players names on the back of guernseys

[Forward Press]

Yep, you have the name, you have the number, and you know what- I still have no idea who it is or what team he plays for? Why? Because I dont care. People like the sport for the sport, not because of a name on a jumper. If this your big idea to bring in more fans I think your going to have to try something else.

What does that have to do with it?

People in support of the notion think it is a good potential revenue stream. That's all there is to it. Any additional interest from potential fans is just an added bonus really.

 

[Butler]

I can list pretty much every player from every team after a couple of games from their numbers or look but I still think names is a good idea.

Not being able to read the name isn't a problem as it has been explained in previous posts. Maybe clubs just have to have one less sponsor sticker on their jumpers. The sponsor may spit it but their is other ways for clubs to show off their sponsors. NBA players don't have sponsor logos on them at all I believe.

If I go out and buy a Eagles jumper with number 9 on it when Cousins was playing for WC. If he then leaves and another player takes over the 9 and I'm not a fan of him (obviously I am a fan of Naitanui) I would want people to see that I got the number for Cousins and not the current number 9.

I don't get the talk of "changing tradition" either. The numbers will still be on the back and they will still pass it down to other players.

 

[E92_]

Anybody who says that clubs whould get more money from names on jumpers are wrong if anything they'd probably lose money; clubs have 'retail' jumpers (to be sold in store) which don't have a number on the back and they wouldn't have a name on it either, clubs aren't going to order the same jumper but with different names on all of them because people won't buy a jumper if their favourite players jumper isn't in stock. Again, if you want a name on your jumper get the club to heat press one on.

 

[Lets Roar like '44]

Maybe clubs just have to have one less sponsor sticker on their jumpers. The sponsor may spit it but their is other ways for clubs to show off their sponsors.

Eddie wants more sponsors on the jumper, he wants to replace the AFL logo so there are 2 sponsors on the front, and 1 on the back. The chances of any club taking off the back sponsor are about a trillion to one.

 

[Forward Press]

Anybody who says that clubs whould get more money from names on jumpers are wrong if anything they'd probably lose money; clubs have 'retail' jumpers (to be sold in store) which don't have a number on the back and they wouldn't have a name on it either, clubs aren't going to order the same jumper but with different names on all of them because people wont buy a jumper if their favourite players jumper isn't in stock. Again, if you want a name on your jumper get the club to heat press one on.

1) Charge more for the plain jumper
2) Charge you even more if you want to customise that plain jumper
3) Charge less for a standard jumper with name and number of a current player

Done.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

It means nothing at the ground, you cant see it. It's for TV.

It's all branding, that's all. Like in Europe, players surnames are brands and the kids want them on their jumpers. Thats why you already see some of those stupid replica AFL jumpers with the names.

No doubt it'll happen eventually. There's money in it.

 

[exile]

If you're at the game, unless you're close to the actual field it'll serve no purpose. Watching on tv, you would only see them on close ups. Numbers are big enough to know which player is which, but for me I can usually tell which player is which by the way they actually look.

 

[nickh32]

You don't have to crowd out the sponsors.

eg

Ok now do Lovett-Murray, giansiracusa and 3 other players with longish names stand at one set of goal posts they will stand at the other side and read the names.

Then do it with 30 guys running around them and read the name.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Maybe you wouldn't buy them - but others will.

"Oh, well now Chris Judd has left my #3 Judd jumper is irrelevant - however I will now buy an Andrew Gaff #3"

It's an additional potential revenue stream.

And when teams are chopping and changing every year, due to free agency, are others going to be as happy having to buy their three or four kids a new guernsey every year or two? People would still be buying the blank guernseys. If you want to buy a guernsey with the name and the number on the back, you can do so already (http://www.thecatsshoponline.com.au/). I don't think that's the issue. You want to spend an extra $35-40 on top of the price of a guernsey for that crap, go for it.

The issue is people recognising the players more easily. And in that case, I'm still going to say most people who can't recognise the player by their number, size, face and where they are playing will not be able to recognise him by his surname either.

 

[Forward Press]

Ok now do Lovett-Murray, giansiracusa and 3 other players with longish names stand at one set of goal posts they will stand at the other side and read the names.

Then do it with 30 guys running around them and read the name.

That's not really the point. It's for TV and merchandise. People at the ground wouldn't be able to read the names 99% of the time anyway no matter how big the font and if the player was Day or Daw.

Here is how they sometimes deal with long names in soccer - yes, his name is Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink:

You would barely see it if you were physically at the ground, but then again that's not the point.

 

[Forward Press]

The issue is people recognising the players more easily. And in that case, I'm still going to say most people who can't recognise the player by their number and face will not be able to recognise him by his surname either.

Fair enough, I don't disagree with that last sentence.

Like you said, parents may not want to keep paying money when players leave/retire or they change their number, but it's a potential money spinner.

You may not want to buy it, your friends may not want to buy it, but someone else will. Like it or not, money tends to override tradition nowadays.

 

[Lets Roar like '44]

That's not really the point. It's for TV and merchandise. People at the ground wouldn't be able to read the names 99% of the time anyway no matter how big the font and if the player was Day or Daw.

Here is how they sometimes deal with long names in soccer - yes, his name is Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink:

You would barely see it if you were physically at the ground, but then again that's not the point.

Dont forget to add the sponsor down the bottom, and the sponsor up the top that we can actually see.

Mmm what else can we add...

 

[Forward Press]

Dont forget to add the sponsor down the bottom, and the sponsor up the top that we can actually see.

Mmm what else can we add...

Plenty of room at the bottom for a sponsor. When it comes to money, people get creative. Like this names business.

