
1,147
0
The AFL raised the issue in a recent meeting of club chief executives.

But speaking at the pre-match function at the MCG, Casey said ... "The AFL are starting to come to us and say, 'You must look for an alternative strip.'

This is what I'm pretty much incensed about. This is driven by the AFL, not the Clubs themselves. If it's the Club's choice and the members' choice that's one thing. But when it seems that we're not going to have a choice or a say in the matter (regardless of what the Club's consitution says), then that's something I have an issue with.

If this is an indication of how the AFL is going to run things, by dictating terms to Clubs, then I'd start to worry. Sooner, rather than later.