Not long ago we didn't have a sponsor logo at all - now we have them on the front of the shirt and on the shorts, amongst other locations.

If a club can fit Vennegoor of Hesselink on a shirt with no problems, I fail to see how Giansiracusa and Horlin-Smith will pose problems.

We also have them in the international rules series, just FYI. Although sometimes the colours and contrast is questionable, it's easy enough to see on TV.

 

[Lets Roar like '44]

I was thinking more along the lines of add it, without making the jumper look like a piece of scrunched up junk. Of course you could fit it, if you want it to look like rubbish.

(Doesnt matter what you do to Brisbanes, we've already f*****d ours up)

 

[17beams]

Works well in football, but I reckon it'd look strange on traditional footy jumpers.

Never seen them on a football jumper, I think it's a stupid, redundant gimmick given the fact that the players wear numbers.

 

[scout]

Wouldn't like it for the home & away games, you get to know players by their physical shape, how they run, kick, etc.

But it probably would fit in with the practice/experimental mode of NAB cup games. And there are so many new players running around most people watching are trying to figure out who these players are.

I was at Etihad last night and the scoreboard wasn't identifying players, even after they kicked a goal. Listening to SEN, and they also had some trouble working the newer players.

Having said that, they put names on jumpers for the Irish series. With the naked eye from the crowd, you'd have little hope reading them, only with some zoom did they become clear.

 

[Waltz17]

Keep it as just numbers. In football each player is one number amongst 22 other numbers in a team. One of the things that seperates our game from say Soccer, NFL, NBA, is the team orientation and selflesness of it.

My most hated celebration is when, say C. Ronaldo for example, scores a penalty then runs to the crowd pointing at the name on his back. It would kill me to see this kind of self-marketing in our game.

I very rarely struggle to identify a player when watching a game. It's not about the individual's name; it's about the team.

 

[Hand]

don't see the point really

 

[arkie]

Nope. I like the idea that when a player retires, like James Hird for example, he hands his same Number 5 guernsey down to the next player. And that there's a tradition of these numbers and jumpers being worn throughout the years. That they're all playing for the one club and are part of the same thing.

Putting names on jumpers makes it much more individualised and you know that when a player retires and a new player wears his number, it's a completely different jumper and that old one is gone forever.

That makes no sense. The sentimental value in handing down a jumper number to a younger player doesn't change even if the player's name is also on the jumper.

Having another players name that isn't Hird on the number 5 jumper wouldn't change anything. It's still the number 5 Essendon jumper...

 

[arkie]

Anybody who says that clubs whould get more money from names on jumpers are wrong if anything they'd probably lose money; clubs have 'retail' jumpers (to be sold in store) which don't have a number on the back and they wouldn't have a name on it either, clubs aren't going to order the same jumper but with different names on all of them because people won't buy a jumper if their favourite players jumper isn't in stock. Again, if you want a name on your jumper get the club to heat press one on.

Of course clubs would make more money if names were on jumpers. How much do you think they cost for the clubs to buy? You only need to look to the NFL or NBA to see that. Look at how many Jeremy Lin Knicks jerseys are selling right now. A number is just a number at the end of the day which is why I don't bother putting any on the back of my WB jumper. If we did have names on the back I probably would've bought a Hall jumper when we recruited him.

To say that clubs wouldn't make more money is idiotic and you have no evidence to prove otherwise.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Of course clubs would make more money if names were on jumpers. How much do you think they cost for the clubs to buy? You only need to look to the NFL or NBA to see that. Look at how many Jeremy Lin Knicks jerseys are selling right now. A number is just a number at the end of the day which is why I don't bother putting any on the back of my WB jumper. If we did have names on the back I probably would've bought a Hall jumper when we recruited him.

To say that clubs wouldn't make more money is idiotic and you have no evidence to prove otherwise.

The AFL is not comparable to the NBA or NFL in merchandise sales in any way shape or form. Even if the sports aren't global, the sales are. The most nondescript NBA and NFL teams probably make as much in jersey sales by themselves as the entire AFL combined. I'm generalising, but I'd imagine that the majority of people who have rushed out and bought a Lin jersey also have some assortment of Griffin/James/Garnett/Wade/Howard/Durant/Bryant/Nash/Rose/Nowitzki/Jordan jerseys all in their wardrobe too. Now, how many AFL supporters would buy guernseys of star players from an assortment of clubs like that? What does that tell you? The USA has 28 states which are not represented in the NBA and 29 which are not represented by the NFL. The NBA and NFL are about the star players; the AFL is about the teams.

 

[frednirk]

Names on the back of jumpers, is a gay idea.

End if discussion.

Frenirk has spoken.

 

[BananaOnTheRun]

i would have thought it'd be a good idea, especially for television audiences and even more so for new markets like GWS and GC.

 

[Costa fc]

I like the idea. Doubt it will ever happen. We're a pretty conservative bunch when it comes to AFL uniforms.

I've knocked out some mock-ups of what every team's jumper might look like if they had player names on them. Check them out here:

http://www.costasportslogos.com/content/do-we-need-names-back-footy-jumpers

 

[a_fighting_fury]

I like the idea. Doubt it will ever happen. We're a pretty conservative bunch when it comes to AFL uniforms.

I've knocked out some mock-ups of what every team's jumper might look like if they had player names on them. Check them out here:

http://www.costasportslogos.com/content/do-we-need-names-back-footy-jumpers

Would have been good if you used ACTUAL players names in your "mock up" Although there is no "Trengrove" who plays for Melbourne your point is taken.